Pole tip shield shaped to provide a differential shielding effect alongside the magnetic pole tip

A magnetic assembly comprising:

• a pole assembly configured to induce a magnetic flux in a pole tip having a length extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge and a width extending between side edges;
• a pole tip shield including side shields alongside the pole tip and the side shields having tapered inner side edges spaced from the pole tip and extending alongside the entire length of the pole tip between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the pole tip;
• and
• non-magnetic gap regions between the tapered inner edges of the side shields and the side edges of the pole tip having a non-magnetic gap width that increases in the downtrack direction to provide a larger non-magnetic gap width proximate to the trailing edge of the pole tip than the non-magnetic gap width proximate to the leading edge of the pole tip.