Bernie Marsden mag swap help

shaysterblues

New Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2024
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Hi I’ve had my new Bernie for a couple of weeks now great guitar love it

The pickups I’m on a fence with

I do like them for what they are

First off my rig because it all adds to tone

Blackstar ht20 mark 1 head

2 number 112 cabs with cannabis Rex in both

I use the isf on the amp fully to right on marshal side with the bearnie
Amp master always dimed always on drive channel at the edge of breakup say 10 o’clock using channel volume as overall volume if you know what I mean

Pedals with bearnie
Fultone ocd for adding more gain on top off breakup


I’m not sure what mags are in my 2016 bearnie but it sounds very modern sort of nickleback,limp biskuit type sound with my gear

I had a Gibson goldtop studio 2013
Most disappointing guitar I’ve ever had but after I did a mag swap from standard which were those Gibson 490 thingies can’t remember fully
I used many variations and liked best a A4 in the neck and a used a unorientated A5 the sound was so much better and balanced between the pickups creamier 😂

The stuff my band plays because we’re old duffers
Early zz top
Black crows
Allman bros
Free
Marcus king
Warren haynes
Neil young

The bearnie pups full on are to my ear Modern
Should I try what worked in the Gibson

Or any suggestions
 
Mags are cheap and easy tweaks.. grab a handful like on the studio and have fun. Theres no magic bullet. They definitely alter tone..

There's always pup swaps. SD is my go to for majors. Wolfetone for my winder. Tell Wolfe what your after and he'll deliver. PRS 5708 are my fav set or mix in a 5909 for the bridge.
 
Sounds like a pickup swap may be the best path forward. You can try the magnets if you are able to do the work yourself. Try rough as well as smooth magnets. They sound different. I believe most of the pickups being suggested to you use alnico II magnets. You could try rough cast and smooth A2 magnets to see if they do it for you before going all in on a pickup change.
 
Any idea the size of the mags that are in the Bernie?
According to an article in this post (good Bernie history too) the Bernie pickups are the same as in the Korean SE245: the G&B 245 pickups. The G&B 245 pickups that were in my '11 SE245 have A5 magnets and it looks like 2.36 x .492 x .125 is the best match for size, they're shorter than 2.5 x .5 x .125.

I put Wolfetone Marshallhead / Dr. Vintage with roughcast A4 (sound better than A2's) pickups in that SE245. Killer pickups.
 
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According to an article in this post (good Bernie history too) the Bernie pickups are the same as in the Korean SE245: the G&B 245 pickups. The G&B 245 pickups that were in my '11 SE245 have A5 magnets and it looks like 2.36 x .492 x .125 is the best match for size, they're shorter than 2.5 x .5 x .125.

I put Wolfetone Marshallhead / Dr. Vintage with roughcast A4 (sound better than A2's) pickups in that SE245. Killer pickups.
That’s what I put in the Gibson A4 but they were smooth and it really helped I’ll try the rough
Also I’ll try the unorientated A5 I’ll see if I can get roughs in that also thanks for your help

I’ve done the pickup heights before I’ll change the mags and see what happens at next rehearsal we always video them to hear what we’re at it’s a great way to find your tone
 
According to an article in this post (good Bernie history too) the Bernie pickups are the same as in the Korean SE245: the G&B 245 pickups. The G&B 245 pickups that were in my '11 SE245 have A5 magnets and it looks like 2.36 x .492 x .125 is the best match for size, they're shorter than 2.5 x .5 x .125.

I put Wolfetone Marshallhead / Dr. Vintage with roughcast A4 (sound better than A2's) pickups in that SE245. Killer pickups.
Lew did a lot of magnet swapping for his Bernie guitars. It is good that he posted about it so someone else can benefit from it.
 
Lew did a lot of magnet swapping for his Bernie guitars.
Great guy, too bad he left us all about a year ago. He was big on both swapping magnets and pickups and knew guitars well. I was fortunate to get a vintage Gibson P-90 from him that's amazing in the bridge of my SE245 Soapbar.

IIRC all four of his Bernies had swapped pickups including SD Antiquities, Bare Knuckles and 57/08s. He liked the one with the 57/08s so much that he later got a Stripped 58 but sold it because he liked the Bernie better
 
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Well from memory my ole Gibson les Paul studio when new sounded very close to the bearnie had the same issue
The neck was a little to dark n bassy
The bridge was a little shrill at full volume but you had to drop the volume slightly to dial it out

I changed to every type of mag the best combination was an A4 in the neck and an unorientated A5 in the bridge

So I’ve them ordered

Think it’ll make her sing
Loved the sound of my ole Gibson les Paul but it felt like a piece of crap to play and the nitro paint was like toffee and the finish was all orange peel the fit in finish was horrendous

I played for probably 6 years but it was falling apart being gigged

So I wanted the Gibson tone but not a copy

Was gonna buy a sire and came across the Bernie so glad I did
A while back I had a Santana Prs se and regretted letting it go

So found my current Bernie on peebay

Holy crap what a guitar for the money it’s got to be twice the quality of my ole gibby

Fit n finish is flawless
Absolutely love the shape n binding the way it stops on the cutaway
Beautiful
 
I don't want to push you from your path in changing magnets.


Taking the scientific researches over a long period of time by Prof. Dr. Zollner. 1990 he was called on the Professorship for Acoustic and Signal Processing at University of Regengsburg, Bavaria, Germany, the cable, either guitar cable and/or the cable connections inside the guitar do have more impact on the sound.

And he mentioned (in an other interview of this format) that especially the approx. 1m lenghts in a Les Paul does make a seroius difference.
 
Ok so I did the mag swap today
Put a rough A4 in the neck
And a polished unorientated A5

Great result very happy
It’s the same swap I said I did on my old Gibson lp studio it made it sing

Well same here

Jesus this thing sounds so close to a Gibson lp now it’s quite scary

Only the Bernie feels like a far superior instrument in every way

Has a more vintage sound now very Paul kossoff sort of vibe
 
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