Alloy differences on slugs for humbuckers.

[mickmutante]

I need to build some humbuckers for a guitar that I am working on.
I was lookin Addiction-FX @ebay, and he sells pole screws and slugs with different alloys, 1022, 1018, 1010, and 1215, I think...
Which are the differences of these alloys?
I have bough @mojo some kits, i think they have 1010 steel alloy, and @stewmac i do not know....

[big_teee]

I need to build some humbuckers for a guitar that I am working on.
I was lookin Addiction-FX @ebay, and he sells pole screws and slugs with different alloys, 1022, 1018, 1010, and 1215, I think...
Which are the differences of these alloys?
I have bough @mojo some kits, i think they have 1010 steel alloy, and @stewmac i do not know....

Here's a Thread I did last year trying to get some your same answers.
Terry
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t21609/

[mickmutante]

Thanks Terry..!

[SpareRibs]

Steel

Hello,

Hate to butt in but I just finished a course in metallurgy. Pull up Chemical Composition Chart -Benjamin
Steel Co.-Home Page It will tell you the carbon content of all the steels you are discussing.

[copperheadroads]

Here's a blind test that Wolf did this week .........I think is very cool
Little Blind test for Throbak and Stephens and YOU - My Les Paul Forums

[belwar]

I can audible notice a difference in my own pickups.. I think in that blind test jon nails it in that it is all incremental. The biggest change for me comes from the pole screw keeper combo. I just dont like what 1010 does in my pickups. I use 1018 and 12L14 alot and I really like them both, and they have the benefit of being cheap as dirt. At first I thought it was all about carbon content, but I no longer do. I think there are other elements in the steel which color the sound more than carbon but I have no proof yet. I've often looked at the manganese numbers and wondered about its effect. But there are other parts to steel which are equaly important as well.. Hardness and grain structure for example. While I dont have experience with it personally, people swear up an down that cryogenic treatment of steel makes a night and day difference and that's altering the crystaline structure of the steel and reduces stress in the steel.

Alloys can make a world of difference, but they are extremely difficult to yield properly.