How do you know?

Andy.tech

Andy.tech

New member
Hello, just wanted to ask a question. Is there a way to know if a Pickup has Alnico II or V without opening up the pickup?
 
Re: How do you know?

not really. they dont sound the same and they look identical for practical purposes.

what pup is it?
 
Re: How do you know?

My Friend says he has Alnico II Classics pickups and that he's pretty sure they are Probuckers but I dunno how to tell if they are or not cause they have no stickers or anything
 
Re: How do you know?

If you tell us exactly what model of Epihone it is, and if it haven't been modified, then we might be able to help.
 
Re: How do you know?

As to what they came out of he doesn't know, he bought them to put into a guitar but never did the install and now doesn't have the guitar. And as to if they've been modified I'd say no cause they haven't been opened
 
Re: How do you know?

Figure out the magnet type? Ok - this is how you do this;

1. Find a table big enough to hold the guitar end to end

2. Place a white tablecloth over the table (White/off white/ecru, anywhere in the light white color zone is fine)

3. You will need six candles. The color will depend on the pickups. I say six because it takes one for each slug/pole. They need to match the color of the coils. So, double black = Six black candles. Cream/Black means six cream colored, six black. The candles need to be pretty close to the coil color - unlike the table cloth.
(by the way - none of this works if it has rails instead of slug/screws….)

4. Arrange the candles in a semi-circle around the body of the guitar. The candles should form a circle over all, and if the coils are different colors, make the semi circle of that color OPPOSITE (this is really important…) of the coil color. So if you have black/cream, the black candles should be around the part that is cream, and the cream candles around the part that is black. Some/yin/yang energy thing I don't get.

- Oh yeah, be sure the selector switch is set to pickup you are trying to identify!

5. Next, you'll need a picture of Jeff Beck, Eddie VAn Halen, or some other suitable guitar hero that relates to style of music you predominantly play. This works better if the picture is in a frame. Place the picture near the headstock, tilted up so Jeff, Ed, Page or whoever is looking down the neck of the guitar.

6. Place a sprig of cilantro under the strings and on the pickup. Then, put one drops of oil, a very small drop, on each coil. If the pickup is classic output, use mint oil. If it is a hot output, put a pinch of Cayenne in olive oil. Be sure not to get the oil in the pickup. Use really small drops and know you need to wipe them off carefully later.

- By the way…you need to do all of this so you can finish when it is dark.

7. Next, place 13 of your favorite pic in a small bowl. You will set these on fire a little later. Add a little whatever you think will make them burn. Be careful there.

8. You'll need a dice and a dead, but fresh chicken, and a sharp knife.

9. Print out the 7th post of the day by Blueman on this forum. You'll need to find the seventh post starting from midnight on the day you do this, and you'll have to complete it by midnight that night. If he hasn't posted seven, you need to wait. You may want to refrigerate the chicken, but it isn't necessary. Your call, but consider roommates, spouses, neighbors, etc…

- Ok. here we go….you may want to read over this before we start.

After it is dark….Put on anything by Hendrix. It has to be Live. Format is not important, but I have heard Vinyl is better. Can't say for sure.

- You need to use REAL WOOD MATCHES when lighting things. No idea why, it just doesn't work if you use a bic, or whatever.

8. Light the candles, starting with the one at TRUE MAGNETIC NORTH!!!!!! And if you are in the northern hemisphere, light them clockwise. If in the southern hemisphere, light them counter clockwise.

9. Then, crumple the post by Blueman and light it, and place it in the pic bowl.

10. While the paper pics are burning - slice the dead chicken's throat, and allow the blood to run down over the guitar hero's pic. You can pluck/chop eat the chicken or whatever later. The amount of blood is not important, just be sure to a) NOT entirely cover the pic (must see guitar player) and b) DON'T get any on the guitar.

- You need to get all of this done before the fire in the bowl of pics goes out!!!!!

11. Chant the following - "Spirits, fluence the flux to frapulate the falbo" NINE times - again must be completed before the bowl is done burning.
(just a coincidence that it sounds like someone we know…in case you were going to ask)

12. Roll the die. It MUST bounce off of the guitar. It MUST NOT roll off the table. If it lands all cock-eyed on a side, the guitar is a cheap Chinese knockoff, the pickup identification is ruined, and you'll have to place the pickups in another guitar and start all over.

13. Pick up the die, place it carefully on the d and g strings (regardless of tuning, but E works best - the further you down-tune the more likely evil spirits will mess it up), so the number facing up is showing.

If the number is EVEN, it is an Alnico 2. If the number is ODD it's an A5.

Let us know how it turns out…
 
Last edited:
Re: How do you know?

With Seymour Duncan alnico magnets, we paint one end with a magic marker to tell the difference. Black means Alnico 5. Blue means Alnico 2. So if you can see the magnet ends, one of them will have the color and you'll know.

Or Aceman's method, which also works in a pinch...
 
Re: How do you know?

Andy.tech said:
As to what they came out of he doesn't know, he bought them to put into a guitar but never did the install and now doesn't have the guitar. And as to if they've been modified I'd say no cause they haven't been opened
Click to expand...
So, the p'ups are NOT in the guitar... how about posting some pictures of the p'ups, then? That would help bunches...
 
Re: How do you know?

Aceman said:
Figure out the magnet type? Ok - this is how you do this;

1. Find a table big enough to hold the guitar end to end

2. Place a white tablecloth over the table (White/off white/ecru, anywhere in the light white color zone is fine)

3. You will need six candles. The color will depend on the pickups. I say six because it takes one for each slug/pole. They need to match the color of the coils. So, double black = Six black candles. Cream/Black means six cream colored, six black. The candles need to be pretty close to the coil color - unlike the table cloth.
(by the way - none of this works if it has rails instead of slug/screws….)

4. Arrange the candles in a semi-circle around the body of the guitar. The candles should form a circle over all, and if the coils are different colors, make the semi circle of that color OPPOSITE (this is really important…) of the coil color. So if you have black/cream, the black candles should be around the part that is cream, and the cream candles around the part that is black. Some/yin/yang energy thing I don't get.

- Oh yeah, be sure the selector switch is set to pickup you are trying to identify!

5. Next, you'll need a picture of Jeff Beck, Eddie VAn Halen, or some other suitable guitar hero that relates to style of music you predominantly play. This works better if the picture is in a frame. Place the picture near the headstock, tilted up so Jeff, Ed, Page or whoever is looking down the neck of the guitar.

6. Place a sprig of cilantro under the strings and on the pickup. Then, put one drops of oil, a very small drop, on each coil. If the pickup is classic output, use mint oil. If it is a hot output, put a pinch of Cayenne in olive oil. Be sure not to get the oil in the pickup. Use really small drops and know you need to wipe them off carefully later.

- By the way…you need to do all of this so you can finish when it is dark.

7. Next, place 13 of your favorite pic in a small bowl. You will set these on fire a little later. Add a little whatever you think will make them burn. Be careful there.

8. You'll need a dice and a dead, but fresh chicken, and a sharp knife.

9. Print out the 7th post of the day by Blueman on this forum. You'll need to find the seventh post starting from midnight on the day you do this, and you'll have to complete it by midnight that night. If he hasn't posted seven, you need to wait. You may want to refrigerate the chicken, but it isn't necessary. Your call, but consider roommates, spouses, neighbors, etc…

- Ok. here we go….you may want to read over this before we start.

After it is dark….Put on anything by Hendrix. It has to be Live. Format is not important, but I have heard Vinyl is better. Can't say for sure.

- You need to use REAL WOOD MATCHES when lighting things. No idea why, it just doesn't work if you use a bic, or whatever.

8. Light the candles, starting with the one at TRUE MAGNETIC NORTH!!!!!! And if you are in the northern hemisphere, light them clockwise. If in the southern hemisphere, light them counter clockwise.

9. Then, crumple the post by Blueman and light it, and place it in the pic bowl.

10. While the paper pics are burning - slice the dead chicken's throat, and allow the blood to run down over the guitar hero's pic. You can pluck/chop eat the chicken or whatever later. The amount of blood is not important, just be sure to a) NOT entirely cover the pic (must see guitar player) and b) DON'T get any on the guitar.

- You need to get all of this done before the fire in the bowl of pics goes out!!!!!

11. Chant the following - "Spirits, fluence the flux to frapulate the falbo" NINE times - again must be completed before the bowl is done burning.
(just a coincidence that it sounds like someone we know…in case you were going to ask)

12. Roll the die. It MUST bounce off of the guitar. It MUST NOT roll off the table. If it lands all cock-eyed on a side, the guitar is a cheap Chinese knockoff, the pickup identification is ruined, and you'll have to place the pickups in another guitar and start all over.

13. Pick up the die, place it carefully on the d and g strings (regardless of tuning, but E works best - the further you down-tune the more likely evil spirits will mess it up), so the number facing up is showing.

If the number is EVEN, it is an Alnico 2. If the number is ODD it's an A5.

Let us know how it turns out…
Click to expand...

I tried this one already but when I lit the candles the dead chicken ran away :cool: Something about the sky was falling....
 
Re: How do you know?

The more you do it, you pick up little tricks like making sure the chicken is dead before you start the whole affair…
 
Re: How do you know?

Evan Skopp said:
With Seymour Duncan alnico magnets, we paint one end with a magic marker to tell the difference. Black means Alnico 5. Blue means Alnico 2. So if you can see the magnet ends, one of them will have the color and you'll know.

Or Aceman's method, which also works in a pinch...
Click to expand...

I'm just saying, with my approach, you do not have to remove the pickups from the guitar.
 
Re: How do you know?

Aceman said:
Figure out the magnet type? Ok - this is how you do this;

1. Find a table big enough to hold the guitar end to end

2. Place a white tablecloth over the table (White/off white/ecru, anywhere in the light white color zone is fine)

3. You will need six candles. The color will depend on the pickups. I say six because it takes one for each slug/pole. They need to match the color of the coils. So, double black = Six black candles. Cream/Black means six cream colored, six black. The candles need to be pretty close to the coil color - unlike the table cloth.
(by the way - none of this works if it has rails instead of slug/screws….)

4. Arrange the candles in a semi-circle around the body of the guitar. The candles should form a circle over all, and if the coils are different colors, make the semi circle of that color OPPOSITE (this is really important…) of the coil color. So if you have black/cream, the black candles should be around the part that is cream, and the cream candles around the part that is black. Some/yin/yang energy thing I don't get.

- Oh yeah, be sure the selector switch is set to pickup you are trying to identify!

5. Next, you'll need a picture of Jeff Beck, Eddie VAn Halen, or some other suitable guitar hero that relates to style of music you predominantly play. This works better if the picture is in a frame. Place the picture near the headstock, tilted up so Jeff, Ed, Page or whoever is looking down the neck of the guitar.

6. Place a sprig of cilantro under the strings and on the pickup. Then, put one drops of oil, a very small drop, on each coil. If the pickup is classic output, use mint oil. If it is a hot output, put a pinch of Cayenne in olive oil. Be sure not to get the oil in the pickup. Use really small drops and know you need to wipe them off carefully later.

- By the way…you need to do all of this so you can finish when it is dark.

7. Next, place 13 of your favorite pic in a small bowl. You will set these on fire a little later. Add a little whatever you think will make them burn. Be careful there.

8. You'll need a dice and a dead, but fresh chicken, and a sharp knife.

9. Print out the 7th post of the day by Blueman on this forum. You'll need to find the seventh post starting from midnight on the day you do this, and you'll have to complete it by midnight that night. If he hasn't posted seven, you need to wait. You may want to refrigerate the chicken, but it isn't necessary. Your call, but consider roommates, spouses, neighbors, etc…

- Ok. here we go….you may want to read over this before we start.

After it is dark….Put on anything by Hendrix. It has to be Live. Format is not important, but I have heard Vinyl is better. Can't say for sure.

- You need to use REAL WOOD MATCHES when lighting things. No idea why, it just doesn't work if you use a bic, or whatever.

8. Light the candles, starting with the one at TRUE MAGNETIC NORTH!!!!!! And if you are in the northern hemisphere, light them clockwise. If in the southern hemisphere, light them counter clockwise.

9. Then, crumple the post by Blueman and light it, and place it in the pic bowl.

10. While the paper pics are burning - slice the dead chicken's throat, and allow the blood to run down over the guitar hero's pic. You can pluck/chop eat the chicken or whatever later. The amount of blood is not important, just be sure to a) NOT entirely cover the pic (must see guitar player) and b) DON'T get any on the guitar.

- You need to get all of this done before the fire in the bowl of pics goes out!!!!!

11. Chant the following - "Spirits, fluence the flux to frapulate the falbo" NINE times - again must be completed before the bowl is done burning.
(just a coincidence that it sounds like someone we know…in case you were going to ask)

12. Roll the die. It MUST bounce off of the guitar. It MUST NOT roll off the table. If it lands all cock-eyed on a side, the guitar is a cheap Chinese knockoff, the pickup identification is ruined, and you'll have to place the pickups in another guitar and start all over.

13. Pick up the die, place it carefully on the d and g strings (regardless of tuning, but E works best - the further you down-tune the more likely evil spirits will mess it up), so the number facing up is showing.

If the number is EVEN, it is an Alnico 2. If the number is ODD it's an A5.

Let us know how it turns out…
Click to expand...

Too funny!!!!
 
Re: How do you know?

Ok so my friends said that it came out of a Epiphone Custom. I looked it up and the only 4 wire pickups used in a Custom was the Custom Pro.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top