Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

Burnin_UP

Burnin_UP

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I've put a set of Duncan Antiquities and a new wiring harness (50's style) with 500K pots and bumble bee caps (.022 bridge, .015 neck) in my Tokai les paul.

:)

The neck pickup is pretty ballsy, but the bridge is just a bit too thin, and noticeably weaker.

I've got some magnets here, including an A4 rough cast magnet.

What's the recommendation? Didn't the PAF originally come with A4? What would I expect with that? Other suggestions?
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

Just changingthe magnet may not make it more 'ballsy' depending on your idea of 'ballsy'.
An A4 will clear out the mids and add some more low and high end. Very a balanced.
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

I would tinker around with the pickup heights. I've got Ants in an Edwards LP and a Gibson 335, and the bridge is neither thin nor weak. At least relative to other PAFs.
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

A double thickness mag will beef it up. Cermag offers A5 and A8 stock and can fab A2, A4 and A6. I highly recommend double thickness mags for bridge position. Expecially for vintage output where you can get the openness plus some extra punch from the mag. Give it a shot.
 
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Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

I have an Antiquity bridge and it doesn't sound thin or weak. But a vintage pickup like that just might not be the sound you tend to like. I don't know if a magnet swap will help that- you might need a hotter, more modern pickup.
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

Double thickness mags fill in the bass and increase the output. Especially going from a degaussed A2, it will make a substantial difference.
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

im running a full strength a3 neck with no cover and stock aged a2 with cover bridge in my lp. i think its a great combo for my taste and rig but everyone is different. if you want more juice, an a8 will fatten that thing up pretty quick
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

I've used the Antiquities in other guitars before (mainly Gibson Historics). I think it might just be something about the tokai.

I did the A4 swap and it's now fuller sounding.

But I am wondering about the double magnets - isn't that what page did with his bridge? I recall some picture that showed a magnet on the bottom of his pickup. Is that how you do it?
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

No, it's 1 mag that's twice as thick. I recommend double thick A2 to stick with the vintage tone or double thick A6 if you want to try something different but that will still suit the pickup.
 
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Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

The degaussed A2's in Ant's aren't for everyone. It's a weak magnet made even weaker, and that impacts the tone. Some players prefer fully-charged A2's or UOA5's (which have the same sort of feel as A2's).
 
Re: Best magnet for SD Antiquity bridge in les paul?

The A4 helped.

Figuring out that the bridge had TITANIUM saddles in it helped even more.


I now have a Faber 70/30 zinc aluminum bridge on it, with BRASS saddles, and I went back to the stock A2. YUM YUM.

It nows sounds like a les paul with SD antiquities, a sound I know and love, and being my goto pickup for a les paul, it was shocking how wrong it sounded. Sometimes it's the hardware - not the pickups. I was afraid it was just that it was Tokai built and not a Gibson (my first tokai lp).

Thanks for all the advice.
 
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