How can I find which magnet is this?

[nitraus]

Reading this forum I got interested in the magnet swapping thing, and having some old crappy pickups at home, I'd like to start swapping magnets and/or coils to see how do they change.

My question is: is there any kind of test I should do to find out which kind of magnets do these pickups have? I know the ceramics are darker gray coloured, while the alnicos look like normal metal bars.. But how can I say if a magnet is an A5 whether an A2?

Thanks a lot!

 

[adrian]

Re: How can I find which magnet is this?

Actually, you can´t by using normal standards like ears and eyes. I got an old Les Paul-SG 1961, which I always thought had PAFs with Alnico 2 magnets. So when the pickups needed some service I had a tech to check them, and he found that the neck pickup had a alnico 5 and the bridge a alnico 2. Gibson was not so well organized back then. But it seems to be a great idea to have an alnico 5 in the neck with its more focused bass tones, and an alnico 2 in the bridge with its smoother highs. OK, but I got a Howard Roberts Fusion with a 490R (alnico 2) in the neck, and a Dimarzio Air Norton (alnico 5) in the bridge. Sounds great too. Type of magnets matters, but it´s not THAT important. Guitar, amp, effects, pickups and fingers are more important.

 

[DonP]

Re: How can I find which magnet is this?

Gibson was not so well organized back then.

I think you need to put things into perspective before making a statement like that.

I'm pretty sure in 1961 people didn't care about what type of magnet it was, just that it was a magnet. It was 10-15 years later when Gibson started magnet experimenting (the Velvet Brick) and even later than that when you started seeing Alnico II vs. Alnico V.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: How can I find which magnet is this?

The A2's I've seen are a little duller grey in color than the A5, but this only applies to polished mags. If you have a RC mag the cut sides may be enough to know, but I wouldn't count on it. The old screwdriver test could tell you the difference if it wasn't a degaussed A5, but you would need both an A2 and an A5 to compare. In other words, not really until you put it in a pickup, the differences are immediately obvious then.

 

[trevorus]

Re: How can I find which magnet is this?

Actually, you can´t by using normal standards like ears and eyes. I got an old Les Paul-SG 1961, which I always thought had PAFs with Alnico 2 magnets. So when the pickups needed some service I had a tech to check them, and he found that the neck pickup had a alnico 5 and the bridge a alnico 2. Gibson was not so well organized back then. But it seems to be a great idea to have an alnico 5 in the neck with its more focused bass tones, and an alnico 2 in the bridge with its smoother highs. OK, but I got a Howard Roberts Fusion with a 490R (alnico 2) in the neck, and a Dimarzio Air Norton (alnico 5) in the bridge. Sounds great too. Type of magnets matters, but it´s not THAT important. Guitar, amp, effects, pickups and fingers are more important.

Oh, I just swapped an UOA4 in a Custom to an A2, and you can DEFINITELY tell the difference.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: How can I find which magnet is this?

A2, A3, A4, A5.....etc
are all grades of steel
the make up of which, how much aluminum Nickel cobalt etc is deterimined by the grade