You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction.
Ceramic pickups vs alnico.
So we often hear.
Just remember that this is only one factor that goes into designing the tonal characteristics of a pickup.
4 57 1 don t do that.
So having said that i ve noticed that as you go cycle through alnico 2 5 8 and ceramic the lows tighten up and the uppper mids become more pronounced.
Alnico vs ceramic magnets.
So much so that alnico is almost never used in grades of 5 or higher grades are used to tell a magnet s strength but only in comparison to magnets made of the same material.
Alnico is a lot more expensive than ceramic.
Pickups with alnico v magnets that are voiced more aggressively than pickups with ceramic magnets and alnico ii pickups that sound totally different from other alnico ii pickups definitely exist.
Alnico seems to be the popular favorite but on the other hand there is no shortage of popular recordings that feature ceramic.
To crown a winner in our alnico vs ceramic magnets shootout we would need a way to accurately compare the two which is not an easy task.
Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool.
Got myself a 2010 mim std strat and i m looking for some new pickups.
Alnico vii is in some pickups but this is rare.
The custom is ceramic the custom 5 is alnico 5 and the custom custom is alnico 2.
A lot of people automatically say that alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups.
3 42 9 total voters 7.
Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides.
I ve found a guy selling a really nice 60 s style set from a local winder.
The distortion is ceramic and the jb is alnico 5 but everything else is the same.
Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues.
The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response.
Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico.