Changing the Mags in your pups

[IloveMyMarshall]

Does anyone here know how to change the mags in your pickups?? I want experiment a bit on some pups I have sitting around!
Tanks
TONE

[fillmore nyc]

Does anyone here know how to change the mags in your pickups?? I want experiment a bit on some pups I have sitting around!
Tanks
TONE

If you're talking about humbuckers (without covers) its pretty straightforward. Usually you have to remove the tape around the perimeter of the coils if its blocking access to the mag(carefully), LOOSEN (do NOT remove) the 4 screws holding the coils to the baseplate, and gently push the mag out the side of the pickup opposite of where the coil wires are tied together. The thing you have to be certain of is the polarity of the mag thats in the pup when stock. The new mags gotta go in with the polarity the same, or the pup will be out of phase. I check this with a mag from an old Strat pup, that I marked one end of. It does not matter which end of a scrap mag you mark, just that the mag from the pup, and the new mag are oriented the same. Carefully push the new mag back in, and tighten the 4 screws back up, and re-install the coil tape. You should try this on a pup that you dont care about too much, if its your first attempt at this, just in case you eff it up. Changing mags is a cool thing to do, cause it makes a big diff in sound, especially if you're going from a ceramic mag to some sort of alnico mag. Good luck!!

[NY Chief]

Oh boy, if you want to get into that there is a whole thread here and on the (I think) the Seymour Duncan site about magnets and mixing and matching coils ('59 and Custom Custom) and of course you then can get ito the Greeny where the mag is intentionally out of phase...

[fillmore nyc]

Oh boy, if you want to get into that there is a whole thread here and on the (I think) the Seymour Duncan site about magnets and mixing and matching coils ('59 and Custom Custom) and of course you then can get ito the Greeny where the mag is intentionally out of phase...

Yeah, WCR makes that Moore/Green set, where he does that out of phase thing for you. I never liked the tone of out of phase pups myself. I called Dimarzio once after I changed magnets on a Dimarzio "Fred" pup (I THINK I put an alnico 2 in it), and the assholes were yelling at me saying "YOU CANT DO THAT TO OUR PICKUPS!!!". Well, fffuuukkkin' genius, I just did, and it sounds a shitload better than it used to, MAYBE you should try it, and MAYBE you shouldnt tell me what to do with MY stuff. They were less than amused, but the pup still sounded better than stock. They lose, I win. /

[IloveMyMarshall]

Oh boy, if you want to get into that there is a whole thread here and on the (I think) the Seymour Duncan site about magnets and mixing and matching coils ('59 and Custom Custom) and of course you then can get ito the Greeny where the mag is intentionally out of phase...

Yeah, WCR makes that Moore/Green set, where he does that out of phase thing for you. I never liked the tone of out of phase pups myself. I called Dimarzio once after I changed magnets on a Dimarzio "Fred" pup (I THINK I put an alnico 2 in it), and the assholes were yelling at me saying "YOU CANT DO THAT TO OUR PICKUPS!!!". Well, fffuuukkkin' genius, I just did, and it sounds a shitload better than it used to, MAYBE you should try it, and MAYBE you shouldnt tell me what to do with MY stuff. They were less than amused, but the pup still sounded better than stock. They lose, I win. /

Hey thats exactly what I am wanting to do is go from AlnV to AlnicoII mag , If I stand correct I hear the II is some what cleaner and or clearer sounding???

Yes How come these companies dont try this???

Also got a pup from Jim over at WCR DB ALNII man it was worth every damn penny!!!
Just wish he would come down a tad but that aint going to happen ;-(
TONE

[JimiJames]

Putting an A2 in a Shredder... Let youz know what I think.

Personally in my younger years I loved pickup swapping.
I was into the high output type cuz I had so-so amps.
They all pretty much had the same sizzle but it was the tone I was going for.
Now (20 years later) I usually to go with low output (weak) pickups and let the AMP do the talkin' ...through the wood.

[fillmore nyc]

Hey thats exactly what I am wanting to do is go from AlnV to AlnicoII mag , If I stand correct I hear the II is some what cleaner and or clearer sounding???

I dont know if I would say an Aln2 mag would be cleaner or clearer... it would tend to sound a little "looser", or more vintage than an Aln5 or a ceramic mag. It all works together, but the majority of the output comes from the coil winds. It would be to say that you couldnt take a distortion class pup with a ceramic mag, and make it clean with an Aln2 mag. It would "cut" less, and tend to sound dirtier, and undefined. It WOULD have less output, but it wouldnt be clean sounding. Changing to an Aln2 mag works great on pups up to about 9 to 10k resistance. Past that, the pup really has to be made specifically for an Aln2 mag, or its gonna lack some definition. The higher the number on an alnico mag, the tighter, more defined, and "harder" the pup will sound.
If you've ever compared a Duncan Custom (ceramic mag) with a Duncan "Custom-Custom" (Aln2 mag) you would hear the diff immediately. The Custom cuts and has lots of "zing", and the CC is much more vintage, and warmer sounding, but not as defined as the Custom.

[908ssp]

I just changed my High Order bridge pickup from alnico 5 to alnico II this morning. I found the 5 was just too bright and had too much contrast with the II in the neck, and I liked the neck sound better than the bridge sound. After changing the bridge became fatter warmer sounding and was a better match with the neck.

It might be really hard to push the magnet out from the end if the pickup if putted as the wax sticks that magnet in there pretty good. If you find that gently pry one end of the magnet up away from the bobbin at least mine were stuck on the bobbins and not the base.

I am really happy with the high orders while warm they still have sparkle on the top something the JB didn't have.

[fillmore nyc]

It might be really hard to push the magnet out from the end if the pickup if putted as the wax sticks that magnet in there pretty good. If you find that gently pry one end of the magnet up away from the bobbin at least mine were stuck on the bobbins and not the base.

Yeah, thats something worth mentioning. Usually the mag needs a little bit of a pry up (gently) to get it unstuck from the wax potting. Also, if the new mag is really something great, its a good idea to use something to pot it back into the pup. Even something simple like a very light brush of rubber cement on the mag works well for that.

[IloveMyMarshall]

I just changed my High Order bridge pickup from alnico 5 to alnico II this morning. I found the 5 was just too bright and had too much contrast with the II in the neck, and I liked the neck sound better than the bridge sound. After changing the bridge became fatter warmer sounding and was a better match with the neck.

It might be really hard to push the magnet out from the end if the pickup if putted as the wax sticks that magnet in there pretty good. If you find that gently pry one end of the magnet up away from the bobbin at least mine were stuck on the bobbins and not the base.

I am really happy with the high orders while warm they still have sparkle on the top something the JB didn't have.

Thats what I want. I got that pup from WCR with AlnicoII . The mag the tone cant be beat its actually what I want!! Now I have tone zone and paf dimarzios with AlN5s in them I want to tame them down and put a AlnicoII I know I will be happy with the outcome
Ok thanks all for the advice I ordered some Alnico IIs they are on the way I will make sure to take my time and be super careful! I also picked up a polarity tester lol I want to be damn sure,

Will they need to be re poted??? Or add something to the mag before putting back in correct?


Thanks all for the help and advice

TONE

[JMPMAN]

I just changed my High Order bridge pickup from alnico 5 to alnico II this morning. I found the 5 was just too bright and had too much contrast with the II in the neck, and I liked the neck sound better than the bridge sound. After changing the bridge became fatter warmer sounding and was a better match with the neck.

It might be really hard to push the magnet out from the end if the pickup if putted as the wax sticks that magnet in there pretty good. If you find that gently pry one end of the magnet up away from the bobbin at least mine were stuck on the bobbins and not the base.

I am really happy with the high orders while warm they still have sparkle on the top something the JB didn't have.

Thats what I want. I got that pup from WCR with AlnicoII . The mag the tone cant be beat its actually what I want!! Now I have tone zone and paf dimarzios with AlN5s in them I want to tame them down and put a AlnicoII I know I will be happy with the outcome
Ok thanks all for the advice I ordered some Alnico IIs they are on the way I will make sure to take my time and be super careful! I also picked up a polarity tester lol I want to be damn sure,

Will they need to be re poted??? Or add something to the mag before putting back in correct?


Thanks all for the help and advice

TONE

Where did you get the A2's from?

[rockstah]

Will they need to be re poted??? Or add something to the mag before putting back in correct?


Thanks all for the help and advice

TONE

no they wont. just stick the new magnet in there paying attention to which way is north.

[IloveMyMarshall]

I just changed my High Order bridge pickup from alnico 5 to alnico II this morning. I found the 5 was just too bright and had too much contrast with the II in the neck, and I liked the neck sound better than the bridge sound. After changing the bridge became fatter warmer sounding and was a better match with the neck.

It might be really hard to push the magnet out from the end if the pickup if putted as the wax sticks that magnet in there pretty good. If you find that gently pry one end of the magnet up away from the bobbin at least mine were stuck on the bobbins and not the base.

I am really happy with the high orders while warm they still have sparkle on the top something the JB didn't have.

Thats what I want. I got that pup from WCR with AlnicoII . The mag the tone cant be beat its actually what I want!! Now I have tone zone and paf dimarzios with AlN5s in them I want to tame them down and put a AlnicoII I know I will be happy with the outcome
Ok thanks all for the advice I ordered some Alnico IIs they are on the way I will make sure to take my time and be super careful! I also picked up a polarity tester lol I want to be damn sure,

Will they need to be re poted??? Or add something to the mag before putting back in correct?


Thanks all for the help and advice

TONE

Where did you get the A2's from?

Ebay sorry for the long ass delay posting or repsonding In fact I have one left over I do not need PM will send 4.99 ship I will send her your way if you need her!!! That goes to anyone that needs her I only have uno!!

[IloveMyMarshall]

Will they need to be re poted??? Or add something to the mag before putting back in correct?


Thanks all for the help and advice

TONE

no they wont. just stick the new magnet in there paying attention to which way is north.

I got her in, one thing she sounds great but I would be flat out lying if I said she is better then the WCR pup no comarision in fact Im having two more pups built, I keep going back to the DBurst VII hate to sound like a freekin commercial but hands down the best pups I have ever played

[rockstah]

so u like the db with the stock a5 or a2?