Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

[FernandoDuarte]

Hello guys!
I'm building a LP and have already bought a PG neck pickup for it, but still undecided on the bridge pickup.
AII sounds cool except for the low E string, then I found it munchy...
I'm thinking in buy a used PG and install a alnico 4 magnet on it, has anyone tried it before? Do you have an idea of what should I expect in change on the sound?
My goal is to have a little more power, yet without loose the warmth of the AII.
Cheers

 

[Discharged]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

My goal is to have a little more power, yet without loose the warmth of the AII.

Tudo bem? Tudo bom?

If that's what you want, then the magnet you're looking for is the UnOriented A5 aka UOA5, that would match and complement the tone of a PGn.

/Peter

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

Hello guys!
I'm building a LP and have already bought a PG neck pickup for it, but still undecided on the bridge pickup.
AII sounds cool except for the low E string, then I found it munchy...
I'm thinking in buy a used PG and install a alnico 4 magnet on it, has anyone tried it before? Do you have an idea of what should I expect in change on the sound?
My goal is to have a little more power, yet without loose the warmth of the AII.
Cheers

To what strength the magnet is charged will impact the sound more than the kind of magnet itself ranging from A2 to 5


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[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

To what strength the magnet is charged will impact the sound more than the kind of magnet itself ranging from A2 to 5

While I don't concur, you're not alone in that opinion.

I encountered a poster over at the Tele forum who is quite adamant that magnet strength is the ONLY difference which affects tone. Even between A2 and ceramics. This is someone with a background in science and a gaussmeter, neither of which I've got. They claim hard data backs them up, and on paper it might appear to.

Yet I think we need to acknowledge that tests - however carefully conceived & precise - don't always reflect the whole picture. Especially when it comes to pickups. Not only is tone both dynamic and highly subjective, but there's also feel which is even more so, as well as subtle enough that IMO it'd be nearly impossible to quantify.

Anyway, I don't claim any definitive knowledge, or even extensive experience: I've been swapping pickups for forty years but only swapping magnets for four or five. Even so, based on the results in several familiar humbuckers I believe the grade of alnico can affect tone, texture & feel at least as much as any difference field strength. And likely more.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

i can say from experience that a2 and a5 charged to the same level do not sound the same

 

[Mincer]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

I know switching to a won't change the power, although it will make some frequencies more prominent. A roughcast A5 is also a good choice.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

I know switching to a won't change the power, although it will make some frequencies more prominent. A roughcast A5 is also a good choice.

I just had a neck pickup wound by the custom shop. I was going Alnico 2 and they said no, you need an Alnico 4 to get what you want. I had asked for something with a very flat response to let the guitar’s natural tone through. They said A2 will emphasise the lows and mids more than required and though the A4 will give more output it will do so with a flatter curve so as to prevent and boomyness in the lows or spikiness in the highs.


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[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

I just had a neck pickup wound by the custom shop. I was going Alnico 2 and they said no, you need an Alnico 4 to get what you want. I had asked for something with a very flat response to let the guitar’s natural tone through. They said A2 will emphasise the lows and mids more than required and though the A4 will give more output it will do so with a flatter curve so as to prevent and boomyness in the lows or spikiness in the highs.


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You can trust MJ. She has more experience voicing various different pickups than just about anybody.

A4 has a very neutral character; IMO it does indeed render a guitar's natural voice very faithfully, more so than A2 or A5.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

I look at A4's generally being most useful in the neck slot. There's a lot of mids and low end in that position, and A4's won't add too much more. In some guitar/pickup combinations, A5's can have too much low end. A2's have some great qualities, but sometimes their low end is a bit loose.

The bridge slot is inherently sharper, with more treble, less mids & sustain, and less output. In some pickups an A4 might not give as full a bridge sound as desired. Depends on the pickup's wind, the guitar's wood, and other variables. A4's are one of the unoriented magnets (along with A2, A3, and UOA5). A4's stand out as having a flatter EQ than the others, and by being more neutral and adding the least amount of 'character.' That can be good or not-so-good, depending on your perspective.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

For the problem you describe, I would first try pickup adjustments. Adjust pickup height, pickup angle, and the screw pole pieces.

 

[FernandoDuarte]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

Well, for that said, perhaps a A4 59 could be the ticket... like it but a bit too scooped, with A4 it could have a more balanced tone...

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

Well, for that said, perhaps a A4 59 could be the ticket... like it but a bit too scooped, with A4 it could have a more balanced tone...

Just describe what you need to the Custom Shop. They’ll ask you your guitar’s woods, weight, your string gauge used and a lot of other tiny details. Like in my case I was chasing a tone that was uncoloured and a good match to a popular pickup by another company in my bridge. They took great care to ensure they built something to match it in the neck with scatter wound, mismatched coils and all vintage correct parts. They insisted we will use a proper rough cast mag as with the vintage buckers. The quality of the mag they recon will have a huge impact.

So don’t go DIY if possible


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[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

I look at A4's generally being most useful in the neck slot. There's a lot of mids and low end in that position, and A4's won't add too much more. In some guitar/pickup combinations, A5's can have too much low end. A2's have some great qualities, but sometimes their low end is a bit loose.

The bridge slot is inherently sharper, with more treble, less mids & sustain, and less output. In some pickups an A4 might not give as full a bridge sound as desired. Depends on the pickup's wind, the guitar's wood, and other variables. A4's are one of the unoriented magnets (along with A2, A3, and UOA5). A4's stand out as having a flatter EQ than the others, and by being more neutral and adding the least amount of 'character.' That can be good or not-so-good, depending on your perspective.

I too have generally found A4 most useful in the neck slot. The factory A4 9K bridge pickup in my McCarty exhibits a lot more personality with UA5, and an overwound A4 Sin humbucker benefited much from a rough A5.

However, there are exceptions: I have an A4 Wizz PAF that's very sweet indeed at the bridge - however, that one's in a very sweet guitar.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

Well, for that said, perhaps a A4 59 could be the ticket... like it but a bit too scooped, with A4 it could have a more balanced tone...

'59's are a good platform for experimentation, whether with mag swaps or in making hybrids pickups. A4's are popular here for '59N's, to take out some low end of the stock A5's, which can be especially useful in LP's. I'm a big fan of UOA5's, and really like them in '59B's. To my way of thinking, the Vintage Blue set ('59 set) would have been much better with an UOA5 in the bridge and an A4 in the neck. Not only would it fit the image better of a smokey old juke joint, but it would offer two 'new' pickup alternatives to players who don't swap magnets.

Magnets are $4, get some and see how you like the tones.

 

[Bodeanicus]

Re: Alnico IV on Pearly Gates

Hello guys!
I'm building a LP and have already bought a PG neck pickup for it, but still undecided on the bridge pickup.
AII sounds cool except for the low E string, then I found it munchy...
I'm thinking in buy a used PG and install a alnico 4 magnet on it, has anyone tried it before? Do you have an idea of what should I expect in change on the sound?
My goal is to have a little more power, yet without loose the warmth of the AII.
Cheers

Lower the bass side of your pickup, or lower the set screws on that side. See what happens.

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