Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

[Rex_Rocker]

I'm thinking Alnico 4 for the neck to tame some bass, and perhaps Alnico 8 for the bridge for some added low-mid growl?

Has someone done it? If I swap a single oversized A8 in the bridge, would I lose a lot of output?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

Anyone?

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

What dont you like about the Winter? The only Duncan I really just did not like. Maybe it was the guitar, but its just too much of every thing to the point of grating. But I dont play drop tuned deathened thrash

 

[Demanic]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

What dont you like about the Winter? The only Duncan I really just did not like. Maybe it was the guitar, but its just too much of every thing to the point of grating. But I dont play drop tuned deathened thrash

Sounds like my cup of tea.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

 

[Nagisa]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

Try lowering the pups first. If that doesn’t do it then try the a8. It shouldn’t changed the perceived output much. May like it may not

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

Well, what guitar are they in? Because that does make a huge difference with BWs. If there are any quirks in your guitar's tone, those pickups will bring it out. In my Explorer, they brought out farty low mids. In a Ibanez RG421MH, they were insanely bright. In my cheap bolt on King V, they sounded good, as well as my Epiphone Les Paul Custom. Right now, they're in an import King V that is neck thru with basswood wings. I think they've finally found their home in that guitar. It's tone is just right for them.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

There's nothing I blatantly dislike about the Black Winters, really. They're my favorite pickups. I just wanna experiment with them, and I'm wondering what people have done to mod them. I wouldn't mind a bit more low mid chunk out of the bridge, and a little less bottom-end out of the neck for them to balance better, but that's me nitpicking, really. Magnet swaps are all about fine-tuning, not radically changing the pickups, IME, so maybe they'd do it for me.

I've tried playing with the height, but lowering the bridge pup just makes it sound like a weaker, watered-down versions of itself with less chunk to me. Lowering the neck pickup too much makes it not keep up with the bridge pickup, and raising the polepieces to compensate kinda decreases the smoothness that I like about it.

 

[GrilledChickenSalad]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

perhaps Alnico 8 for the bridge for some added low-mid growl?

that's called the Alternative 8.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

There's nothing I blatantly dislike about the Black Winters, really. They're my favorite pickups. I just wanna experiment with them, and I'm wondering what people have done to mod them. I wouldn't mind a bit more low mid chunk out of the bridge, and a little less bottom-end out of the neck for them to balance better, but that's me nitpicking, really. Magnet swaps are all about fine-tuning, not radically changing the pickups, IME, so maybe they'd do it for me.

I've tried playing with the height, but lowering the bridge pup just makes it sound like a weaker, watered-down versions of itself with less chunk to me. Lowering the neck pickup too much makes it not keep up with the bridge pickup, and raising the polepieces to compensate kinda decreases the smoothness that I like about it.

Ah, ok, I see. IIRC, BWs have thick magnets with helper magnets. So swapping isn't very straightforward. It can be done, but it would alter things a bit.

Have you tried having the pickup height where you like it and messing with the screw pole heights? Also, an old trick with JBs to tighten up the lows is to put shorter pole screws in, or trim the existing ones. That may help the neck pup.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

Of course give the A4 and 8 a try. It will make things cooler since triple ceramic is hella hot. But it should come out how you predicted and certainly make things more organic.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Has anybody experimented with different magnets in Black Winters?

There's nothing I blatantly dislike about the Black Winters, really. They're my favorite pickups. I just wanna experiment with them, and I'm wondering what people have done to mod them. I wouldn't mind a bit more low mid chunk out of the bridge, and a little less bottom-end out of the neck for them to balance better, but that's me nitpicking, really. Magnet swaps are all about fine-tuning, not radically changing the pickups, IME, so maybe they'd do it for me.

I've tried playing with the height, but lowering the bridge pup just makes it sound like a weaker, watered-down versions of itself with less chunk to me. Lowering the neck pickup too much makes it not keep up with the bridge pickup, and raising the polepieces to compensate kinda decreases the smoothness that I like about it.

The guitar I had them in must be a dog or something. Its possible, I have been lucky with all my inexpensive guitars.