Magnet bars in cheap pickups

L

Lonkero

New member
My friend gave me a used Epiphone neck humbucker. The sound is not good in it, but it has an alnico II magnet.

So I was thinking I could swap its bar it to my custom trembucker. My question is, are the magnet bars in cheap pickups inferior to ones that seymour duncan pickups uses?

I've always wondered what separates a good pickup from a bad. Is it winding, the quality of magnet bar, baseplate or something other ?
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Well, dismantling your Epi pickup would be a way explore the construction of conventional humbucking pickups. By all means, experiment with magnet swaps.

My favourite application for cheap, "not very good" pickups is slide guitar. Sometimes, El Cheapo, plywood, barely playable electric guitars turn out to be fantastic for slide. Nasty pickups seem to be part of this equation.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

don't bother, those epi pickup magnets aren't even shaped right, sanded and finished smooth. they're just broken out of the cast, magnetized, and stuck into the pickup as far as i can tell.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

super rad stuff said:
don't bother, those epi pickup magnets aren't even shaped right, sanded and finished smooth. they're just broken out of the cast, magnetized, and stuck into the pickup as far as i can tell.
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Does it even matter that they're not smooth and beautiful looking? As long as they fit into the PU and provide a magnetic field, that's what they are supposed to do.

I thought Epi PUs used A5 magnets. Are some of them A2? Which ones?
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

GuitarDoc said:
Does it even matter that they're not smooth and beautiful looking? As long as they fit into the PU and provide a magnetic field, that's what they are supposed to do.

I thought Epi PUs used A5 magnets. Are some of them A2? Which ones?
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what i meant was they won't fit right and the coils won't sit flat in the pickup if you can manage to get them in.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

super rad stuff said:
what i meant was they won't fit right and the coils won't sit flat in the pickup if you can manage to get them in.
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I see. Now I'm very curious. I have half a dozen Epi PUs lying around, I'll have to take one apart tonight. I was counting on using some of those magnets in future mag swaps. Darn!

Hey, Super RS, do you happen to know if those Epi mags are Alnico 5 or 2? I was told by a very reliable source that they were A5.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Actually they might be alnico 5 instead of 2 (that's what I've been told)

Still, any alnico could be improvement to my Custom since I've kind of grow out of ceramic magnet and want more articulation with natural sound
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Lonkero said:
Actually they might be alnico 5 instead of 2 (that's what I've been told)

Still, any alnico could be improvement to my Custom since I've kind of grow out of ceramic magnet and want more articulation with natural sound
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I never did get along with the Custom. I put an A8 in it and put it into an SG and it sounds good now.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

i think they're a5, that's what all the epiphone ads say concerning their "classic" pickups.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

super rad stuff said:
don't bother, those epi pickup magnets aren't even shaped right, sanded and finished smooth. they're just broken out of the cast, magnetized, and stuck into the pickup as far as i can tell.
Click to expand...

Not so fast. Zhang said all he uses now are rough cast magnets as they have a little better tone due to the unsmoothed finish.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

blueman335 said:
Not so fast. Zhang said all he uses now are rough cast magnets as they have a little better tone due to the unsmoothed finish.
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Do you mean the guy who makes the Zhangbuckers? He seems very nice and well knowing about pickups..
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Lonkero said:
My friend gave me a used Epiphone neck humbucker. The sound is not good in it, but it has an alnico II magnet.
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Epi p'ups use Alnico 5 mags. And they're not that bad either... but the materials used to make the rest of the p'up are NOT world's best... specially their slugs suck like no others... yuck!
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

blueman335 said:
Not so fast. Zhang said all he uses now are rough cast magnets as they have a little better tone due to the unsmoothed finish.
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In bridge pu's anyway. Will still often use the standard shiny ones in the neck, depending on customer needs.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Zhangliqun said:
In bridge pu's anyway. Will still often use the standard shiny ones in the neck, depending on customer needs.
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What differences do you hear in tone from rough & smooth magnets, since you have a better ear for this than most of us?
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Roughcast = smoother top end
Smooth = brighter, more bite

So basically just the opposite of what they look like.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

Zhangliqun said:
Roughcast = smoother top end
Smooth = brighter, more bite

So basically just the opposite of what they look like.
Click to expand...

This is so interesting and so good to know. Thanks Zhang, your knowledge and expertise are greatly appreciated.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

The expertise is a bit limited, ie, why smooth vs. rough mags sound this way I have no idea.
 
Re: Magnet bars in cheap pickups

So is the Epi magnet much larger than a Seymour Duncan pickup? I assumed much if not all were standard sized with the exception of some being thicker but approx the same size otherwise.
 
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