Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Chrismo

Chrismo

New member
So Alnico V Strat pickups sound too "edgy", the Alnico III sound too weak...are Alnico II Strat pickups it for me?

I listen to a lot of demos and I'm still undecided as to what to put in my Strat - the Lace Sensors worked for a while but my ears are tired of them and I need a good set. Something mellow, sweet, clear, chimey and glassy, not too boomy or bassy. Not too noisy or edgy either, at least a preference of a RWRP middle pickup. To me, John Mayer has the most killer Strat tone and very similar to what I'm after. I don't use a ton of gain, especially with Strats, but they should be able to tolerate low/mid gain without sounding muddy or mushy.

I know there's a ton of builders but most sets look like they're Alnico V or III. I've never heard Alnico II Strat pickups before, but from the demos they're more towards what I'm after. The GFS offerings don't sound as bassy as the Duncan Alnico II set, but maybe it's just the demos/recording situation. I haven't had the best of luck with GFS Strat pickups, so I don't know if they're right for me.

What do you recommend? I've got an American alder bodied/maple neck Strat with a vintage trem. If you've got great demos, I'd love to hear 'em.

Thank you!
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

What's up Va Beach?

I personally like AII! Although I've only had DiMarzio and GFS AII experience. I'd say they're right in between edgy and weak. Friendly edge with highs that don't take your head off with nasty treb and the lows are tight and punchy. At least that's what I hear.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

TheLivingDead said:
What's up Va Beach?

I personally like AII! Although I've only had DiMarzio and GFS AII experience. I'd say they're right in between edgy and weak. Friendly edge with highs that don't take your head off with nasty treb and the lows are tight and punchy. At least that's what I hear.
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Haha.

Yeah - AII sounds a bit rounder to my ear, and I like that. To me, AII works best for single coil pickups and AV for humbuckers.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Is it all of your strings that are too edgy with A5 single coils or just the plain ones? If the wound strings seem acceptably twangy, check out SD Five-Two pickups. A2 magnets on the plain strings, A5 on the wound. Best of both worlds.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

I use SD A2's in a Strat. They are mellow, sweet, clear and not too boomy or bassy. I wouldn't describe them as chimey or glassy.

I have a Xaviere Strat from GFS which came with their A2 pups and those I would describe as chimey and glassy, very "surf" like. They were just way too bright for me in that guitar and didn't respond well with gain.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

mayer uses low output alnico 5 pups but he has a pretty sick rig thats hard to duplicate.

i love the alnico II pro pups in the neck and middle with a twangbanger in the bridge. i have a hamer daytona, which is an alder body maple neck strat with vintage style trem, that i had the aps2/aps2/apst1 setup in for a long time. sounds like a strat with bigger mids and a softer attack. its a great setup for those that find the a5 strat sound to be a little sharp
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

I have both the Surfers & the Texas Hots in 2 different Strats. I am not sure, but I am pretty certain the Surfers are AII & I think the Texas Hots are A5. I love them both equally..... well I think I like the Surfers a touch better.

just built a new custom Strat & because I already had the Surfers I went with the Fralin blues Specials. Haven't played the guitar enough yet, but so far I am liking them quite a bit!

Not sure what Lindy uses for magnets
 
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Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Alnico II magnets do not have lows which are tight and punchy. Those are characteristics of Alnico V magnets. The problem with Alnico II pickups lies in the bass strings. While they work well underneath the treble strings they tend to sound mushy and spongy underneath the bass strings. Kinda like pancake batter. Alnico V magnets will give you a tighter, more defined bass response.

Duncan makes a single coil pickup which actually combines both magnets. Alnico II's under the treble strings and Alnico V's under the bass strings.

I personally am veering away from pickups that have Alnico II magnets as I am disliking the loose, spongy sound under the bass strings.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Bludave said:
I have both the Surfers & the Texas Hots in 2 different Strats. I am not sure, but I am pretty certain the Surfers are AII & I think the Texas Hots are A5. I love them both equally..... well I think I like the Surfers a touch better.

just built a new custom Strat & because I already had the Surfers I went with the Fralin blues Specials. Haven't played the guitar enough yet, but so far I am liking them quite a bit!

Not sure what Lindy uses for magnets
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Hi Dave! As you know, it's the music that matters. I'm sure BB King doesn't know what kind of magnets are used in the pickups on Lucille. And I'm sure BB would sound exactly like BB regardless of what magnet was in his pickups.

Lindy uses alnico 5 polepieces in the Blues Special and achieves a warmer tone than a traditional vintage alnico 5 Strat pickup by overwinding the coil with a thinner gauge of wire than vintage Strat pickups were wound with and by the way the wire is layered when it's wound on the coil. Through trial and error he has found a winding pattern that gives him the results he's after. It's a scatter wound pattern and he teaches it to the people who work for him so they can duplicate his pickups.

I'm pretty sure that Seymour's Antiquity Strat single coils are scatterwound too and the Texas Hots use alnico 2 polepieces and Antiquity Surfers use alnico 5 polepieces. Like you, I prefer the Surfers...at least for the neck and middle positions. But I prefer the Antiquity Texas Hot Custom bridge pickup for the bridge position: fatter tone with more mids and that thin "ice pick in the ear" tone of vintage style alnico 5 Strat bridge pickups is eliminated. So my favorite Strat has a combination of alnico 5 and alnico 2 pickups. I like them both.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Hmm...maybe I'll look into the 5/2 set. Wasn't too much a fan of the Tele set, but maybe the Strat set will be different. Thanks!
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Lewguitar said:
Hi Dave! As you know, it's the music that matters. I'm sure BB King doesn't know what kind of magnets are used in the pickups on Lucille. And I'm sure BB would sound exactly like BB regardless of what magnet was in his pickups.

Lindy uses alnico 5 polepieces in the Blues Special and achieves a warmer tone than a traditional vintage alnico 5 Strat pickup by overwinding the coil with a thinner gauge of wire than vintage Strat pickups were wound with and by the way the wire is layered when it's wound on the coil. Through trial and error he has found a winding pattern that gives him the results he's after. It's a scatter wound pattern and he teaches it to the people who work for him so they can duplicate his pickups.

I'm pretty sure that Seymour's Antiquity Strat single coils are scatterwound too and the Texas Hots use alnico 2 polepieces and Antiquity Surfers use alnico 5 polepieces. Like you, I prefer the Surfers...at least for the neck and middle positions. But I prefer the Antiquity Texas Hot Custom bridge pickup for the bridge position: fatter tone with more mids and that thin "ice pick in the ear" tone of vintage style alnico 5 Strat bridge pickups is eliminated. So my favorite Strat has a combination of alnico 5 and alnico 2 pickups. I like them both.
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Hey Lew...... Glad to see you back. Yeah I checked Lindy's website and he doesn't really go into detail about the magnets, but I thought the were A3. Doesn't matter to me much. All of my Strats sound really good.

How are you doing?
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Bludave said:
Hey Lew...... Glad to see you back. Yeah I checked Lindy's website and he doesn't really go into detail about the magnets, but I thought the were A3. Doesn't matter to me much. All of my Strats sound really good.

How are you doing?
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Thanks Dave! I'm doing all right. Went to my doctor the other day and had blood tests and a Cat Scan and there's no sign of the cancer returning. (Also got my medical marijuana prescription renewed. THAT medicine was a God send during chemo.) Been in remission since January. Mostly I've been dealing with getting my brain back. The cancer, chemotherapy and other treatments I did for six months left me with what feels like a brain or head injury. I'm slower than I was but music is coming back to me and just in the last couple of months I've felt whatever was blocking my creativity starting to recede. I can play again! Not as smoothly or as creatively as I could before all of this happened but it's coming back. Hanging out here for the last couple of days and remembering all of the support sent my way by you guys during my darkest days has been very helpful in making my addled brain/mind remember who I am: a musician. Thanks again to all you.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

glad to hear that lew. keep a guitar in your hands when you can, listen to the melodies that you play and it will spark things in your head. its all a very zen journey.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Lewguitar said:
Thanks Dave! I'm doing all right. Went to my doctor the other day and had blood tests and a Cat Scan and there's no sign of the cancer returning. (Also got my medical marijuana prescription renewed. THAT medicine was a God send during chemo.) Been in remission since January. Mostly I've been dealing with getting my brain back. The cancer, chemotherapy and other treatments I did for six months left me with what feels like a brain or head injury. I'm slower than I was but music is coming back to me and just in the last couple of months I've felt whatever was blocking my creativity starting to recede. I can play again! Not as smoothly or as creatively as I could before all of this happened but it's coming back. Hanging out here for the last couple of days and remembering all of the support sent my way by you guys during my darkest days has been very helpful in making my addled brain/mind remember who I am: a musician. Thanks again to all you.
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Good to hear, Lew!
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

My impressions: I like A2's with a brighter, more distorted sound, and A5's for R&B, funk and lower gain blues. The Texas Hot and Antiquity Custom bridge pups are fantastic with me.
===================================================================
Hey, Lew! So glad to hear you're doing well!
Randy
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Chrismo said:
So Alnico V Strat pickups sound too "edgy", the Alnico III sound too weak...are Alnico II Strat pickups it for me?

I listen to a lot of demos and I'm still undecided as to what to put in my Strat - the Lace Sensors worked for a while but my ears are tired of them and I need a good set. Something mellow, sweet, clear, chimey and glassy, not too boomy or bassy. Not too noisy or edgy either, at least a preference of a RWRP middle pickup. To me, John Mayer has the most killer Strat tone and very similar to what I'm after. I don't use a ton of gain, especially with Strats, but they should be able to tolerate low/mid gain without sounding muddy or mushy.

I know there's a ton of builders but most sets look like they're Alnico V or III. I've never heard Alnico II Strat pickups before, but from the demos they're more towards what I'm after. The GFS offerings don't sound as bassy as the Duncan Alnico II set, but maybe it's just the demos/recording situation. I haven't had the best of luck with GFS Strat pickups, so I don't know if they're right for me.

What do you recommend? I've got an American alder bodied/maple neck Strat with a vintage trem. If you've got great demos, I'd love to hear 'em.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

With strat pups I've found A2 to be a bit more OD/Dist friendly. In one of my strats I've got A2P/A2P/Un-Aged Texas Hot Custom (Also A2) and for rock it works well. Before I picked up the CS bridge I used a flat pole A2P in the bridge so I could get more height without the wobble pull from the stagger. That worked really well too.

You just have a softer low end and rounder top end. As I'm sure you've noticed the Seymour Duncan forum optimal pairing is a Surfer/Surfer/Texas Hot Custom (which I think Lew pioneered) but you have to swap the leads on the Texas Hot, if memory serves, to get all the hum cancelling.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Interesting - I'll look into those.

For the price I'm still considering the GFS, but because it's an American Strat I feel like it probably deserves something a little more expensive. Maybe I'm nuts.
 
Re: Alnico II Strat Pickups?

Chrismo said:
Interesting - I'll look into those.

For the price I'm still considering the GFS, but because it's an American Strat I feel like it probably deserves something a little more expensive. Maybe I'm nuts.
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Don't waste your money. It's not a matter of deserve even, it's a matter of getting what you want the FIRST time. Then you're done chasing, and it cost less in the end. Not to mention you're going to REALLY hurt the resale going that route.

All that said......are you trying to use your guitar's tone knobs at all?

Luke
 
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