Alnico II and Alnico V

[Dewey]

can anybody tell me the difference between an alnico II and an alnico V magnet?

 

[LHakim]

Dewey, I spoke to your man Jim Rolph, earlier today. He described alnico II as darker sounding and alnico V as brighter. He uses alnico V's in his paf style pickups. An old catalogue of Seymour's describes those same differences and adds that alnico II is smoother, and V more dynamic in its response. There are other differences including some fairly technical ones that relate to how II's and Vs are made that Rolph was telling me, but of course theres no way I could begin to retell accurately what he all he was telling me. BTW your right: he's a goldmine of information. Very cool guy.

 

[Dewey]

Larry, glad you enjoyed your conversation with him...he does take the time and chat I've always found him to be very helpful and anytime I needed a help with a p/u decision I'll always ring him up. I had a chat with him the other day about his p/u's and some comparisons...should have asked him about the magnets!He seemed amused at all the p/u experimentation going on.....he always has a great story to tell me when I call...

 

[RICH]

Jeez, use the spinal tap method, the difference between the II and the V, is that the V is 3 more init?:lol2

 

[Dewey]

....:lol :bonk

 

[plaintop]

I can't imagine the V being brighter than the II. In the Antiquity the II is VERY bright, and according to DAVE P the V was smoother and less bright at least in the Antiquity. Oh the variables......

 

[Zhangliqun]

To my ear, the V is a bit more output than the II, and is a bit warmer.

 

[toni]

Zhangliqun,
so alico V has less "hard" treble ?...and does it have the same bass response as Alnico II ?

Plaintop59
Thursday i'll have a brand new Gibson P90...with 2 alnico V !!!
I'll let you know what difference it makes in my guitar.

 

[Dewey]

BTW.... I'm pretty sure that Seymore Duncan has some alnico V magnets for sale!

 

[Robert Sherman]

SD sells alot of magnets. Unfortunately, they are all installed in pups. you can't get just magnets from SD.

 

[Ed Rafalko]

YEs, you can, Robert. You get them from the Custom Shop. I think they're $20 a piece.

 

[toni]

here's the Seymour Duncan's Custom Shop phone # : (805) 964-9610
We've tried also the alnico II from a Seth Lover in the Antiquities and we could not get the rich and full spectrum tone that we got from the Classic 57's magnets...
go figure...
I'll try Alnico V from a brand new P90 Gibson and from Seymour Duncan later this week...

 

[tonejunkie]

Wow Holy S**t! No kidding! That doesn't surprise me. What did you hear between the 57 Classic and the Seth magnets? Details. I want details.

 

[toni]

Gibson's Alnico II are stronger, sweeter, and much warmer.