Sentient magnet swap

Grindspine

Grindspine

New member
I picked up a Nazgul/Sentient set for my RGD knowing that I am not crazy about the stock Alnico 5 based Sentient pickup. Fortunately, I have a Duncan Custom Custom with an Alnico II that is a spare.

The plan is to go with the stock ceramic Nazgul at the bridge and Alnico II Sentient at the neck, to match with preferred six string combo of Distortion and Alnico II Pro at bridge and neck respectively.

Any opinions and/or conjecture are welcome! I will come back with some comments on the experiment when I am done!
 
Re: Sentient magnet swap

The sentient is a great neck pick-up as is. It's in between Jazz and 59 to my ears. I'd give it a chance with stock alnico5 magnet for a while.
 
Re: Sentient magnet swap

Unfortunately, I have never liked the Jazz or the '59. I have preferred the Alnico II Pro in every single circumstance and gain level when comparing them. I know that the Jazz and '59 have many fans, but I have yet to ever get along with an Alnico 5 based pickup. I always find something lacking in them. The Custom 5, Full Shred, and PRS 58/15 are the closest I have gotten to liking any A5 pickups, but I still have reservations even with those.

My hands down favorite two neck pickups ever have been a 1986 Alnico II Pro neck that still resides in my Washburn and the Duncan Custom Shop Alpha in my PRS.

All of that aside, I just finished mag swapping, so my Custom Custom is now a Custom 8 and my Sentient is now a Sentient II. I am just letting the potting wax cool and set!
 
Re: Sentient magnet swap

Grindspine said:
Unfortunately, I have never liked the Jazz or the '59. I have preferred the Alnico II Pro in every single circumstance and gain level when comparing them. I know that the Jazz and '59 have many fans, but I have yet to ever get along with an Alnico 5 based pickup. I always find something lacking in them. The Custom 5, Full Shred, and PRS 58/15 are the closest I have gotten to liking any A5 pickups, but I still have reservations even with those.

My hands down favorite two neck pickups ever have been a 1986 Alnico II Pro neck that still resides in my Washburn and the Duncan Custom Shop Alpha in my PRS.

All of that aside, I just finished mag swapping, so my Custom Custom is now a Custom 8 and my Sentient is now a Sentient II. I am just letting the potting wax cool and set!
Click to expand...

the custom 8 is my number 1 bridge pick-up. I don't like Alnico II in mahogany guitars. I think it's too dark, while I like so much the custom custom in maple or alder body guitars. And I guess you don't like the alnico 5 because of its midscooped EQ. Anyway, let us know any impression on the Sentient II
 
Re: Sentient magnet swap

If it doesn't work out, consider trying an A4.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: Sentient magnet swap

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The patients for magnet transplant.

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Open coil surgery.

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Seymour Duncan Custom 8 trembucker and Sentient II seven string pickups ready for install!

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Ibanez Prestige RGD with original Ibanez v87/v77 pickups... They were decent pickups, but lacked the bite I expect from more aggressive ceramics. Pictured next to the RGD is my PRS P24 in Blood Orange with a set of Custom Shop Alpha/Omega pickups. With the NAMM news of the seven string Alpha/Omega being released this spring, I figured it was time for this install. That way, I would have time to decide if I want to do a seven string Alpha/Omega later in the year.

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Prestige RGD with Nazgul and Sentient II fitted.

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Control cavity after the soldering.

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Finished product: Ibanez Prestige RGD with Nazgul and Sentient II seven string pickups.

The verdict is:

I have played many KM-7 guitars with the Nazgul and Sentient set, so had a good idea of what to expect with the stock magnets. The Nazgul is stock and does sound both tight and aggressive. It lacks some bass smoothness in comparison to the Duncan Distortion trembucker, which is my standard reference for higher output ceramic mag pickups. It also does have a bit more upper mid emphasis.

The Sentient II is not as scooped as the stock version. It is smoother and warmer overall. I need to play with pickup height a bit yet, but it lines up with what I expect from an Alnico II Pro neck model. It may be a bit darker than a six string neck version of that pickup, perhaps more like putting an Alnico II Pro bridge model in a neck position.

The only part of this project that I am considering taking a step further is replacing the black nickel screws in the Sentient II with some of the black hex screws from the v77. I have not decided on that yet though.

I have not tried the Custom 8 trembucker yet. I plan on setting that one aside for a future project.

Hope you all enjoy my project pictures!
 
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Re: Sentient magnet swap

Update:

As the Sentient with Alnico II mag was still a bit dark, I swapped out the stock black nickel flat-head screws for the shorter, black hex screws from the v77. This opened up the pickup a bit more, took out a bit of low mid saturation and added some definitive crunch.

This combo now sounds epic, so, so much better than the stock Sentient.

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Re: Sentient magnet swap

I was just swapping the mags. I removed enough of the cloth tape to be able to push out the magnet. The Alnico 8 went into the Custom Custom, the Alnico II from the Custom went to the Sentient, and the Sentient's A5 went to the parts bin.

Besides, making a hybrid out of a six and a seven string pickup would be complicated.
 
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