Alnico 8 Vs Ceramic

The most common type of ceramic magnet is strontium ferrite which demagnetizes much less easily than alnico.

Alnico 8 vs ceramic. I d think if one were committed to an 8 a ceramic might take some of the edge off. At least as far op s question i wouldn t change it. If a 10 is a possibility there are alnicos and ceramics that will work great. Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico.

So we often hear. Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool. Well yeah they do need a 10 but that has nothing to do with the alnico vs ceramic question. There is a lot of everything with alnico viii pickups and they are not for the feint of heart.

Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides. Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues. Because the ceramic magnet isn t introducing compression the result is a cleaner sound in comparison to alnico. This should be considered when designing with any alnico above 6.

While both alnico 5 and 8 are brittle the crystal structure of 8 makes it even more prone to chipping. Due to the strong magnetic pull the alnico viii is a nice middle ground between the punch and clarity from a ceramic pickup and the sweet organic sound of an alnico which brings us to ceramic. The actual composition of alnico can vary quite a bit. The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response.

A lot of people automatically say that alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups. These magnets are softer than ceramic magnets and provide a weaker magnetic field. This is also true for alnico 5 7 and 9 both alnico 5 and 8 will operate well in elevated temperatures. An alnico magnet gets its name from the aluminum nickel and cobalt that it contains but alnico also contains many other elements and is mostly iron.

The domains change state much faster so there is little to no compression as the voice coil moves to its mechanical limit.