Strat Ceramic Vs Alnico

Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool.

Strat ceramic vs alnico.

Whereas alnico pickups use magnetic slugs direct loading. Technically more efficient ceramic magnets took over in a wide variety of commercial applications starting in the 1960s but ceramic magnet guitar pickups were found to have a generally harsher more brittle sound with sharper peaks than their alnico predecessors. I haven t seen a strat pickup yet where ceramic magnet rods were used instead of metal polepieces or alnico slugs but it would be interesting to be able to compare them. Ceramic vs alnico discussion in stratocaster discussion forum started by ratherbefishing.

Let s listen to how they sound. Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues. By some players the ceramic magnets are given a bad reputation when compared to alnico which is probably due to their association with cheaper instruments. The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response.

You see ceramic is easier to come by than alnico making it a cheaper magnet to make. Ceramic magnets are made of ceramic surprise. Alnico was used in all popular vintage pickups and generally has a warm and smooth response. Ceramic magnets tend to boost treble response and have become popular for pickups with extra coil winding to compensate for the treble loss.

Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides. A lot of people automatically say that alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups. Magnet material is usually one of two varieties. So we often hear.

You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction. Alnico aluminum nickel and cobalt or ceramic. Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico.