Magnets In Ctrl Plate Cover

[al heeley]

I saw on this forum someone used some small round magnets sunk into the recesses of a ctrl cavity to attach a neat flush cover without the need for screws.

I've seen this done on a truss rod cover plate too, great idea.

However, if you use little neodynium magnets (there is a bag of 50 of them heading this way from ebay) is there any risk of the magnetic field interfering with the guitar pickups?

[low end fuzz]

that would be the first thing id be asking;

theyre prolly not powerful enough to make a difference if theyre only on the lip of your cavity cover;

id be worried about a screw or fret nip stuck to it and being dragged across the back of the body; but thats pretty extreme!

[spazzyone]

I dont think you will have to worry about that if you think about it this way

look at a typical strat with its three pickups within close proximity to each other

and a large wiring channel connecting them. no problem's right

plus it has been done many times so you should be fine

Edited October 4, 2006 by spazzyone

[Mattia]

Assuming normal-sized guitars, the distance between the tiny magnets (strong, but strength drops off big time as distance increases) and the control plate will leave you without problems. I've got a big bag of magnets awaiting similar applications m'self...

[thegarehanman]

I've only completed one guitar with them, to date(although I've got 3 in the oven that will all get simular treatment), and the guitar sounded just fine(can't say if the control plate had an effect, but I'd say the fact that it sounded good is all that matters). In that case, it was a guitar, 1/2 the size of a normal guitar, so the magnets were closer to the pickup than usual. Mattia's right though, magnets exponentially lose strength as distance increases.

peace,

russ

[al heeley]

Thx guys, always good to bounce concerns around. Got the magnets, they are tiny (6mm dia and 3mm thick) and incredibly strong, they will go into a small drilled hole in the ctrl cav posts no problem, and one for the TRC.