$4.89 Hack - Convert Cheap Pickups to ALNICO 5

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Quick, inexpensive, and easy weekend project to convert cheap ceramic pickups to Alnico5.
Yes, yes, a pickup's tone comes from more than just it's magnetic heart but this hack truly does impact the tone significantly and the added Alnico's magnetic field interacts intimately with the strings, coaxing out subtle nuances and dynamic responsiveness that breathe life into every note.
Plus not everyone, has the tools or time to wind coils. Give it a shot, it's a fun cheap way to upgrade a guitar.
Tone-Kraft Alnico 5 Bar magnets: Measure between your poles to determine the width required
www.tone-kraft.com/bar-magnets/
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Опубликовано:

18 апр 2024

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Комментарии : 55

@Stevie_evie 3 месяца назад

When no measurable change is presented in terms of the sound, it's always "the feeeeeeel" that we claim is the major improvement. Without a before and after comparison of the actual sound, there's a bit of a gaping hole in the content here. Would also be curious to see someone play the same guitar with alnico v ceramic pickups to see if they can hear any difference. They'd maybe just conclude they like "the feel".

@terryenglish7132 3 месяца назад

I think alot of hearing debates are about phase sensitivity, not frequency response. We have WWII bunkers here. I and friends would shut off our flashlights , then flip a silver dime in the pitch blackness. I and others could go over and pick it up w no problem. Others had only a general idea where it was and couldn't do it. Thats the Digital Tubes vs Real Tubes debate in a nut shell. Even a good digital has the very high frequency phase shifted unnaturally. That why its dead sounding and messes up feel. Feel is hearing phase relationship and how it shifts. It doesn't in digital. Thats why its unnatural sounding to some extent.

@lukespread 3 месяца назад

Thanks, Mark. Love to see the trialling and experiments, greatly appreciated.

@amslu 3 месяца назад

Cool, but magnets have nothing to do with ‚cheapness’. Ceramics usually sound better and give higher output, that’s why they are the default magnet on China pickups. Would be nice if you'd include before/after comparison.

@JohnWiku 3 месяца назад

Let them find out that bOuTiQuE pickup builders also use ceramic magnets in their 350 dollar pickups 😂😂😂

@JohnWiku 3 месяца назад

AlNiCo V magnets have a mid range bump because they are "warm" in the high end. Ceramic magnets will bump all frequencies, specially the high end, that's why they are used in overwound bobbins, as more wire means less high end. Ceramic vs alnico, has NOTHING to do with "cheapness", as OP has stated!!!

@WallyBoots 3 месяца назад

Agreed. Would love to have heard a before and after comparison. Just because a magnet is ceramic does not necessarily mean it's bad. It all depends on what sound you're going for.

@Nugmania1 3 месяца назад

Agree, you are missing a before and after demo?

@RickDeNatale 3 месяца назад

Yes, i know also that Gibson and, i believe, Fender.have pickups with ceramic magnets. I have a Schecter Mercury, one of their first guitars, a Strat clone with ceramics. Lace sensors use barium ferrite magnets which are ceramic

@andretopy 3 месяца назад

Thanks, Always appreciate your posts !

@cheapskate8656 3 месяца назад

That was an interesting watch. Thanks Mark.

@MarkGutierrez 3 месяца назад

Super easy, stress-free, cheap upgrade anyone can do.

@glacierwookie 3 месяца назад

Now do Neodymium magnets, and show the difference, if any. They're pretty cheap as well now

@terryenglish7132 3 месяца назад

@@glacierwookieI have a T coil from a 69 Gibson HB. Around 4 K ohms . I put Neos under the poles. The most hideous horrible screechy distortion I've ever heard. And I love distortion. Some p up makers do use them, bass mostly, but they have to use spacers of wood between the magnet and poles. The field is just too strong. The coil saturates and you get non harmonic distortion.

@andymangaka 3 месяца назад

@@terryenglish7132 I have a set of Neo humbuckers from a brazilian brand called Malagoli... in this particular set, they use those plastic emg-like covers, fully waxed, to reduce this magnetic field and (steel?)rails inside instead of poles(Malagoli have a youtube channel that explains some manufacturing)... ended up being a pretty high gain set without losing too much highs(moderate ohms may also be influencing here) like ceramics do... as comparing to other pickups I have AND your description with your 4k ohms pickup, I THINK the higher the resistance(number of ohms), the darker the pickup, but less noisy(all this compensating the magnet field I guess)... maybe wrong...

@CryptToneMusic 3 месяца назад

Cool video! I've been doing lots of silly pickup experiments lately like trying to make my own alumitone pickup (to avoid winding coils as you mentioned) and trying different magnet combinations on different pickups so this was super interesting!

@fatpotanga 3 месяца назад

Very cool thing to try

@davidgann3251 3 месяца назад

This is inspiring! Off to shop for bar magnets...

@paulshamblin6260 11 дней назад

Sounded great

@michaelbeem1737 3 месяца назад

Learn Suthin' New Everyday..Thanks For The Video!....

@fourspiralarms 3 месяца назад

That pickup actually sounds great! Love that exaggerated high mids especially in those mid gain chug tones. Video idea for you: will you do a guitar collection run down? What you have and why you keep it etc.

@MarkGutierrez 3 месяца назад

I noticed the same thing tonally about the pickup, it has a very distinct sweet spot in the high mids. Great idea!

@wjewell63 3 месяца назад

I always add a third wire to the humbucker while its dissembled for coil split as well as magnet change....

@mojorocketman 3 месяца назад

No before and after demo?

@gothridercreations 3 месяца назад

Damn you Mark... I'm now logging into Wish to find bar magnets... 😂

@johnr7303 3 месяца назад

What was the inductance of the pickup before and after???

@nj1255 3 месяца назад

You could also experiment with stuff like wood spacers between the magnets and pole-pieces (like Dimarzio "Air" pickups), adding small ceramic magnets in the empty spaces between the pole-pieces (like Dimarzio "Virtual Vintage" pickups), different baseplate metals, and even removing a bit of winding from one of the coils (unless they already are quite unbalanced). There's a whole lot of fun stuff you can do with cheap Chinese pickups!

@MarkGutierrez 3 месяца назад

Great ideas! thanks!

@kaz0271 3 месяца назад

Nice, I have the same mult-imeter, but the E version. Like I'll use the extra counts anyway haha.

@andymangaka 3 месяца назад

You can find nice cheap chinese brandless alnico V sets these days, just make sure they provide the data you need, like magnets, resistance, distance between poles for tremolo, that kind of stuff... you may want to be careful on instalation for some of them are really fragile... I personally prefer a high gain ceramic on bridge and a "59-like" alnico V on neck for the pretty stuff...

@Arwndr 3 месяца назад

What was sound before? Would be better to listen before/after... For now I hear some not very clear sound us it should be. Like with cheap Ferrum metal polepieces without annealing process, that bring residual magnetism in polepieces, and slow reaction on string vibrations. That give not so clean sharp sound on output us it possible to be.

@numbersabcdefg 3 месяца назад

What was the resistance before swapping magnets?

@utube321piotr 18 дней назад

wire resistance is unchanged regardless of what magnet was installed

@littlebritain64 2 месяца назад

Is that true that ceramic pickups not necesserely sound bad?

@Lordbaccus 3 месяца назад

How do I "Know" if my kickups have the cheap magnets? P.s. Awesome info on this video

@Jackofallthetrades 3 месяца назад

What was the resistance before the magnet swap?

@MarkGutierrez 3 месяца назад

I didn't test before hand. I would assume the exact same resistance if not very close.

@terryenglish7132 3 месяца назад

DC ohms won't change , but inductance will. That results in the change in sound.

@channelname7349 3 месяца назад

If both magnets were the same size the alnicos would be lower output but even more so cause the magnets replaced in this case were smaller, Alnicos aren't better magnets they're just different magnets. Lower output for better dynamic range less compression and drive, that's why you see them in pickups going for a vintage sound usually.

@emansell68 3 месяца назад

The resistance is a static characteristic due to the resistivity, cross section and length of the wire and it is not affected by the magnet. The inductance, if the poles material within the coil doesn't change, is not influenced by the magnetic flux concatenated with the coil. Changing the magnetic bar outside the coil only influences the induced EMF

@Tjricchio 3 месяца назад

Zakk wyldes strat

@effektgeraeteinfo 3 месяца назад

Absolut useless without before/after comparison. How does it affect the sound?

@Minoltalphafan 3 месяца назад

Not really a cost consideration,. Alnico is a weaker magnet, less output but less compressed.

@MrADVANCEDTEK 3 месяца назад

The very expensive cheap?! So which is it? I'd have to hear a before and after. Even still some people want the faster attack of the ceramic pups.

@MarkGutierrez 3 месяца назад

True, for the high gain stuff, ceramics make sense.

@MrADVANCEDTEK 3 месяца назад

@@MarkGutierrez I had a time when all I wanted to do was try certain pickup designs to hear for myself what gave them that sound to which they were praised for or admiration that they were known for. Most every pickup had a certain tone/volume pots that played a major role in their tonal sound that no one takes into account. Plus their orientation. But you at least scratched the surface in search of the grail in guitar tone. Great video!