Pickup mags
- Thread starter vchizzle
- Start date
Hollowbuddy
New Member
Hi vchizzle
I didn't do this to my PRS pickups BUT I've experiment this with lot of WRC pickups ( Jim Wagner. Crossroad,
Darkburst and GodWood == I finally keep Crossroad on the neck and Godwood on bridge with Alnico II coz I'm
in vintage, creamy sounds)
Go for it : it's really interesting to change only a magnet and discover a 'new pickup' !!!
I've play with Alnico II, III, IV, V, VII and ceramic == lot of fun , lots of experiments and you can fine tune
the pickups to the sounds you looking for .
Of course with or without pickups cover play a role, specially in the mids.
Hb :geek:
I didn't do this to my PRS pickups BUT I've experiment this with lot of WRC pickups ( Jim Wagner. Crossroad,
Darkburst and GodWood == I finally keep Crossroad on the neck and Godwood on bridge with Alnico II coz I'm
in vintage, creamy sounds)
Go for it : it's really interesting to change only a magnet and discover a 'new pickup' !!!
I've play with Alnico II, III, IV, V, VII and ceramic == lot of fun , lots of experiments and you can fine tune
the pickups to the sounds you looking for .
Of course with or without pickups cover play a role, specially in the mids.
Hb :geek:
John Beef
Opaque
I put an Alnico 5 in a HFS and installed that in my SE baritone. The stock ceramic magnet made the tones waaaay too far to the heavy nu-metal end of the spectrum for my tastes. The Alnico 5 still gives a heavy tone but it's more versatile, and doesn't sound like death metal. 
I had previously had a Duncan Custom 5 in that guitar that fed back under gain too much for my liking. I knew the HFS was in the same ballpark as far as the coils went (43 AWG wire, 15K HFS vs 14.4K Custom 5) so I found one used, threw in the A5, et voila! The HFS is still a little more aggressive than the Custom 5 was, but it's also uncovered and has a few more turns of wire.
I have also heard that many of the "lesser" non-boutique or import pickups of the world, such as those that come in a SE, can be greatly improved by adding a higher quality magnet. I am going to test this theory, since magnets only cost a few bucks each, are easy to swap, and I like to tinker anyway. My 2003 SE Santana sounds really good with the stock pickups. The 10K bridge pickup lacks a little balls in the lows, though. I am going to get an unoriented Alnico 5 magnet and give it a shot. Word is UOA5 has the midrange sweetness that an Alnico 2 magnet can deliver, but with the crisper highs and deeper lows than A5 is known for.
I had previously had a Duncan Custom 5 in that guitar that fed back under gain too much for my liking. I knew the HFS was in the same ballpark as far as the coils went (43 AWG wire, 15K HFS vs 14.4K Custom 5) so I found one used, threw in the A5, et voila! The HFS is still a little more aggressive than the Custom 5 was, but it's also uncovered and has a few more turns of wire.
I have also heard that many of the "lesser" non-boutique or import pickups of the world, such as those that come in a SE, can be greatly improved by adding a higher quality magnet. I am going to test this theory, since magnets only cost a few bucks each, are easy to swap, and I like to tinker anyway. My 2003 SE Santana sounds really good with the stock pickups. The 10K bridge pickup lacks a little balls in the lows, though. I am going to get an unoriented Alnico 5 magnet and give it a shot. Word is UOA5 has the midrange sweetness that an Alnico 2 magnet can deliver, but with the crisper highs and deeper lows than A5 is known for.
John Beef
Opaque
I got mine (and lots of other people get theirs) from Addiction-FX's store on ebay.
http://stores.ebay.com/Addiction-FX-Guitar-and-Sound
Sadly that's the only supplier I know of, but luckily the selection is wide and the prices are low.
http://stores.ebay.com/Addiction-FX-Guitar-and-Sound
Sadly that's the only supplier I know of, but luckily the selection is wide and the prices are low.
John Beef
Opaque
The ones I have bought are: Nominal 2.50'' long x 0.50'' wide x 0.125'' thick. I believe this is the size most pickup makers use, and it fit perfectly in my HFS. I'm hoping they fit in the SE pickups, they should, but you never know since they're imports (metric).
As for the other stuff, that's all personal preference and will all change the sound somewhat. I definitely don't have all the answers! Lots of info our there though, try the Duncan forum or TGP. You should definitely buy magnetized unless you have some way to do that yourself.
As for the other stuff, that's all personal preference and will all change the sound somewhat. I definitely don't have all the answers! Lots of info our there though, try the Duncan forum or TGP. You should definitely buy magnetized unless you have some way to do that yourself.
John Beef
Opaque
John Beef said:
I wish I knew which grade/formula of Alnico is in the SE pickups, just for my own notes. Today at lunch I swapped the magnets and did some sound testing through a Pocket Pod here in my office, which is obviously not the best amplification method for comparing subtleties, but it works. The UOA5 definitely changes things, but they're still pretty similar. For both the neck and bridge, the highs were smoothed out and the signal a little clearer. The bridge pickup has less of the nasal, congested mids and upper mids that I didn't like about it. The neck pickup lost some of its punch, which I miss. I may go back to stock on that one.
So, some good some bad. But overall, the difference was less than I was expecting. When I swapped the ceramic for A5 in the HFS, the difference was like night and day.
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
I do quite like A5's...
My Strat has A5 single coils and sounds great. I believe the SE 245 pups in the Bernie Marsden are A5? I'm sure I read that somewhere... Love the neck pup anyhoo - although I have ordered a set of pups with A4 mags to try out.
I've never liked any ceramic mags i've heard.
My Strat has A5 single coils and sounds great. I believe the SE 245 pups in the Bernie Marsden are A5? I'm sure I read that somewhere... Love the neck pup anyhoo - although I have ordered a set of pups with A4 mags to try out.
I've never liked any ceramic mags i've heard.
I just asked this over at the other PRSForums.
I took the HFS out of my '94 CE24 as soon as I got it. It installed a real old Dimarzio PAF Pro and it's been in there ever since. I swapped the 57/08 in my Studio for a Custom Custom and I LOVE that pickup.
I found another a few days ago (new on eBay for $50 shipped) and it'll be going into the CE in place of the PAF pro when it gets here.
I still have the old HFS and was wondering how it would be with an A2 in it. Like I said, I LOVE the CC's A2. I'm not a big A5 guy. I have a feeling the A2 in an HFS would be really sweet. Anyone??
I took the HFS out of my '94 CE24 as soon as I got it. It installed a real old Dimarzio PAF Pro and it's been in there ever since. I swapped the 57/08 in my Studio for a Custom Custom and I LOVE that pickup.
I found another a few days ago (new on eBay for $50 shipped) and it'll be going into the CE in place of the PAF pro when it gets here.
I still have the old HFS and was wondering how it would be with an A2 in it. Like I said, I LOVE the CC's A2. I'm not a big A5 guy. I have a feeling the A2 in an HFS would be really sweet. Anyone??
I just pulled my HFS with A2 out of my SE 245 Fredrik Akkeson. I too am a huge fan of the Duncan Custom Custom and was hoping for similar results with the A2 HFS but I wasn't thrilled with it. The tone was OK but kind of weak sounding. The single notes just didn't come close to "singing" the way my Custom Custom in my CE 24 does. Granted that may be due in part to the different guitar. I'm going to try a UOA5 next and see where that gets me.
prscat33511
New Member
Can someone PLEASE measure this bar magnet from an SE HFS ?
2.5 " ?
Seems like a fun thing to do, to tweak the tone
Cheaper than another pickup, but will steer someone toward voicing the bridge pickup to their liking
AND, .like me, will persuade us not to sell out and just sell the SE altogether
2.5 " ?
Seems like a fun thing to do, to tweak the tone
Cheaper than another pickup, but will steer someone toward voicing the bridge pickup to their liking
AND, .like me, will persuade us not to sell out and just sell the SE altogether
