Ceramic Vs Alnico Magnets Pickups

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.

Ceramic vs alnico magnets pickups.

What s more relevant is that alnico is magnetically softer it has a higher reversible permeability than ceramics i e. Often the tone is described as warm smooth musical or sweet. Alnico pickups usually sound cleaner with more dynamics more treble and mids and more picking attack instead of note sustain. In another thread on here someone remarked that as an alternative to upgrading the pickups on his mim standard he simply converted them.

Players who enjoy those clean single coil sounds of rock and blues swear by alnico pickups. Alnico seems to be the popular favorite but on the other hand there is no shortage of popular recordings that feature ceramic. You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction. There are lower output pickups though that use ceramic magnets for other reasons e g.

Alnico vii is in some pickups but this is rare. Alnico magnets are softer and typically weaker than ceramic contributing to a lower output and responsive pickup. Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool. Have you ever wondered what the differences between pickup magnets are and how they affect your tone.

Well good because we decided to go ahead and write a short comparison guide on alnico vs. I can get 10 alnico magnets of the right size ready magnetized and with the north pole marked for less than 6. He removed the ceramic magnets pushed out the steel slugs and slid in a set of alnico magnets. So we often hear.

Alnico vs ceramic magnets. Ceramic magnets do produce a stronger field but that alone doesn t actually change the sound it just increases the total output which of course will change the sound if you thereby drive an amp further into distortion. So now you can choose between the alnico and ceramic version of the same pickup. Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues.