| Swapping Pickup Magnets | An Easy & Cheap Way To Upgrade Your Guitar |

Taking the #ceramic magnets out of a #pickup & swapping them for #Alnico II. How to do it & what effect it has on your tone.

[garywordsworth]

Great guide have swapped magnets on many cheap humbuckers to good effect .
and as a small tip always break the solder joints to the cover rather than desolder them . a stanley knife blade and a small tap through with a hammer does the trick . its not happened to me but know someone who had it happen, when desoldering some small amount of solder dripped down and got under the bobbin tape ( which was rather loose ) and shorted out the windings .

[jasonbaker]

I watched this video a couple of weeks ago and it inspired me to try swapping the magnets on a LTD Viper that I've had for a few years. Finally got around to swapping them yesterday and now I can't put that guitar down. Love it! Thanks for the video!

[bigbasil]

I've ordered a pair of Alnico II and a pair of Alnico 5 magnets (not because of this video), which I'll either stick on my epiphone les paul humbuckers or on a pair of vintage PAF style humbuckers that i bought off the fleabay a while back. I guess Alnico II for the vintage 8k range humbuckers, and Alnico 5 for the more modern (8k 14k) humbuckers. Could always stick the neck pickup magnet in the wrong way around to attempt to get something more like the Peter Green 'Greeny' sound, and put that humbucker in the guitar upside down.

[wanderingfirbolg]

Just thinking of doing that to my HB Bass... and saw your very useful upload listed. Many Thanks

[waynetykocki]

Learning still, I’ve kicked out ceramics and paid out to put alnico replacements quite a few times and now I’ve been given a free lesson that can save me a few quid and up my tone zone 🥳 many thanks 🙏

[bassmanaz]

Now that is a really useful video John. Many thanks.

[RobHunter]

They sound fantastic with the Alnico II's and you definitely can hear a difference in ceramics to Alnico's. Very nicely done.

[theAxehound]

Magnet swaps are cheap, easy and one of the biggest tonal differences. I like your simple trick, "if it sticks and not repels then just slide it in"!!

[jaguar]

Great idea John. Must say that's a sweet sound when turned up to 11

[clockworktoastboy]

Lots of love for Axesrus. Thanks for the video, excellent tip!

[jerbear]

Always a class act John. Nicely done. Greetings from Canada.

[thingsdisappear]

"it's like spoiling the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar" - love it!

[Noone-of-your-Business]

Great guide! This would never have ocurred to me. My HB-35 _plus, _ however, already comes with AlNICo humbuckers. Now I just have to check if upgrading from AlNiCo 5 to 2 makes any relevant difference. I think I will have to watch Darrel Brown's video on that again. 😉 Thanks for the inspiration!

[achimdg]

There is a Video on pickups and magnets on Will Gelvin's channel, he knows a lot more about coils and magnets.
So an AlNiCo 2/3/4/5/8 bar can be magnetized stronger or weaker, the strength of the magnet should fit the windings of the coils. More windings, more DC-resistance result to the need for a stronger magnet.

[mikerose]

It sounds much better, smoother and cleaner.
Thanks for doing this video, I think even I could make that swap!!

[stuarthossack]

Hi John, I'm fairly sure that on a Throwback p/u channel vid, the owner recommended a modest clamping force between backplate and cover when soldering, to tighten the components up to battle microphonics (and presumably potential wolf tones/resonances). More critical on non-waxed period correct PAFs but worth noting .... possibly?

[somebodyelseuk]

Great video.
I've been messing around with magnets for a while on a Vintage Lemon Drop. Swapped the A5s for A4s a couple of years ago... Man, IMOtakes it closer to how it should sound.
Got another experiment coming soon. If only I had the personality to do videos, I'd have a ton of ideas for videos.

[jensenhealey]

What a difference. Well worth the effort. Thank you John.

[casperboo]

This is a great tip John and well worth knowing, thank you for this, Cheers

[analogblues]

Great video! Did you use a Rough or polished alnico ll magnet? Thanks