At its simplest, an electric guitar pickup consists of a permanent magnet wrapped in coils of wire, so it stands to reason that high-quality magnets such as those containing alnico would make for high-quality guitar pickups. Given their strength and durability, alnico alloys were consequently adopted for widespread consumer applications in which magnets with such properties were especially useful, such as electric motors, sensors, loudspeakers, etc.Īnd electric guitar pickups. In a nutshell then, alnico alloys make for very strong, long-lasting magnets. In fact, before the development of rare earth “super” magnets (i.e., neodymium and samarium-cobalt) in the 1970s and 1980s, alnico magnets were the strongest magnets you could get, capable of producing strength at their poles as high as 3,000 times the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field. Iron alloys that contain alnico display a high resistance to heat and to loss of magnetism, and are hence used to make strong and durable permanent magnets. Cobalt was soon found to be a useful addition to the mix, as cobalt alloys are highly corrosion-resistant. In the early 1930s in Japan, alloys of iron, nickel and aluminum were found to display twice the strength of the best steel magnets of the time. Second, let’s explain what’s special about alnico. What does that mean? What are alnico pickups and what do they do that non-alnico pickups don’t?įirst, let’s explain the word itself. Alnico is an acronym comprising the first two letters of three different metallic elements: aluminum, nickel and cobalt. Get to it, and try not to get frustrated.When guitar shopping at a retail outlet or online, you’re bound to run across mention of alnico pickups. Good luck choosing the right pickup for you! It’s a wide world out there, with many guitar tones to explore. They get some negative criticism, but I mention them here because I kind of like them.
They are actually very good pickups with a rich, full sound.
You can find them in the Epiphone Les Paul PlusTop PRO and Custom PRO among other Epiphone guitars.
Cleaned up they have excellent clarity and depth. They have a nice crunch to them in a high-gain setting while retaining good note separation.
They’re a little thicker and meaner than typical Strat pickups but still have a vintage vibe.