Strength of magnet in pickup?

[BobWestbrook]

Does a weak magnet in a pickup mean a weak sound? I'm asking because I have some pickups I took out of a bass (and discarded) because they sounded bad. When I did a very unscientific "stick em to the frig" magnet strength test, they had little pull compared to some other pickups I had.

Can any of you science guy types elaborate?

[lug]

Output level depends on the strength of the magnet AND and the amount of windings used. It's a design decision whether to go with more magnet/less windings or vice versa. Less windings more magnet may mean a wider freq resonse but at some point the magnet pull on the strings will come into effect. It's more of a "taste" thing as to the sound you like rather than one method being "better" than the other.

[somedumbguy]

When the strings vibrate near the magnetic pickup, you create a (very small) induced electromagnetic field (emf), and if the magnet is weaker then the induced emf is therefore weaker, and then the output will be less.

In short, yes, stronger magnets means "louder" pickups.

[FunkMetalBass]

A stronger magnet has the potential to have a much hotter output than a weaker magnet with an overwound coil. However, as others have said, the magnet is only half the battle and it's purely a tonal decision.

[Jensby design]

If you place a strong magnet connecting to the magnet on the bottom of a pickup(to increase magnetic pull) you can get a good idea of the effect of the magnets pull strength to the tone of the pickup.

[Ric5]

If you get too strong of a magnet then it will cause false harmonics on the strings.