Mixing ceramic and alnico pup's

[martinsixstringcustoms]

Wondering if there's any issue if you put a alnico pup in the neck position and a ceramic pup in the bridge (or vice-versa for that matter)?

For example a Jazz neck and Custom bridge...

 

[I_M_Ken]

Re: Mixing ceramic and alnico pup's

personally i find that it doesnt matter much. as long as u like the tones u get from these pups. as for say the middle position of the pup selector which selects both pups, i seldom use that so it doesnt affect me.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Mixing ceramic and alnico pup's

There are no issues inmixing pickups with differing magnet types. Usually, the neck pickup is the alnico model and the bridge is the ceramic. This is due to the fact that most ceramic pickups are higher output than alnico pickups. My favorite ceramic magnet humbucker is the Custom model. It's big, aggressive, and not as compressed as, say, a Duncan Distortion or even a JB.

I've paired the Custom with a Jazz, a 59, and an APH and it worked well in all cases.

 

[Idlewood]

Re: Mixing ceramic and alnico pup's

I'm probably not even worthy of responding to this topic but here's my 2 cents

Not being much of an expert I can't say which pups sounds better where but I know that when two pups are combined like on a strat switched in the 2nd or 4rd position its better to have radically different characteristics than identical to prevent doubling resonant freqs.

Just my babble..

 

[korinastratkyle]

Re: Mixing ceramic and alnico pup's

Idlewood is right. They'll cancel each other out less. But me, I change the phase on my neck pickups so that they are 90 degrees out of phase with each other only adding onto each other in the middle position. Basically, flipping the magnet or changing the leads.

 

[BS123]

Re: Mixing ceramic and alnico pup's

One of my favorite combos is a Custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck.