Ceramic Pickups Vs Alnico

A lot of people automatically say that alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups.

Ceramic pickups vs alnico.

4 57 1 don t do that. Alnico seems to be the popular favorite but on the other hand there is no shortage of popular recordings that feature ceramic. To crown a winner in our alnico vs ceramic magnets shootout we would need a way to accurately compare the two which is not an easy task. So much so that alnico is almost never used in grades of 5 or higher grades are used to tell a magnet s strength but only in comparison to magnets made of the same material.

Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides. Pickups with alnico v magnets that are voiced more aggressively than pickups with ceramic magnets and alnico ii pickups that sound totally different from other alnico ii pickups definitely exist. Just remember that this is only one factor that goes into designing the tonal characteristics of a pickup. So having said that i ve noticed that as you go cycle through alnico 2 5 8 and ceramic the lows tighten up and the uppper mids become more pronounced.

I ve found a guy selling a really nice 60 s style set from a local winder. The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response. Alnico is a lot more expensive than ceramic. The distortion is ceramic and the jb is alnico 5 but everything else is the same.

The custom is ceramic the custom 5 is alnico 5 and the custom custom is alnico 2. Jul 2 2017 1 hey guys. Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues. Alnico vii is in some pickups but this is rare.

Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool. You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction. Mixing ceramic and alnico pickups on a strat i like it. Alnico tends to produce a very musical pickup in most.

Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico. So we often hear.