Replacing Alnico 4

[holio cornolio]

I have a very reasonably priced Chinese pickup in the neck position of my Les Paul (tonerider). It measures 7.3K on my multimeter, and it says it has an alnico 4 magnet. It sounds pretty good, but maybe just a tad boomy. If I were to rip out the magnet and replace it with alnico 3 or 2 would I be moving in the right direction for something a little sweeter / clearer / more balanced?
Opinions gratefully received.

[guitician]

Do you know how it's made?

Some pickups are not made to replace parts. Some use hard potting and are not servicable. I've heard alnico 5 makes them clearer/brighter and with more output, but then you could just lower it further from the strings.

[David Schwab]

I had a Duncan Jazz neck in one of my guitars, and it was also boomy, and that was with an alnico V.

I ended up replacing it with a pickup I wound that I made specifically to be not boomy.

[belwar]

I have a very reasonably priced Chinese pickup in the neck position of my Les Paul (tonerider). It measures 7.3K on my multimeter, and it says it has an alnico 4 magnet. It sounds pretty good, but maybe just a tad boomy. If I were to rip out the magnet and replace it with alnico 3 or 2 would I be moving in the right direction for something a little sweeter / clearer / more balanced?
Opinions gratefully received.

I first used A5 on mine, but it didnt have good lowend and lacked mid range kick. I changed a good quality A4 and it made everything dramatically better. great midrange and smooth clean low end. A2 is quite nice; I use it my bridge P/U

You might try changing the pole screws out too. In my limited experience the pole screw metal makes a huge difference. If the pickup is chinese you will need metic screws. I tried several screws in my design and several of them were so dark sounding it was rediculous!

[Possum]

...

Just proves my point, alnico 4 from one company doesn't sound like alnico 4 from every other company. Try every type of alnico you can get your hands on....