Ah ... another "Pickup Paradigm"  ...  
 
All I can tell you is that my newest pickup ...  "The Fountain" ... named because it "shoots" a field ... high up from the unit  ...  
 
Is easily the strongest under the strings pickup ever made ... and it performs gloriously.
 
EX:
 
My Geo L 10-5 ... at the surface of its plastic cover ... 250 gauss ... about  0.5" above the unit ... about 40 gauss
 
The Fountain ...  about 1000 gauss ...  1" above the surface of the unit.
 
While I had it here in my JB Frypan ... the affect of that field on the strings was nil ...
 
I was initially concerned ... but after building it and testing it (as well as having my buddy Dave Giegerich give it a thorough test) ... my initial worry was unwarranted.
 
I would imagine that the initial paradigm ... originated in the electric-spanish guitar world ...  
 
Where their strings are not under the kind of tensions found in steel guitars (ever see Eddie Van Halen use a 0.016" E string)  ...  
 
Further info ...
 
When I was making the horseshoes for Jason Lollar ... we started building Bass Guitar units.  
 
Everyone loved my very high strength neodymium powered "H-Shoes" ...  
 
But I had to make at least 10 prototypes for the bass units ... because Lollar and Mike Lull just kept sending them back ... saying "too strong" ...  
 
They kept creating strange overtones in those big ol'  floppy strings.
 
We were about to quit trying ... when I built a unit that was pathetically weak (in my world   ) ... and they both loved it.
 
And so did our customers ... hence gaining the scrutiny of RIC International ... blah, blah, blah.
 
Moral of the story ..
 
Those slinky electric guitar gauges and floppy bass guitar strings ... may very well be unfavorably affected by powerful fields ...
 
But on steels ... well in the immortal words of the Campbell's Soup company ...
 
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