pickup pole & magnet positions

landychris

when building a humbucker, do the poles have to actually touch the magnet or just have to be close?

I'm building a set at the moment and was thinking that when I wax pot it, does this not fill the any micro voids between the poles and the magnet, 

I've also seen when single coils are "supercharged" with a bar magnet underneath that often there is some tape in between the original pole magnets and the bar magnet.

Funkfingers

landychris said:

when building a humbucker, do the poles have to actually touch the magnet or just have to be close?

"Just be close at hand." Within the magnetic field is sufficient. Typically, the polepiece screws pass through a threaded bar and, in some designs, the baseplate. The threaded bar positions the screws a millimetre or so away from the edge of the bar magnet.

landychris said:

when I wax pot, does this not fill the any micro voids between the poles and the magnet, 

Depends on whether you are potting just the coils or everything under a metal cover. 

landychris said:

I've also seen when single coils are "supercharged" with a bar magnet underneath that often there is some tape in between the original pole magnets and the bar magnet.

The tape makes it easier to part the bar magnet from the rod magnets, should the need arise. The attraction between strong magnets takes some defeating. Some neodymium magnets snap together so violently that they can cause finger injuries.

landychris

Thanks