Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

[1trussell]

I'm not too terribly happy with the covered 59n in my Hamer Artist Korina. I was thinking I might swap the magnet to an AlNiCo2 before swapping pickups. Seriously, how difficult is this and can someone explain how to do it? Thanks

[Ace]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

Somewhere between fairly difficult to impossible. How good are you at soldering 43 GA wire? You would need to de-solder the pickup cover, remove the bobbins, press/screw the magnets out of place, and replace them with new ones, without breaking the pickup leads, which are finer and less durable than a human hair. IF you break the outside lead, you would need to remove some slack, re-solder the lead and re-pot the pickup. If you break the inside lead, you need to re-wind the pickup.

Also AlNiCo 2 is LESS powerful than AlNiCo V, so your pickup would have less output.

My suggestion would certainly be to simply replace the pickup.

[1trussell]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

Hmmm. The guys on the Duncan forum make it sound like it's no big deal.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

Yeah, but don't forget that they're pickup geeks who pressed for the Custom 5 because they wanted an alnico 5 version of the Custom (ceramic) and Custom Custom (alnico 2) and without having to swap the magnets.

[Ace]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

It's not re-inventing the wheel. If you have experience with working on pickups, it's skills that you would posess. However if you haven't done anything like this before, I'd say start by opening up some cheap pickups that you don't care about, and buying a book on guitar electronics so you know what you are looking at. Practice soldering and repairing cheap pickups that are similar to the one you are going to work on. It is something that you can teach yourself to do, but it takes time. If you are interested in devoting time to learning to work on pickups, go for it. However, it is not as simple as changing out a pot or a pickup swap, or other guitar electronic repairs. It's not something that most people can just "do" without experience.

[1trussell]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

All right. Thanks

[Ace]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

I am not trying to talk you out of learning to work on your own guitar. On the contrary, I encourage it and I will give you all the support that I can. I just don't want you to ruin a pickup and feel discouraged.

[sully]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] save yourself the hassle and put a jazz in there. there's no better neck pickup to my ears.

sully

[1trussell]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

Well, I like the Jazz-7 in my RG1527. Wouldn't say I love it, but it is a good pickup. I'm going to put a Pearly Gates in the neck of my Hamer Special FM. We'll see how I loke that. I want my Artist Korina to be a smooth blues machine. The 59s tend to be a little harsh for that. Don't get me wrong, they're great pickups, just a little raunchy for what I'm looking for. I've thought about an APH-1, Seth Lover, Antiquity, etc. I had heard that the A2 magnet in a 59 tends to smooth it out, boost the mids and cut some of the high end. That's basically what I'm looking for. But, if I can get that in another pickup, I might just try that instead.

[dfvxc]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

It's that complex??

Man, I took apart my duncan designed detonator, took the magnet out and played around with it... put everything back to gether and it sounds just as crappy as before.

these detonators must REALLY be crap then.

P.S. I took it out cuz I heard the invaders have 2 side magnets that you can take out, and since the detonators are modeled after the invader, I took it apart. Turns out they only have one... And there's 2 pieces of plastic on the sides...

[sully]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

travis, the jazz is exactly what you're looking for if that's what you want! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[1trussell]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

Thanks, Sully. I'll keep that in mind, then.

[straycat]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

P.M.Roy B. I've seen him do it before and there is no desoldering of the pickup itself.IIRC just loosen the base plate a little and push the magnet out from one end.If the pickup is covered loosen the baseplate a little before you desolder the cover(keeps heat from damageing the pickups).Contact Roy B. like I said he can tell you how to do it correctly.

[Grandturk]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

It is really easy actually. The hardest part would be taking off the cover, and that's not hard at all. You need to loosen the four screws that hold the bobbins down to the baseplate, then you can push the magnet out from between the screws and slugs. Be careful you push it out without tearing any of the wires. Insert new magnet, tighten the screws and you're done.

[mm2002]

Re: Honestly, how difficult is a magnet swap?

"Be careful you push it out without tearing any of the wires"

That's the part that scares me