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Ceramic vs alnico 2.
Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues.
Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico.
Alnico seems to be the popular favorite but on the other hand there is no shortage of popular recordings that feature ceramic pickups.
We use alnico 3 magnets in our real 54 s to give them a bright glassy tone.
Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides.
Let s listen to how they sound.
So we often hear.
You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction.
Alnico tends to produce a very musical pickup in most.
Alnico 4 is stronger than both alnico 2 and 3 but weaker than alnico 5.
By some players the ceramic magnets are given a bad reputation when compared to alnico which is probably due to their association with cheaper instruments.
Alnico ii is a lower output magnet that is smooth and usually has just a bit of warmth.
Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool.
Alnico v has more scooped mids and tighter in the low end.
The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response.
Curiously alnico 3 is weaker than alnico 2 in a bar magnet form but stronger than alnico 2 in a rod magnet form.
Alnico viii is generally between ceramic and alnico v with quite a bit of magnetic pull punchy with upper mids but a little more warmth than ceramic.
This is a tutorial video to demonstrate the difference in sound and performance between a ceramic and alnico v magnet in a bridge humbucker looking specific.
You see ceramic is easier to come by than alnico making it a cheaper magnet to make.
It has the most balanced and even eq out of all of the alnico.
Provides some bite and sparkle.
Alnico vs ceramic magnets.
Ceramic magnets are made of ceramic surprise.