The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Those blues recordings are quite old now. Yes, either a Fender 52 reissue, or an amazing Squire Vintage Vibe with a Creamery Wide-Range neck pup, and a Seymore Duncan hot bridge pup, I forget the name of it. I've been playing blues since I was 14, with Johnny Winter and Roy Buchanan as early influences. But headed off down the classical route in my very late twenties, early thirties. Now at 57 I do a bit of everything in my own way, for better or worse, and I've always loved jazz, though I don't regard myself as a jazz guitarist - but jazz guitar is becoming more and more what I enjoy exploring. I suppose the classical education gave me a love of good composition, and that is coming out in my videos of the music of Gilbert Isbin (see ArchtopGuitar.net – …jazz…classical…folk…plectrum…fingerstyle… ). I see myself as mainly an acoustic player, and my forthcoming 18" acoustic archtop from Frans Elferink won't even have a floater. The recent acquisition of an Epiphone Black Beauty was a piece of low-cost indulgence, and I'm really enjoying how easy it is to get around it, a bit of fun. But it could sound better...hence my desire to learn more about pickups. You could send me magnets, but I wouldn't know what to do with them, so will be looking for a complete pickup to take to the local guitar tech to install.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by KirkP
    As an electrical engineer it seems odd to me to talk about magnet types as having different tones. The tone is the result of the integrated design, string materials, and adjustments. The magnet's just part of that equation. If you have a pickup designed around a certain material and substitute something else, you're changing the strength and shape of the magnetic field. That's the source of the change in tone.
    Yeah, but that's not all there is.

    By the way a HB is designed, all metal parts around the coils have an influence, including the magnet itself. Different alnico grades have different alloys, all bringing its own magnetic field shape and projection, plus itself acting as a comb filter, altering also the final frequency curve's outcome.

    HTH,

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    You could send me magnets, but I wouldn't know what to do with them, so will be looking for a complete pickup to take to the local guitar tech to install.
    So, you don't actually have a p'up to mod, is that what you're saying, Rob?

  5. #29

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    Well, there are three on the guitar...

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Feet - I'm trying to decipher your post. You mean you prefer Alnico 4? What make do you have?
    ha, yes. i'm not sure i prefer alnico 4 per se, i just happened to end up with it all the way around on my humbuckered guitars (that i actually like). i've heard it described as the midpoint between a2 and a5. can't say how accurate it is, only that i like the results.

    mojotone 59 clones are what i'm generally using. a low wind neck and a high wind bridge in my byrdland and a regular one in my les paul neck. i don't remember the exact specs as far as resistance goes, but i still the boxes somewhere. i also have a bg pups smokestack in the bridge of the les paul, which is a sort of slightly hotter, more aggressive paf. its a little rock for most things, but it sounds massive.

    i have a pair of duncan alnico 2 pros in a mystery meat epi les paul special ii (which sound pretty great in full, series or parallel, but its still a crappy guitar) and a duncan 59/custom custom combo in a schecter tempest, which is a huge one trick pony. great trick, but it sucks at everything else. can't get a decent clean from that neck 59 at all, not even split.

  7. #31

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    I recently found time to install a newly ordered custom-handwound Kent Armstrong 6 pole Johnny Smith floater on my Vestax D'A. Upon asking him what magnet he used for this PU, Kent replied: "Alnico 5 is the only way to go!!!!!!!!!!!"

  8. #32

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    Well, my pickup choice has been chosen for me. Today I was moving books from one bookcase to another, when I found a cased Gibson 57 Classic, Alnico II, which I can't for the life of me remember buying. Very odd. But there it is. Unused. I must have had plans for it at one stage, but never got around to it, literally shelving it.

    So, I might as well try it out on my Epiphone Black Beauty, in the neck position. If not perfect, I'm sure it will be an improvement on the stock pickup.

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    I found a cased Gibson 57 Classic, I might as well try it out on my Epiphone Black Beauty, in the neck position. If not perfect, I'm sure it will be an improvement on the stock pickup.
    Rob, even no p'up in the neck would an improvement with those stock p'ups...

    I kid, I kid... well, actually, not that much, really...

  10. #34

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Well, my pickup choice has been chosen for me. Today I was moving books from one bookcase to another, when I found a cased Gibson 57 Classic, Alnico II, which I can't for the life of me remember buying. Very odd. But there it is. Unused. I must have had plans for it at one stage, but never got around to it, literally shelving it.

    So, I might as well try it out on my Epiphone Black Beauty, in the neck position. If not perfect, I'm sure it will be an improvement on the stock pickup.
    nice..definitely a change in the tonal direction...the weaker alnico II magnet..gives you more room to play with pickup height in relation to string magnetism...

    wouldnt use alnico II with your bosset 80/20 stings as the low magnetics of pickup and string would be troublesome..

    but alnico II, with a nice pure nickel string, will give you vintagey warm tone..further pickup height adjustments will dial in your tone more precisely



    luck

    cheers

  11. #35

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    Currently I have La Bella tape wound strings on the Les Paul, and love them. I'm sure the 57 Classic pup will love them too :-)

  12. #36

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    Hi guys,

    What's the cheapest way to get a decent alnico
    Humbucker for the neck position of my single
    PU ibanez af81 ?

    I need a warmish clean jazz sound (without the hum !)
    (I bought the guitar used with some kind of HB size single coil
    P90 type in it ...)

    The wiring/pots hardware etc have already been upgraded

    I'm UK based
    Many thanks
    Pingu

  13. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by pingu
    What's the cheapest way to get a decent alnico
    Humbucker for the neck position of my single
    PU ibanez af81 ?
    Get a second-hand '59n and change the magnet with an A3 and you're set.

  14. #38

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    I've been very pleased with the warmth and clarity from the Tonerider Alnico II (AC2) that I fitted in my Hollow Vox Archtop so much that the new build I am starting soon will also have one. Not sure where you are in the UK but if Hampshire is not too far for you, a chance to try is open to you.

  15. #39

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    I'm the patient sort and being older need to find deals. So I will do my research to find what I want, will usually a main choice and a second choice. Then I just start looking for used and if looking for popular item usually doesn't take to long. About a year ago I wanted to replace the humbuckers in my 175 and decided on SD Seth Lovers as first choice. Did take on and found someone ( a forum member actually) who had a set and hated them and was selling the pair dirty cheap. I bought the PUPs and put them in my 175 and with a few weeks keeping a screwdriver handy and tweaking the pickup height I got the sound I really like. So patience paid off.

    Through the years I've bought other gear I didn't think I'd be able to afford by being patient, so figure out what your want and keep your eyes and ears open. If in a hurry SD 59's are a good pickup for little money and even Heritage uses them in some models.

  16. #40

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    in the uk...on the cheap...trev wilkinson asian made paf style...neck pup is 7.1k, #42 wire, alnico v

    Wilkinson Guitar Components, Hardware and Accessories

    cheers
    Last edited by neatomic; 01-14-2018 at 07:09 PM.

  17. #41

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  18. #42

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    +1 on the StewMacs, they're surprisingly good. I put one of these (the 5400 with F spacing and no cover; I don't see the F spicing as an option now) in the neck position on a Fender plank and it sounded quite good.

  19. #43

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    At a bit higher price, you could try Ben Fletcher - that gets you into the hand wound, made to spec territory. I've got a couple of guitars with his pickups in, including an alnico 3 humbucker in my Ibanez JP20, and they are certainly excellent. He's happy to discuss individual requirements via email.

    Custom Pickups | UK | Fletcher Pickups

    Other suggestions on here all seem worthy of consideration though.

  20. #44

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    DiMarzio 36th or SD APH-1l

  21. #45

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    The Stewart-MacDonald humbucker line has some nice pickups. Their Parson Street is, according to them, tries to duplicate the PAF pickup of yore.

  22. #46

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    I’ve not tried the Parson Street Pick ups from stew Mac but their golden age pick ups were pretty flaccid.
    What do you consider cheap? If I want a good pick up that I want to keep I’ll either go used or new I would get something from Craig Vineham. Note that those prices on his site or in Canadian dollars third knock off 20% or so.

  23. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by LtKojak
    Get a second-hand '59n and change the magnet with an A3 and you're set.
    I second this. Saving a couple cents more is not really worth it IME.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  24. #48

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    I have a pair of the StewMac Golden Age Parson Streets in my '97 Epi Sheraton. Very good pickups for very affordable price.

  25. #49

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    Pingu, Glad you found what you're looking for. For others that are on the same search, I've had good luck with these guys:
    Welcome to Guitarfetish

    In particular I tried out these retrotron puckups and they have a Gretch like sound that I've fallen in love for as a bridge pickup.
    GFS Retrotron Series

    And they're really nice sounding. I tried their PAF type pickups and they were OK but I've since decided to look out for Gibson or Duncan pickups and watch for used ones on Ebay. I've got to live with that sound so I'll be patient and buy cheap by watching and waiting.

    David

  26. #50

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    I don't think they're still available, but the EMG Select pickups are pretty good. StewMac used to sell them, but stopped, and I bought one during their clearance sale although I didn't really need it, because I like them. I started using them long ago, when I was building instruments with odd string numbers and spacing, and they use blades, not individual polepieces, so they work great for that. They have a rather smooth sound, not the overdrive that some people seem to like, and maybe that's why they were abandoned. They sound very good if you can stand a plain black pickup without adjustable polepieces. And they were very reasonably priced. I'm bummed that they're no longer available.