The difference in Pickups Magnets

During my quest in searching for a cheaper alternatives to big names or boutique pick ups, I started reading up the specs of the pick ups, not that I understood any of it other than the tonal chart. However, there are a few certain things that I see are consistence in differences and that is magnet. Scrolling through different big names pick up maker's website, i noticed that the consistent differences other than the numbers are the magnets. There are Ceramic, Alnico II and Alnico V. So my research begins.



Ceramic: Ceramics has the highest output among all magnets used and is able to produce a more driven and hotter sound while allowing the player to achieve better harmonics with the Ceramics. Ceramics are usually being used in pick ups with high output.



Alnico II: Alnico II is the softest and most compressed sounding. It gives a mellower, warmer, more transparent and vintage sound. Think along the lines of Gibson PAFs. Slash himself uses a Seymour Duncan pick up utilizing Alnico Pro II magnets.



Alnico V: Alnico V is the strongest and most bright and powerful of both the Alnicos. It has higher output compared to Alnico II but isn't as high compared to Ceramic. This gives an edgier kind of sound, A.K.A higher bass and treble.



That all being said, the stronger the magnet, the more pull it has which also equates to less sustain. So technically, more magnetic force doesn't equate to better tone. The number of copper windings and the thickness of the wire used will of course affect the tonal characteristics of the pick up. According to Bill Lawrence, there is no such thing as Ceramic magnets sounding harsh while Alnico magnets sound sweet. There are harsh-sounding pickups with alnico magnets and sweet-sounding pickups with ceramic magnets and vice-versa. I hope this post can serve as a reference or guide to prospective buyer in search of the tone they like and makes their pick ups selection process a lot easier. In the end of the day, it is still up to the player to try it out for themselves for the tone that they are searching for.