How to Degauss Guitar Pickups?

[Philippe]

Just curious how this procedure is done & is it possible/easy to accidentally overdo it ? In other words, is there a practical way of gauging/monitoring the process?

Will a tape head demagnetizer work?

Can the overall magnetism & characteristics of an AlNiCo 5 pole be reduced somewhat to produce a 'slightly' more vintage (lower ohm) less modern-day tone...without blindly wasting/spending time removing coil wire?

Since I've pretty much scratched the idea of attempting to build a guitar-to-amp wireless system, I thought I'd explore the possibility of altering some American Series (Stratocaster) Fender Delta Tones I've got lying around...like, what's the worse that could happen?

[brett]

Hi
this is an interesting question.
From memory, degaussing is the de-magnetization process for (mostly) ferrous objects or a space affected by magnetism.  I *think* it should be simple for iron but more complex for objects that are para and anti-magnetic (e.g. some oxides of iron).

Guitar pickups have magnets (pole pieces) that produce strong magnetic fields that are disturbed by the strings.  Coils "pick up" the disturbance.
So....What is it that you want to degauss?  The screws (and other ironwork) that hold the pickups might become slightly magnetized over time, so maybe you could do those.  But the effect would be very very small.  The strings must become magnetic over time, but would you bother demagnetizing them?

Testing for magnetism is easy.  The more it attracts as amll piece of iron, the more magnetic it is (and the less degaussed). 
cheers

[petemoore]

  Was it 'Pound Cake' ?
 The EVH song started out with a mix including a cordless drill motor being sourced through the guitar pickups...
 I was told this will reduce the magnetic strength of pickups used to source the sound.
  Wrap it in a coil of wire and put current through it, this will either gauss or degauss, depending on the polarity. Correct me if I'm wrong, haven't studied up on it lately.
  Harbor freight sells a parts magnetizer/demagnetizer, it looks like it might be large enough to fit a pickup.