So many magnets, so little knowledge

[greco]

Could someone please point me to information about the types of magnets used in guitar pickups.

I am totally lost with the "magnet" terms used in many of the posts.

Are the magnets in single coils and humbuckers similar/same in their types and sizes?

The magnets are obviously a critical factor to the resultant tone, but what magnets give what "types" of tone?

Does the price of the magnets vary to any real extent? (i.e., if you want to change them or if you are winding your own pickups)

I did a search of the posts in this forum, but I'm trying to find a condensed tutorial type of thing specific to magnets.

Thanks...much appreciated !

Dave

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: So many magnets, so little knowledge

Well, as far as i know:

Alnico 2 magnets give the pickup a sweeter, warmer, more midrangy tone with a looser bottom end. It also gives the pickup less output.

Alnico 5 magnets sounds brigther, "harder" and punchier than Alnico 2 magnets. They are also tigther in the bottom end, and give more output.

Ceramic magnets are the brigthest, with the most output. They tend to give the pickup an agressive tone.

There are also Alnico (shortened to "A") 3 magnets, A4 magnets, and i've also heard of people using the whole range up to A8.

I'm not a guru myself, but i hope that i've been a little helpful!

-Erlend

 

[greco]

Re: So many magnets, so little knowledge

Thanks Erland..that helps a lot!

I also enjoyed learing about "the meaning of life".....COOL

Dave

 

[flipside]

Re: So many magnets, so little knowledge

Well, as far as i know:

Alnico 2 magnets give the pickup a sweeter, warmer, more midrangy tone with a looser bottom end. It also gives the pickup less output.

Alnico 5 magnets sounds brigther, "harder" and punchier than Alnico 2 magnets. They are also tigther in the bottom end, and give more output.

Ceramic magnets are the brigthest, with the most output. They tend to give the pickup an agressive tone.

There are also Alnico (shortened to "A") 3 magnets, A4 magnets, and i've also heard of people using the whole range up to A8.

I'm not a guru myself, but i hope that i've been a little helpful!

-Erlend

that was a very nice crash course on magnets, and pretty accurate i would say too. I know theres a great explanation in the support section of the SD website that goes into greater detail.

 

[greco]

Re: So many magnets, so little knowledge

Many thanks to all.

Dave

 

[Artie]

Re: So many magnets, so little knowledge

One more thing . . . in a single coil, the magnets are the pole pieces. There would be six of them in a normal single coil. On a humbucker, the magnet is a single bar that lays underneath the two coils, with one end facing the screw coil, and the other end facing the stud coil. Not sure which end is north or south in a Duncan pup.

In P90's, there are two bar magnets that face with like poles end to end under the pole pieces. (I think.)

 

[Marcel]

Re: So many magnets, so little knowledge

One more thing . . . in a single coil, the magnets are the pole pieces. There would be six of them in a normal single coil. On a humbucker, the magnet is a single bar that lays underneath the two coils, with one end facing the screw coil, and the other end facing the stud coil. Not sure which end is north or south in a Duncan pup.

One exeption is the stag mag which uses rod like on single coils magnets too.