combining alnico mags with a ceramic pup

midnite_man

midnite_man

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I might get a wild hair the next time I restring my alder-body/rosewood neck MIJ Strat, and swap out the SSL-4 in the bridge for a 'lil59-b I've had sitting around for a few years. The SSL-4 is a great high output s.c., but sometimes it's just a bit too much with the lower output pickups in the neck and middle. I thought the 'lil59 might be worth a try since I already have it on hand and has a lower output, but I was wondering what kind of tonal reaction might occur when combining the two alnico magnets in the neck and middle with a ceramic in the bridge?
Any thoughts? Would the 59 be more of a "use it by itself only" type of pickup?

....Bob
 
Re: combining alnico mags with a ceramic pup

I think it would sound GREAT... mixing magnets does not matter as JB from H said. What you can expect is a sweet warm open 59 kind of toe from the bridge, also the middle and neck pups should balance well with it tonaly and output.
 
Re: combining alnico mags with a ceramic pup

As a matter of fact, treat the magnet material, and most other specs as secondary. Try not to get hung up on stuff like that.
 
Re: combining alnico mags with a ceramic pup

Jocelyn said:
I think it would sound GREAT... mixing magnets does not matter as JB from H said. What you can expect is a sweet warm open 59 kind of toe from the bridge, also the middle and neck pups should balance well with it tonaly and output.
Click to expand...

that's kind of the way I was thinking, Jocelyn....and I agree with JB from H. in regards to not letting the magnet differences become a closed door to experimenting with tone. there are so many variables in each and every guitar that make them completely unique, which can make it hard to really know what sounds best until you just try it.

the frequencies created by 3 coils together might sound interesting.
 
Re: combining alnico mags with a ceramic pup

The little humbuckers all have ceramic magnets since there's no way to get a strong enough field out of that size Alnico's. This is really not comparable to putting a full-size ceramic magnet into a normal humbucker where it gets you a sound changed by the much changed magnet field.

Don't forget that the little humbuckers do, like real humbucker, have a magnet on the bottom and pole pieces, so the magnet is far away from the strings. The Fender-style single coils have the magnets as polepieces and hence are much closer to the strings.

So in the case of little humbuckers: ceramic doesn't have anything to do with normal ceramic sound,.
 
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