Alnico 4 is freakin' awesome

[grapeskeletons]

Just sayin'.

[JeffB]

I dig em in Lindys pickups.

[Simon_F]

I love Alnico 4 humbuckers. Seymour Duncan should make 'em!

[misterwhizzy]

I love Alnico 4 humbuckers. Seymour Duncan should make 'em!

They do, but they don't include the magnet.

[CountFunkula]

My favorite magnet. Fat and smooth, but tight, punchy and organic. Some say they are boring and un-dynamic. I couldn't disagree more.

[ItsaBass]

I'd love to try me some A4 Strat pickups.

[LtKojak]

I'd love to try me some A4 Strat pickups.

I was thinking the same thing. Addiction-FX offers A4 rods. If you have some asian ceramic strat p'ups you can try'em by yourself. Here's a video on how to do it:



HTH,

[grapeskeletons]

Kinda thinking of doing either a Custom 4, or a PATB-1 4.

[Gearjoneser]

They're punchy, defined, and have a sort of hard hi fi attack under the fingers.
I think they do the best in neck pickups, such as an A4 59N.

I tried the Custom 4, and didn't care for the more sterile and hard sound it had compared to A5 or Unoriented roughcast A5.

Try something like an unoriented roughcast Custom 5/Alnico 4 59N. It's like a sweeter C5/59.

[blueman335]

A4's are certainly an under-used magnet, but they are starting to get some recognition now. They don't have a big EQ push like other alincos, but there are times when that's just what you want.

[dvanburen]

I like the A4 in the 59n. much better than A5. The UOA5 sounds like it would do the same thing to the 59. never tried it. How does it fare? Blueman, have u tried it?

[grapeskeletons]

They don't have a big EQ push like other alincos, but there are times when that's just what you want.

Yeah, it's funny, but they sound "natural" to me...I like the fact that the mids are filled in and not scooped, but it still has a lot of the snap and high end of A5. (For the record, I don't like either A2 or A8--not at all.) There's something different in the way that A4 handles the note attack vs. A5, and I like it.

[King IzzO)))]

The UOA5 sounds scratchy in the neck vs. A4 to me. Personally, I like A4's in overwound PAF type neck pickups, A2 in overwound PAF type bridge pickups, and I would rather reserve UOA5 to hotter bridge pickups that need more treble response than A2 will provide. Just my opinion though.

[blueman335]

The UOA5 sounds scratchy in the neck vs. A4 to me. Personally, I like A4's in overwound PAF type neck pickups, A2 in overwound PAF type bridge pickups, and I would rather reserve UOA5 to hotter bridge pickups that need more treble response than A2 will provide. Just my opinion though.

+1. Good advice.