Anyone swapped a ceramic for an alnico magnet in a PU?

[Kapo_Polenton]

I've got an SH-5 or custom in my Michael Kelly vintage (les paul copy essentially) and a paf pro in the neck. I am doing some experimenting seeing as the stock pups kinda sucked for me. I like the cut and definition of the paf proin the neck with the tone rolled back a bit. The bridge is good, but i find it lacking a bit. Sounds a bit stiff to me. I know you can swap alnico magnets but how easy is it to swap a ceramic with an alnico?

 

[tweed]

It's the same process as swapping the alnico's. Just pay attention to the height of the magnets before you swap them as you may have to pad them a bit, or remove some material from the spacer to make things even out.

 

[Bill Brasky]

How can you tell visually if the magnet is ceramic or alnico? Also, if it's alnico, how can you figure out what type of alnico magnet it is?

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Good question! I have a few other spare pups lying around, maybe i could borrow their magnets. Are they usually marked A2, A5, A8? Also i suspect that all mags are NOT created equal? The lesser quality being put in cheaper brands ? Or is a magnet a magnet.

 

[skoora]

It's the same process as swapping the alnico's. Just pay attention to the height of the magnets before you swap them as you may have to pad them a bit, or remove some material from the spacer to make things even out.

I tried doing this with a 500T I had. Ordered an A5 and it was quite the pain in the ass. I never finished it because after a lot of wrestling with heating the pickup just right to actually get the ceramic out I didn't want to deal with changing the spacers to be smaller. Plus the spacers were magnets too.

I'm sure if you did it a few times the process would get smoother but it was a one off experiment for me.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Sounds like I'd be better off experimenting between alnico magnets in a pup that starts with an alnico magnet.