Can pickups be re-magnatized?

[Fmmahoganyrush]

OK here's the deal. I have an Ovation Deacon (solid body electric) with humbucking pickups. The thing sat idle for a LONG time, and it seems that the pickups have lost a bit of punch. The sustain, especially when doing a lead up the neck, really drops off (much more than I remember). This guitar has a built in pre-amp which is powered by two 9 volt batteries. So I says to myself... ...an electro-magnet is simply a peice of, say, steel, with a copper wire coiled around it and with DC voltage attached to it. So I thinks to myself... ...A pickup is basically the same thing, and if I put fresh batteries in the guitar and leave it plugged in (to power up the pre amp), the voltage should run back through the pickups and re-magnatize them? Sound nuts? It does seem to be working, as I've left it plugged in for a couple of days now. Any body out there know anything about the possibility of this actually working? Or am I just imagining this??? Thanx, Tom.

 

[Daddy-O]

Uhm........I don't want to say you nuts. But magnets don't realy lose any noticable magnetism over a humans life span unless it has been left on a iron or steel beam. Your problem is most likely the the built in preamp. Some component may have corroded over time or a capacitor isn't charging/discharging. Any electronics tech should be able to bench test with a scope and a regulated power supply. Two new nine volt batteries will not recharge the pickup magnets. The next thing that may be causing the problem is a short or open in the pickup windings, but I would guess that the solid state preamp is the culprit.

 

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Thanx Daddy-O. Probably a bunch of hoping beyond hope on my part. Some history on this guitar though. I went through, shall we say, a flood back around ten years ago, thus the reason it sat "idle". The Iron/Steel thing you mentioned brings to mind that while it sat in it's case for those ten-odd years, the strings were laying right across both pickups, lending to a possible loss in magnatization. Also the "flood" did get the preamp pretty wet, and when I pulled everything apart during it's "second coming", I tried to re-solder the board, because there was corrosion present. Maybe I missed something. I live in CT, and the Ovation factory is probably 3/4 of an hour away, so maybe I'll see if I can get the specs for the board from them and get it checked out (or just leave it with them to fix). It's a sweet sounding guitar that's a dream to play when it's up to snuff! Thanx again, Tom.

 

[struberg]

only to be sure

it isn't very likely but i had a similar problem and it dissapeared when getting new strings.
sometimes this makes all the difference ni the world..

 

[wes480]

ruh roh

well, between sitting in a case with strings on it for ten years, water damage, and internal manipulating by human - I think it is safe to say magnetism of pickups isn't your biggest problem. heh. How'd the wood hold up to the flood?

 

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Believe it or not, The wood, neck, frets, and hardware all held up suprisingly great. It took a shit-load of elbow greese, but it all buffed out really nice!!! The thing that took the worst hit was the pre-amp board. I gotta tell you, I was crushed when I discovered the "problem", as the guitar has much sentilemtal value. It was my first girl, and she was sloppy seconds because her first owner was Jesse Collin Young!