Are all magnets created equally?

[Top-L]

I bought a selection of magnets off ebay about a decade ago. They have been in my parts box since.

I attempted a magnet swap, but the end result was really low output and sounded bad. I haven't tried any since then.

I want to start swapping magnets. If I take a ceramic magnet out of an OEM ibby pickup, would it work just as well as a SD ceramic magnet? (For instance, if I put the ceramic OEM ibby magnet in my Custom Five, would it sound just like a Custom, or would it be different because the magnet was not a SD?

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Alnicos tend to vary far more than ceramics from one supplier to another I think. And they maintain their charge well.
Can't guarantee the Ibanez will be perfectly identical, but IMO it's likely to be very close.

Your old alnicos may have lost their charge - being next to a strong magnet like ceramic can weaken them in a matter of minutes.
You can recharge them quickly and easily using a neo magnet.
Just stlck them together with each other (to be sure the polarity is stable) and keep them away from strong fields.

 

[Top-L]

Where can I buy Seymour Duncan magnets?

 

[GuitarDoc]

As far as I know, SD, Ibanez, Gibson, Epi, etc don't make their own magnets. They are pretty generic. You can buy them from a lot of places. I get mine from addictionfx on ebay...great selection, good quality reasonable price.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

+1 on AddictionFX. Great supplier for standard mags.

For double thick alnicos I go to Cermag.

I still don't have a current source for spacer-sized alnicos but I bet Cermag would make those too.

 

[AlexR]

Magnets are not all the same.
Excluding the fact that your old ones seem to have been degaussed for some reason, even nominally the same grade can have different compositions (hence different capacity and therefore tone sculpting).
There is no guarantee that any mag you buy from a supplier could suit the pickup/guitar any more than the next supplier's offerings. So its best to get a selection of types (storing them separately from one another) to find the best fit for what you want.

 

[Masta' C]

Storing magnets properly is critical if you don't want them to lose their charge!

That said, the difference between an Ibanez Ceramic and a Duncan Ceramic, assuming they are the same size and charge, will be minimal.

 

[Top-L]

Magnets are not all the same.
Excluding the fact that your old ones seem to have been degaussed for some reason, even nominally the same grade can have different compositions (hence different capacity and therefore tone sculpting).
There is no guarantee that any mag you buy from a supplier could suit the pickup/guitar any more than the next supplier's offerings. So its best to get a selection of types (storing them separately from one another) to find the best fit for what you want.

Oops, they have been in my parts box for the past ten years in a clump.