"Difference between Alnico & Ceramic Single coils"???

[erniebong]

hahaha! yeah, I love food bossing!  I'll eat any except for those served in the Fear Factor menu.

on topic, I have a strat, you know, the traditional specs..alder body, vintage trem..etc.. it has a ceramic neck and middle PU, which, is pretty ok for me and as for the bridge, I'm going to install an SD alnico (SSL5) on the bridge..I wonder if its going to compliment.  Though, I want to try out better PUs because the stock ceramics come in cheap but the wood is excellent.  Strummed unplugged, ganda ng resonance, and I wouldn't want the PUs to be a constraint to its potential.

I can't afford to change the neck and middle for now, and I'm curious if there's a celebrity out there using such combo.  I want a reference of how these interact together, how they sound when flicked to other positions.

Having alnicos for the n/m with a ceramic for the bridge is a bit popular..but what if its the other way around.

its popular cause it Make sense ,  the principle behind the ceramic B config i guess is that ... since ceramics really are kinda piercing in terms of tone fits well sa bridge.... where you go to when you want to get that "Bastos Bridge" tone. same goes with alnico on the neck if you want that SRV rounded tone, kind of like your playing sweet for most of song then when you go to a solo spot you get more bite when you switch to the bridge

oh i just checked the guitar... its actually ceramics sa M and B, pag sinipag ako palitan ko yung M ng Alnico since i still have some old pick ups stashed in my tool box...

pero sa ngayon the N - M position sounds nice to my ear (alnico N ceramic M) the alnico rounded tone is dominant dun sa blend nila (i just dont know baka kasi malapit sa neck ang position eh kaya mas rounded ang tunog


ill know later yung results ng Alnico M - Ceramic B

pero having said na maganda na yung puretone ng guitar by just playing it acoustically your mostly there kahit anong decent pickup siguro ikabit dyan it will sound good

theoretically  you will loose a little bite sa bridge when you go for the alnico from ceramic

i never really tried alnico sa bridge at ceramic sa Mid. pag walang magawa subukan ko rin

[erniebong]

BTW YJM uses alnico sa N and B, and a Fender Stock sa Mid.... that could be a Reference. Check mo nalang kung Ceramic yung Fender Mid 70's na stock PU's

[toybitz]

BTW YJM uses alnico sa N and B, and a Fender Stock sa Mid.... that could be a Reference. Check mo nalang kung Ceramic yung Fender Mid 70's na stock PU's

I believe the stock 70s PUs are alnico and very smooth.  You're going to hafta adjust your gain pedal or amp to get it to crunch hard that's why YJM immediately replaces them.

The 70s sound.  I labbit!

[erniebong]

aku din 70's junkie

ay may strat pala ako na texas special lahat dati... i remember bitin ako ako sa bite sa B position...

pero kung ako kung meron ako isang alnico sa Mid ko nanalang lalagay i did that once in one guitar i used for wickermoss..... nanakaw yung gitara wahhh

[toybitz]

aku din 70's junkie

ay may strat pala ako na texas special lahat dati... i remember bitin ako ako sa bite sa B position...

pero kung ako kung meron ako isang alnico sa Mid ko nanalang lalagay i did that once in one guitar i used for wickermoss..... nanakaw yung gitara wahhh

sorry to hear that.

hmm...this is getting interesting...I'm itching to hear a set of Fender Hot Noiseless on my strat.  Those are ceramics, and currently used by the very dynamic virtuoso Jeff Beck.   To say that ceramics aren't as dynamic I guess is just as subjective as good tone.

[juan_alderete]

sorry to hear that.

hmm...this is getting interesting...I'm itching to hear a set of Fender Hot Noiseless on my strat.  Those are ceramics, and currently used by the very dynamic virtuoso Jeff Beck.   To say that ceramics aren't as dynamic I guess is just as subjective as good tone.

sakto im going to buy some next week sir ,will put it on a strat hehe, im going to try to demo it

[juan_alderete]

on my experience sa alnico pups, sobrang lush sa neck position, at mejo harsh sa bridge. i cant comment on ceramics much,

[toybitz]

sakto im going to buy some next week sir ,will put it on a strat hehe, im going to try to demo it

uy nice!

[juan_alderete]

uy nice!

hopefully mademo ko nang matino

[erniebong]

sorry to hear that.

hmm...this is getting interesting...I'm itching to hear a set of Fender Hot Noiseless on my strat.  Those are ceramics, and currently used by the very dynamic virtuoso Jeff Beck.   To say that ceramics aren't as dynamic I guess is just as subjective as good tone.

To the hands of a non-dynamic player of-course it will not sound dynamic... yeah watch Jeff Beck and the myth is gone

in my case since my touch is naturally mellow i don't have problems wt ceramics. sakto lang.

in many cases like taking turns jamming wt friends using one setup... my friends often find the guitar sounded very mellow when i was playing it and sounded very harsh and piercing to another player (without changing or tweaking settings). point meaning the magnets (or any other variables in the chain) can only influence one's tone to some degree, i guess most of it his touch and how he reacts to playing guitar or music in general. I remember like (10 years ago) really getting lost in the rabbit hole chasing tone, trying to be unique tone wise but only to find out that whatever gear or combination i use i still hear essentially me and in turn got me frustrated in trying to find a voice to call my own. then i realized i had it already... i just had to accept what my hands can produce (be it good or bad). since then i abandoned tone chasing... hence the tag line

in conclusion i think the issue between ceramics and alnicos is another trip to the rabbit hole.

  

[Opay21]

All I know is most companies use ceramics for high output pick ups. Plus based on my actual hearing and experience, You could really hear you picking attack on alnico. IMHO ceramics are a bit rounder in tone, and alnicos have a more sparkly sound. IMO IMO IMO IMO

 

[toybitz]

well said Ernie.  its the player's choice with the player playing.

so if i were to choose between the red pill or the blue pill?  I'd take, new Alaxan ip ar!

[rom2582]

alnico & ceramic magnets are different when it comes to their properties. they have their own advantages and disadvantages like alnicos have high magnetism and more expensive than ceramic. ceramics or hard ferrite naman are corrosion-resistant. my conclusion is that you cannot tell whether the sound produced by alnicos are fat, clean.. etc. i mean, it's not just the magnet itself. it is how the coil-conductor are wound. the purpose of the magnet is to produce magnetic field and that when a motion or vibration happens, magnetix flux (magnetic field in a given area) produces electrical signal (sound is converted to electrical signal) thru the coil-conductor. pls refer to this link:

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/pickups.php

it will explain to you the theory of guitar pick ups

[maniacally_cool]

oh man..... and to think that im planning on upgrading my single coil.

a little OT:

im choosing between an EMG S3 and EMG S4 to be used as a neck pickup on my les paul copy, to be paired with an EMG HZ H3 on the bridge which i believe is a ceramic pickup. im quite leaning toward S4 since its also ceramic but still wondering if the S3 (ceramic or alnico?) would compliment the H3 better. ill be using the S3 mainly on clean to mild overdrive guitar parts.

thanks

[toybitz]

Hi Greg, nice to see active again in this forum.

complimenting imo is still subjective..you won't know until you try it on your guitar along with combo of PUs you want.

[erniebong]

exactly

[maniacally_cool]

....saw that coming.