Sustain is also affected by magnetic pull exerted by the pickup magnets. There are 2 ways this happens: 1) Direct magnetic attraction causes damping of the strings. 2) The magnetic attraction causes the strings to crash into the frets, the consequent rattling or buzzing thereby robs them of energy and thus shortens sustain. Most single coil pickups use Alnico-5 magnets that are quite strong, actually it's excessively strong. A Stratocaster, and some Telecasters, use 3 magnets under each string so are the worst affected instruments. Most Telecasters use 2 magnets under each string and are less affected. Side-by-side humbuckers exert very little magnetic damping. Magnetic pull on the strings can be allievaited by adjusting the pickups away from the strings but that reduces output and adversly affects signal/noise ratio.

Kinman's special Alnico-5 magnets that exert 40% less magnetic pull on the strings actually allow maximum Sustain. You also get less rattling and buzzing and consequently a cleaner sound. Many players are simply astonished when they hear the pristine, uncluttered pure sound from Kinman's for the first time. My low-gauss magnets allow the pickups to be adjsuted close to the strings but because they are noiseless it doesn't matter if you prefer to adjust them away. The signal to noise ratio remains excellent regardless.