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Post subject: Strat with alnico 5 and alnico 2 pickups
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:12 pm
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So wondering if having an alnico 5 'Fat 50's' in the neck position and then a two non-Fender alnico 2 type pickups (one in middle and bridge slot) would create any kind of sonic issues, or be mis-matched? May be a dumb question, but appreciate any answers.

Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Strat with alnico 5 and alnico 2 pickups
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:31 pm
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Alnico 5 is stronger than Alnico 2 (when both are fully magnetized) so the neck pickup may have stronger output than the other two (unless the other two are overwound, or wound with a different gauge wire). That may not be a problem for you, and output can be varied by raising/lowering pickups (though that changes the tone -- again, might not be a problem for you).

"Quack" in the 2 and 4 positions tends to be strongest/most pleasing when the pickups are identical or very similar. So the neck&middle combination may or may not please you.

Different types of pickups can have different magnetic polarity and/or different electrical polarity. If you want noise-cancellation in the neck&middle position you need to be sure that the middle pickup's magnets are opposite polarity compared to the Fat'50s. Electrical polarity can be addressed simply by reversing the way you connect the wires to the switch and ground. (Sorry, I don't recall if the magnets on the Fat'50s neck pickup are north up or south up.)

Lots of people use wildly mismatched pickups because they want specific tones from different positions. Other people prefer 3 identical pickups. Both approaches work depending on what you want. The only issues/problems you may encounter are with mismatches are different output levels, noise-cancelling or the lack thereof in the 2 and 4 positions, diminished/different quack in 2 and 4, and trial & error reversing of wires to get the signals from the pickups in-phase.

If all that is confusing gobbledegook to you, you might be better off getting all three pickups from the same manufacturer.


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Post subject: Re: Strat with alnico 5 and alnico 2 pickups
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:53 pm
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Regarding magnetic polarity, if the middle and bridge Alnico 2's are RW/RP compared to each other, then one of them will be RW/RP compared to the Fat'50s. If both the Alnico 2's are wound to the same output level then you can simply put the one that's RW/RP compared to the Fat'50s in the middle position. If the bridge is wound hotter than the middle (and you want the bridge to have more output without resorting to raising the bridge really high and lowering the middle really low), then you have to order the correct magnetic polarity (if you want noise-cancelling).

On vintage-style pickups like the Fat'50s where the coil is wound directly onto the magnets, reversing the wires to address phase and noise-cancelling can sometimes make the pickup a little more sensitive to noise sources. If the Alnico 2's are modern-style with plastic bobbins there's no problem with reversing the wires if needed.


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Post subject: Re: Strat with alnico 5 and alnico 2 pickups
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 11:04 pm
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wt24 wrote:
So wondering if having an alnico 5 'Fat 50's' in the neck position and then a two non-Fender alnico 2 type pickups (one in middle and bridge slot) would create any kind of sonic issues, or be mis-matched? May be a dumb question, but appreciate any answers.


Those "sonic issues" might actually be quite pleasing to the ear. But you'll have to do some experimentation to determine that and (as strayedstrater has indicated) some "shuffling" of your pickups may be the ticket to optimizing your position 2 and 4 tones.

I've mixed and matched DiMarzio's of differing outputs to good effect on a number of Strats but as far as Fender single coils go, I've always stuck with the "canned" sets -- Fat '50s, 57/62's, CS Robert Crays, etc.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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