A3 roughcast vs polished ?

[gimmieinfo]

I thought i asked this already but i forgot about it and can't find it. So sorry if i already did, but i have a set of PAF style humbuckers that i swapped A3 bars into and like it much better. But i also have a set of roughcast i haven't tried and wonder if someone can tell me if these would compromise the low end which is my main issue with this LP. The A3 polished bars helped clear the lows up and i don't want to reverse that. Will that be what happens if i put the roughcast bars in?

 

[beaubrummels]

IME roughcast has more noticeable effect on the top end. It seems to soften the pickup over all and give it "complex texture" as some say. Hard to describe in words, but polished is clear and tight, rough softens the edges a bit.

 

[jeremy]

i agree with that in general. rough is cloudier than polished, but similar all around

 

[freefrog]

I'll impudently paste a bit of my previous answer:

Regarding polished vs RC, magnetism is often more consistent and more even with polished bars but the look of a magnet doesn't suffice to predict a tone: it depends on the specs involved, varying themselves with several factors (foundry where a mag comes from, how and when it has been charged, and so on; A3 bars from vintage P90's, for instance, are not really like A3 currently sold by online suppliers ).

I'm not saying there's no difference. Just that texture alone is not predictive of a defined tonal change IME and therefore IMHO. FWIW. YMMV.

Now, the idea that RC is sonically softer matches the idea that RC often goes with a less consistent and less even magnetism. RC texture may also create random gaps between magnet and other parts or develop more easily some superficial insulating oxydation, interacting randomly with the behaviour of the magnetic circuit...

More considerations about that from another pickup winder, in the 53th post of the thread below:

https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/a...hed-alnico-magnets.415035/page-3#post-8815852

 

[Chistopher]

It's a subtle enough difference that it would be really easy to convince yourself it was all in your head

 

[GuitarDoc]

Yes, it is a very subtle difference between RC and Polished...but it IS there, like Beau said.