Bar magnets in humbuckers are magnetized with the poles along the longer edge (like in the second paper strip demonstration). So when you put your new magnet in just make sure the north and south orientation is the same as the original.

defininately my favorite channel for this kind of learning. Thank you so much for sharing.

I watched this video and it inspired me to try a ceramic magnet I had in an old pickup and put it in a Seymour Duncan JB that I wished had a tighter low end. Mission accomplished! Thanks!

I was looking to replace the pickups in an Epiphone Les Paul Special because the ones in it are muddy and mids are too strong. Fortunately, I came across your excellent How-To videos! You, sir, are an awesome teacher and I appreciate the hard work you put in making these videos. You have a dedicated follower in me. I'm going to try the magnet swap out and see what I get. I just need to find out where to purchase them. Thank you again.

I’ve been wanting to swap magnets but afraid of ruining the pickups until now. Thanks for sharing this method.

VERY IMPORTANT - if you are looking to swap magnets in certain years of Gibson BB (burst bucker) pickups YOU MUST REMOVE THE THREADED POLE SCREWS. You cannot remove the backing plate until you back the POLE screws out of the backing plate AND out of a slender piece of metal with machined holes that is attached to the side of the magnet via magnetism. That thin strip of metal sits on top of the backing plate along side of the magnet. The threaded pole screws thread through it and then thread into the backing plate. I just replaced the BB Pro short A5 magnet with a standard sized A2 which brings up another issue. The A5 magnets in BB's are a bit shorter length wise. I was able to get the A2 mag in there and reassemble it. Not sure how much of a difference in sound there is between a shorter magnet and a longer one but I have read there is a slight difference. Swapping the magnet with an A2 definitely helped sweeten the sound of the BB by removing some of the ice picky characteristics of the A5 but I'm probably going to replace the entire pickup with a PG (Pearly Gates) anyway. The BB is a good pickup but isn't quite hot enough for what I want. The PG is a clever design because of the wire itself used for the windings and the way it is wound, as well as the other pickup components including an A2 magnet. Put together, it gives you a slightly hotter version of a standard PAF.with the sweetness and transparency of a 59 PAF. I have a PG in the bridge in another Gibson and the difference is night and day. It's why one PG cost $149 brand new and not much less than that used. It is a proven pickup.

The first video I’ve seen that simply explains the magnetism aspect . Thanks

Thank you so much for posting this, you saved me from buying a whole new set of pickups!

WARNING: your indications to get the right orientation of polarity are WRONG. I followed your tutorial and ended up with out of phase tones after swapping the magnet of one of my humbuckers. The previous comments are right: the magnet is polarized as per the second set of paper stripes you showed, so to get the correct placement the new magnet must attract "long side to long side" with the old one, and it must repel both if placed over the old one and along the short side.

New magnet is horizontally backwards. They didn't repel, so the top and bottom halves would have to have been oriented in opposite directions.

Clear , consider, well done. I have a buttload of pickups I'm now gonna be have fun with. You Rock

WRONG. New magnet is installed incorrectly in this video. Also, you should never let the magnets you are going to use stick to another magnet, it changes the charge of both magnets. Do it correctly and get a magnet polarity tester. Correct information can be found here. www.1728.org/guitar1b.htm

Great video! Always wondered about the details. Looks easy, thanks!

Great video. Clear and precise instructions. Helped me out a lot . Thanks

Thx for making this great vid. While I’d flipped the mag in the neck p90 in my Goldtop, the humbucker swap was a lil’ more difficult and hands-on especially with cover removal and dealing with all that wax. Proved ever so worth-it though and the 57 and 57 plus in my SG gots great facelift - polished A4 in the neck (sounds super fat and cleans up to classic PAF tone perfectly) and a rough cast A8 in the Bridge... crazy bite and lots of crunch there. After experimenting with heights the middle position is exactly what I was looking for and very unique, which was the goal. Thanks again!

I removed the magnets from some old crappy pickups I had out of curiosity. Then I put them on my refrigerator. 😊

This video worked for me! (I wanted out of phase pickup)

Just throw a set of refrigerator magnets under them puppies.... AIN'T IT JUST AIN'T IT 😜 lols

Absolutely brilliant. Thanks for that awesome video. I will try it .

Very comprehensive! Excellent video!

Well done. Clear and concise.

Very talented...Great teacher..I finally understand the importance of polarity top to bottom too. I always wondered about that. Thanks

OMG What a great and useful video!! Totally excellent.

I watched this yesterday - and this morning woke up with an afterthought. At 10:18 or so, when you have the new magnet laying on top of the existing magnet, you slide it into place. But, if it's laying so nicely on the old magnet, wouldn't that mean that the N and S of the new magnet are at the opposite sides of the old magnet? In other words, instead of sliding the magnet in like you did, wouldn't you need to flip the magnet (the sideways direction) so the N and S are going the same direction as the magnet you are replacing?

I found something about magnets I wanted to share. First off, get polarity tester. There are many available online and they all do the same thing, tell you whether you are on the magnetic north or south side of the magnet. Also humbucker magnets are only magnetic along their long edges. That way the magnet's north and south side corresponds with the pole pieces. So there is no magnetism top to bottom. This makes your life easier than this video indicates. All you have to do is test which edge is north and which south and make sure the magnet you put in oriented the same way. There is a diagram and more information at this link. www.1728.org/guitar1b.htm

You are an excellent teacher---well prepared with demo 'pickups'. Thank you.

Excellent advice

This was a great lesson, but what about single coil p/ups?

Isn't the N/S oriented on the length of the bar magnet not on the narrow ends? The coil with slugs should have the opposite magnetic orientation as the coil with screws for noise cancellation. Screws are next to S of magnet and slugs on the N of the magnet.

I think that was great . Thanks for the useful information.

Fantastic video! Thank you!

Excellent video, thanks a ton

Thus this apply to Jazz Bass pickups?

Thanks, very helpful and understandable... I have ceramic, I want something softer for the picking and dynamics, any suggestions? I like mess around with the pic attack,

So you inspired me to swap my magnets. The only problem: now one of my strings (the A) is waaaay quiet compared to the rest. Almost inaudible. Do you or anyone else have an idea why that is so?

You put the magnets in backwards. They should repel using your method. The long edges are the poles, not the flats.

Great!

I didn't had any way to know the orientation so i try'd to figure out how to know when new magnet goes right way in, so i get an idea that if i hold new magnet on to the pickup when old magnet is still in. If new magnet goes right and left on the pickup then it goes in right way. When testing the sound seems to be right, not out-of-phase. Can you confirm is this right or wrong way because sounds seems to be okay when i play with new magnet? EDIT: I try your way and it seems to be okay.

I had no idea. Thanks!

Thanks this was a big help.

I believe the magnet information your are showing is wrong. What matters is the north and south of the magnet. This is along the narrow edge, not end to end longways. The north side generally goes against the slug coil and the south side goes against the adjustable pole pieces.

this video does NOT give the right instructions. I did exactly as he does in the video and the pickups are out of phase in the in between position

Great video, two questions, how long the magnet will stand? and when do we change the magnet? Thank you.

I have to say, your video is very informative. You explained everything just so. I thought you could swoop out magnets in the pickups. Is it basically the same for single coils magnet swaps? I would assume it changes the resistance of the pickup correct? Thank you for sharing this with us.

Anyone have an idea if taking the magnet out of a Seymour Duncan SH 12 Screamin Demon and installing it in a Gibson 500T would be an improvement ? I like the EQ curve and output of the 500T , but it's definitely not as clear and defined as most SD pickups.

It seems the original magnet is thicker than the A5, does thickness makes a difference in tone ?

Is it okay to remove and/or cut the adjustable pole pieces to make them shorter if they are too long preventing proper mounting in the guitar?

so can a ceramic bar be replaced on a Telecaster bridge pickup by an alnico one easily?

I've heard Seymour Duncans and Dimarzio can't mix because they'd be out of phase, that you have to switch the magnet of one of them. If so, do you switch it north to south AND top to bottom or just north/south? Thanks!

Does this apply to the super distortion and to the 59/jazz model? Or is either built differently?

Super helpful

I was swapping ceramic for A5 magnets from two Seymour Duncan pickups. I was VERY careful to pull them both out and lay them down the same way they came out. They were the same way on the sides of the magnets. I assume south to the screw side. But they were definitely flipped too to bottom from each other. Meaning while they stuck side to side, top to bottom, they repelled. Why would two pickups from the same company have the magnets flipped like that? And does it really make that big of a difference as long as the magnet is installed on the coils properly? Thanks for any help.

What is better magnetized or demagnetized?

Several of the comments that showed up say that the new magnet is installed wrong. Many guys do NOT care about polarity, etc.... they want the new magnet to be put in right to replace the old, and theory be damned! So tell us if the video is correct or not. Tell us if the new magnet has to repel or attract the old one along the LONG edge and repel or attract along the short edge as well. OK? small steel screws will magnetize and stick to the screwdriver tip when re-installing them. Very small screwdriver tip will be good to gently push the ribbon outside the brass bottom plate.

Great job, and very well explained. I've heard that in Ibanez V7 and V8, an usual mod is swap them with each other magnets (one is ceramic and the other alnico) and revert their polarities. Which benefit could come from that polarity change?

Grande dica!

Is it a good idea to add a second bar magnet or ceramic or even neodymium to the existing bar for xtra output ?

Does it need to be wax potted again after changing the magnet or will it be OK to use as is? Sorry, I'm new to this so this may qualify as a dumb question.

What about just iron?

fine...but where can i find these bar magnets?

Could I do a similar thing with neodymium discs?

Would sure like to understand why 2 goofs dislikes this awesome vid?

240p we meet again.....

WRONG..!!! Putting the magnets in this way will put your guitar OUT OF PHASE in the middle position. The magnets should in fact repel on all planes except the thinnest edges which should ATTRACT. These are the relevant poles on guitar bar magnets. The theory here is somewhat correct but essentially misleading but it’s not the only video online getting this part wrong.!! Also loosening the pole pieces when dismantled the pick-up will make the job much easier. If you wind them all the way out of the back plate in a covered humbucker, the rest of the pick-up can stay intact. This video should be taken down imo.

10:10 you put magnet to reverse position compare to original --- it soooo stupid !!! after those explanation.

Bruh take your video down with the inaccurate info on pole orientation. Poles are only on each side of the long axis of the mag. Not the way you're illustrating.

#104_comment_MAR_1_2024_YaHoo_FinallyAnUnderstandableExplainationRegardingProperFieldOrientation🇺🇸✡️✝️

Take this video down bro.

So ive tried doing the mod... my neck pick up sounds like a single coil... all the wired/connections are intact. Could it be something else?