JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

[Zheddar]

So I changed the magnet in my JBL labeled JB to an alnico 2 rough cast, and I seem to have a much rougher time using pinch harmonics. I way overuse them (on many pickups) so I know it's most likely not me, but they have gotten more difficult to pull off. Is this the alnico 2 or the fact that it's rough cast affecting them? Any help would be nice, because I rather like the tone, but not the extra work to get my squeals.

 

[2ndhandband]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

So I changed the magnet in my JBL labeled JB to an alnico 2 rough cast, and I seem to have a much rougher time using pinch harmonics. I way overuse them (on many pickups) so I know it's most likely not me, but they have gotten more difficult to pull off. Is this the alnico 2 or the fact that it's rough cast affecting them? Any help would be nice, because I rather like the tone, but not the extra work to get my squeals.

Take this as an opportunity. I learned squeals with hot pickups and way too much gain, and once I started gravitating in the other direction I really had to clean up my technique to get them to pop out. Now I can get harmonics on anything.

Pro tip: squeals are easier to get when your amp is cranked.

 

[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Well,I have been able to easily get harmonics on the Customs, Pearly Gates, Screamin Demon, Pegasus, 59'. I usually can get them pretty easily. In some spots with this swap I can get them like usual, but other spots are giving me a harder time. G, B, E strings are as easy as usual, but the lower E, A, D strings are somewhat cumbersome. I am also getting the same harmonics really easily on the 59' neck with a polished alnico 3.

 

[gregory]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

I just started playing with a JB2 have no problems with pinch harmonics. Not as easy as a stock JB, but they're still there.

 

[Demanic]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Try a UOA5 instead of the A2.

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[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Did you use a polished or rough cast alnico 2? It's pretty odd, but people shouldn't jump to the problem being me or my technique. I've been playing for almost 20 years (with about an 8-10 year break in there with rare play). I also don't know why it would work fine on the neck 59 with alnico 3, usually if people have problems with harmonics in general, then it is more prevalent on vintage neck pickups, but I am getting better harmonics on it. Maybe my magnet is whack, but I did charge it before putting it in. The volumes are balanced so that with lots of gain there isn't any weird sound anomalies when switching between pickups while holding a note. It is definitely in series, and for sure not split. Weird, guess I will have to try my polished alnico 2 and see if maybe that is what the issue is.

 

[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Try a UOA5 instead of the A2.

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I could also try that.

 

[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Ok, now it works.. maybe it was some kind of weird anomaly while the pickup was settling in with the new magnet. Odd stuff. Thanks for the help though guys.

 

[Demanic]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Magnets do take time to settle in. The weaker the magnet, the longer the time.

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[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

So, about that UOA5 suggestion. Will that keep the mids and treble really close but give me more bass? I need just a tad more thump in the muting.

 

[gregory]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Magnets do take time to settle in. The weaker the magnet, the longer the time.

That would basically mean that when going form A5 to A2 pinch harmonics will be harder to get over time, not easier.

 

[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

It would, my problem wasn't that the pinch harmonics were hard or easy, it was that they were blending into everything and not standing out. They were clear, but not in the spotlight.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Because the JB hardly has any high frequencies as it is. Alnico 2 just makes it muddier.

Brighter pickups have more harmonic content.


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[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

Because the JB hardly has any high frequencies as it is. Alnico 2 just makes it muddier.

Brighter pickups have more harmonic content.


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Yup, I think that was part of the issue, although the harmonics are a little more prevalent now. My heavily uneducated but unnecessarily observant theory is that while everything was settling in there must have been something strange going on with how the pickup was reading the strings, caused by the frequencies mushing up in just the right spot for that pickups peak resonance for an hour or so.

 

[gregory]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

A2: Shallower bass and what little treble (high mids) that is still present in the JB wind is softer. Lower mids are much more pronounced.

Not a bad pickup at all, it just depends on what you're going for. Warren DiMartini has no problem getting a great tone with this style of pickup for what he does.

 

[Demanic]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

That would basically mean that when going form A5 to A2 pinch harmonics will be harder to get over time, not easier.

No, it would mean that the field of the A2 would take longer to settle in and until it did getting pinch harmonics would be more difficult.

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[gregory]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

And the residual field in the pole pieces and keeper bar are hindering the situation?

Sorry for sounding incredulous, but I'd feel better reviewing objective evidence supporting the notion as it relates to pinch harmonics (EDIT: or any other anecdotal differences being attributed to the settling time after a magnet swap).

 

[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

The pickup had no magnet in it for like an hour (not sure if that makes a difference). Usually there isn't enough residual magnetic field 5 seconds later to even hold a paperclip.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

That would basically mean that when going form A5 to A2 pinch harmonics will be harder to get over time, not easier.

And the residual field in the pole pieces and keeper bar are hindering the situation?

Sorry for sounding incredulous, but I'd feel better reviewing objective evidence supporting the notion as it relates to pinch harmonics.

I think it isn't so much that the pickup retains the character of the old magnet, it's that the new magnet takes some time to fully permeate its new situation. Copper is nonmagnetic but the steel components could be interfering with the new magnet (whose field is shaped differently) and preventing that field from propagating fully in the beginning. Not a physicist and I'm just speculating here. But if that were the mechanism at work, it would explain why weaker magnets can take longer to settle in.

 

[Zheddar]

Re: JB alnico 2 lost easy pinch harmonics

I think it isn't so much that the pickup retains the character of the old magnet, it's that the new magnet takes some time to fully permeate its new situation. Copper is nonmagnetic but the steel components could be interfering with the new magnet (whose field is shaped differently) and preventing that field from propagating fully in the beginning. Not a physicist and I'm just speculating here. But if that were the mechanism at work, it would explain why weaker magnets can take longer to settle in.

That sounds good to me. But I am not a physicist either.