Neodymium pickup magnets

Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

Have not tried neodymium in a JB. Was present at an A/B (A-neodymium, B-ceramic) test on a neutral humbucker with DCR of 14.6 mounted in the bridge of an ES335. Neodymium sounded tinny with lower output. Various height adjustments were made and bottom line the neodymium didn't cut it.
 
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

Neo's are very bright, precise and very powerful. They wouldn't be a good match for the JB which is already bright. I'm not sure anyone has actually figured out how to design a pickup to leverage the strengths and remedy the weaknesses of Neo magnets? I have two sets of Neo pickups the XS62 and the HDN from Entwistel. While I like both of them, I doubt either was specifically designed around the Neo magnets, because you can find pickups from Calig with nearly identical specs that are built with ceramic magnets. Both the Entwistel's and Calig's are part of the same Chinese conglomerate which produces other lesser known pickups like Sky, GFS, Artec and Dragonfire.

A darker pickup like a Dimarzio Super Distortion or a Invader might work?
 
Last edited:
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

NeoInvader? Hmmm...

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

As a side quest on my journey for perfect tone, I have also decided to try and craft the worst pickup ever. I took a lipstick tube neck (3.3 DCR) and put a neodymium in it. At first I had an A7 in it to increase treble, but let me say, the neodymium blows it clear out of the water in that regard. If I were to give it an eq rating, I would be: treble- 10, mids-3, and bass-1. It was crazy powerful though, at least for a lipstick tube. For those of you wondering, I mainly use it to demonstrate how electronics matter more in a guitar than other hardware. I actually have a switch to run it through two 50k pots for it to be even close to usable. This is in the bridge, so I guess results like this should be expected
 
Last edited:
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

Neo's are very bright, precise and very powerful. They wouldn't be a good match for the JB which is already bright. I'm not sure anyone has actually figured out how to design a pickup to leverage the strengths and remedy the weaknesses of Neo magnets? I have two sets of Neo pickups the XS62 and the HDN from Entwistel. While I like both of them, I doubt either was specifically designed around the Neo magnets, because you can find pickups from Calig with nearly identical specs that are built with ceramic magnets. Both the Entwistel's and Calig's are part of the same Chinese conglomerate which produces other lesser known pickups like Sky, GFS, Artec and Dragonfire.

A darker pickup like a Dimarzio Super Distortion or a Invader might work?

In theory, the brightness would help counteract the high end loss on a high output pickup,wouldn't it? I have to wonder if that might work well for the guys that like to drop tuning way down but still want the percussive attack.
 
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

I wonder what they would sound like in a pickup like the Slug or the X2N?

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

GFS makes some neos, but it might just be for their noiseless singles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Neodymium pickup magnets

Don't the EB Bongo pickups have neodymium mags? I'm not well versed in how each component adds to the tone of an instrument, so I wonder how much the neodymium magnets contribute to the Bongo's terrific sound.
 
Back
Top