Custom Shop Strat Pickups Arrived. Question about magnets.

[nicks917]

Hello all,

I got my custom shop Strat pickups and had a chance to play them. I asked for exact copies of 1959 Strat pickups. They sound amazing! MJ did a great job.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why the magnets are AlNiCo II? I thought Fender used AlNiCo V magnets. Not complaining whatsoever.

 

[freefrog]

Hello all,

I got my custom shop Strat pickups and had a chance to play them. I asked for exact copies of 1959 Strat pickups. They sound amazing! MJ did a great job.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why the magnets are AlNiCo II? I thought Fender used AlNiCo V magnets. Not complaining whatsoever.

I don't know why the Custom shop uses A2 but I know that magnets in very old Strat pickups don't test like A5 : IME, L series pickups are magnetically weaker and tend to have a higher inductance than more recent single coils. Both of these features can be reproduced by using current A2 rods (which doesn't imply that Fender used A2 six decades ago: my idea is that magnets makers were providing unprecisely dosed AlNi(Co) to guitar builders because an exact blend wasn't vital in this case).

FWIW.

 

[hamerfan]

It seems that magnets in the 50ies were less standardized than today. Up to 1954 consumer magnets did not contain cobalt (Al ni co), because of war restrictions, which is today called alnico 3.

 

[freefrog]

Yep. I always wonder why pickups makers and suppliers talk about "alnico3" for a formula without cobalt... A winder for whom I've worked called it "alni3" or "alnicu3", which seems more logical to me - reason why I put "Co" between parenthesis when I write "AlNi(Co)". Now, alni3 from the 50s or 60s was not necessarily the same either than current A3... ;-)

 

[Mincer]

"Build me pickups that sound just like 50's Strat pickups"
"Build me pickups just like 50's Strat pickups"
...are 2 different things 70 years on.

 

[nicks917]

"Build me pickups that sound just like 50's Strat pickups"
"Build me pickups just like 50's Strat pickups"
...are 2 different things 70 years on.

Gotcha. Not complaining about them. It's the engineer in me that was interested in the magnet choice.

 

[nicks917]

Reply I got from the custom shop.

"Hello Nick,

We chose A2 because we think it is the best choice for replicating the tone of strat pickups that would have been in the world since 1959."​

 

[Mincer]

That makes sense.