What about the other alnicos?

[David King]

Any point to trying out other alnico formulations in rod pole piece pickups?

Are there potentially good sounds in A-4, A-6, A-5/7 and A-9? I don't see anyone using them and figure there must be a reason for that...

[belwar]

Probably because everyone is trying to make "vintage accurate". However I say go for it!

I recently put A8 in a PAF style bridge humbucker and the thing sounds fantastic. That's really just not done very often.

There is absolutely no reason you could do it sucessfully. Particularly if you were making a bass pickup where treble and mids are a bonus. A6 and A8 rods could be really usefull there I would think.

[the great waldo]

I made some A8 humbuckers wound hot for some of the metal guys here and they sounded great loud tight thumping bass and no mud, great with a marshall. I think a problem with the high number alnicos could be string pull. I´ve got alnico 4 rods which i´m interested in hearing.

Cheers all

Andrew

[Possum]

...

Alot of us use alnico 4, it is VERY vintage and works in some pickups, just depends on who you buy it from, all of it is different. A8 is more commonly used than you think, just check Ebay winders.

[kevinT]

A4 is cool. I use if on both the neck and bridge of my Lord of the Blues model. I also have A6 but I can't remember the tonal qualities. ..been a while since I've messed with them.

A8 is also cool. I would say it combines the best qualities of Alnico and Ceramic. In other words, it has the power of ceramic without the harshness. The highs aren't brittle. It's a smooth sounding magnet so to speak.

[ShannonH]

absolutely

A8 is also cool. I would say it combines the best qualities of Alnico and Ceramic. In other words, it has the power of ceramic without the harshness. The highs aren't brittle. It's a smooth sounding magnet so to speak.

I love A8 for all these reasons. Highs are easily as pronounced as ceramic, but no buzzsaw effect that ceramic seems to give to a highly distorted sound. That has it's place, but A8 gives you a tone that can go from heavy blues to ballsout metal, which I think is harder to achieve with ceramic.

I'd like to try some A4 rods for strat pickups.....

[David King]

Most mag companies (in asia) don't seem interested in doing samples, Sensmag wanted $1 ea for rods including A8. I guess that's still a bargain but more than I want to pay in the long run.

[belwar]

I was asking about A8 rods recently and they said they dont stock them but will make them. The cost may have been a result of them having to make a batch. I may order a batch of 1000 to try them out - as well as A6. If so i'll send you some. The cost was ALOT lower than you mentioned.

[Zhangliqun]

A6 has beefy lows and mids but is kinda dark. That's my experience with A6 bars, they're a bit limited to my ear. I also have a few A6 rods I still haven't tried out yet.

Also have some unoriented A5's from Sensmag that are very promising.

[David King]

Bel,
If you do order some A8 rods I might have you tack on a few hundred for me but I need them long, 22mm I think. No rush

[belwar]

A6 has beefy lows and mids but is kinda dark. That's my experience with A6 bars, they're a bit limited to my ear. I also have a few A6 rods I still haven't tried out yet.

Also have some unoriented A5's from Sensmag that are very promising.

The A5 iso is not bad. I had high hopes for it in a P-90 but it was just OK. I've been trying to find something to liven up my neck positition a little and tried A6 bars. I was really surprised. With a classic P-90 wind, with a keeper and good screws, the A6 sounded really nice with lots of pick attack.

[soundmasterg]

A6 is the answer to all of the world's problems.

Zhang, from the way you describe the sound of the A6 bar mags, that would be a perfect fit for something like a Lipstick pickup, which is probably part of the reason they used A6 mags in those I'd guess......

Greg

[Dave Kerr]

Ditto on the A6 love - they make a nice P90, esp with heavy build wire.

[Elias Graves]

Old thread, but I just got a set of a4 buckers a few days ago.
Very cool. It's like Chuck Berry meets Jimmy Page. Great sound.

Only using one for now. Put it in my Jr.
And, yes, I know it's backwards. I like em that way in this guitar.


EG

[Bryan Jeppson]

If anyone does decide to order a bulkload of A8 rods.please count me in to buy 40 or so. Been wanting to try them for some bass pickup experiments, but haven't found a supplier.