Anybody here blend alnico 2 and 5 in their pickups?

[tonemonkey]

Alnico 5 is supposed to be hotter, brighter, and middier than alnico 2, right? What about using a blend of 2 and 5 rods in making Jazz pickups? Would that give the best of both worlds?

[big_teee]

Alnico 5 is supposed to be hotter, brighter, and middier than alnico 2, right? What about using a blend of 2 and 5 rods in making Jazz pickups? Would that give the best of both worlds?

Fralin and others sell pickup sets like that.
I usually wind them one way or the other.
You can try all A2s on the small strings, and A5s on the Big strings.
Good Luck,
Terry

[LtKojak]

Alnico 5 is supposed to be hotter, brighter, and middier than alnico 2, right? What about using a blend of 2 and 5 rods in making Jazz pickups? Would that give the best of both worlds?

If you're talking about humbucker p'ups, unless you use two different kind of blades with two very different alloys, I just can't picture it happening...

Single coil Jazz p'ups with two different rod magnets? I've never seen any...

[Jim Shine]

Make some and give it a try. The materials are cheaper than the lessons that come from experience.

[David King]

The output is definitely different so you need to accommodate that with charging or length. Of course if you aren't staggering heights you could put the A2s at each end but I think you'd get better results mixing A4s and A5s or A5s and A8s, or all three... In case you're wondering EVERYTHING under the sun has been tried. Most of the time the results are inconclusive. I've tried it on a J bass where I thought there was a problem with levels but the player had already accommodated the level differences in their playing style and didn't care for what I had done to even things out.

[fieldwrangler]

I believe I have one of the Duncan tele bridge pickups with the "2 for the small strings & 5 for the big ones" in a Tele that I play reasonably often

It seems to be pretty cool; guess it must be OK enough that I haven't wound something for that particular socket. However, I've been quite distracted by some other pickup formats for the past few years.

[tonemonkey]

I had thought to put the 5's for the E and A and the 2's for the D and G hoping to balance the tone out, but the difference in output would be a problem. I think I'm going to make split coil pups and might wind the smaller string coils differently than the big string coils to get more balance. I also think I'm going to base my pickup designs around big alnico 5 pole pieces.

[soundmasterg]

I had Wolfe make me a Strat pickup for the bridge position like that about 10 years ago. It has A5 for the treble strings and A2 for the bass strings, per my request. It is wound hotter, around 8.5k, using 42 gauge poly. It sounds great!

Greg

[Peter Naglitsch]

I make my Splitbucker (TM) that way. They are 3-pole double strat-style single coils wired like P-bass pickups. As they can be adjusted individually for the bass and treble strings I have no problems with string balance. Only problem is the great sound...

[tonemonkey]

I make my Splitbucker (TM) that way. They are 3-pole double strat-style single coils wired like P-bass pickups. As they can be adjusted individually for the bass and treble strings I have no problems with string balance. Only problem is the great sound...

I'd love to see a picture of that!

[Peter Naglitsch]

I'd love to see a picture of that!

Here you go, have a look:

BTW, are you tonemonkey from the PG forum (Kaj i think the name was)?

[Peter Naglitsch]

Oups, double post.