Alnico vs Ceramic - Which do you prefer?

Alnico for me. Suhr Thornbuckers are in all my guitars.

Alnico as well, and all my humbuckers are Suhr Thornbuckers as well (PRS, Les Paul, Strat bridge).

I go back and forth between A2 and A5 in my Strat...I have hot A2 pickups which are hotter and fatter than A5. They are a little warmer and more musical while the A5's are bright and spanky and percussive. A5 Suhr Classic T pickups in my Tele and stock A5 P90 in my LP Junior.

I have only tried a couple Ceramic pickups and they are okay. I'd like to try Dimarzio Super Distortion sometime. But I like having consistent lower output pickups in my humbucker guitars.

Actually I have a Dimarzio Cruiser coming in for my Strat bridge...that will hopefully be a nice middle ground between PAF and Strat single coil.
 
How often do you guys swap pickups out in a proven, old battle axe?

Ive swapped Dimarzio for Lundgren
Ibanez Dimarzio [custom custom[ stock for Lace
Ive swapped Dimarzio for Fluence

Actually, it looks like almost everything had Dimarzio except my custom shop ESP and steinberger (EMGs)

Alnico V is where its at it looks like

is “glassy” the usual result in the neck Position?
 
How often do you guys swap pickups out in a proven, old battle axe?

Ive swapped Dimarzio for Lundgren
Ibanez Dimarzio [custom custom[ stock for Lace
Ive swapped Dimarzio for Fluence

Actually, it looks like almost everything had Dimarzio except my custom shop ESP and steinberger (EMGs)

Alnico V is where its at it looks like

is “glassy” the usual result in the neck Position?

Well since I posted I swapped my pickguard in my Strat between my A5 HSS set and A2 SSS set.

I don't have much urge to swap around now in my PRS/LP that have Thornbuckers...I've tried a lot of pickups and I just like those the best. In my Strat I still haven't found tonal nirvana so I will keep tinkering from time to time...
 
I went through about 4 SD alnico pickups in my PRS ce 24 before I listened to my brother and installed a Dimarzio Dactivator in the bridge. I love the dactivator for this guitar. I'm still a shred head but I don't tune down as much now.
My EVH still has the stock pups because I feel like Eddie kinda nailed it with those pickups.
 
This post reminded me of Taylor’s ill-fated Solidbody Custom line of electric guitars. They were nice enough guitars. They played well but they were doomed by using neodymium magnet pickups. “Shrill” would be a compliment. They sounded horrible. Taylor also made it hard to swap to a more traditional pickup due to the weird size. Neodymium always sounds too bright to my ears whether in speakers, mics or pickups.
 
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To be honest, I've never paid attention to the magnets material, although I've swapped pickups many times during the last 35 years playing.

Based on my favorite pickups that have survived the travel, I guess that I prefer Alnico IV or V

Suhr Aldrich: Alnico V
Harmonic Design Z90: Alnico IV
Dimarzio Gravity Storm: Alnico V
Fender CS Fat '50: Alnico V
Seymour Duncan SSL-5: Alnico V
Suhr Thornbucker Plus: Alnico IV

I prefer the bite of the Aldrich over the Thornbucker, so I may have preference for Alnico V over Alnico IV

edit:
I forgot to mention another favourite: Seymour Duncan Antiquity Texas Hot. That is Alnico II
 
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You know what, you guys are making me want to get a q-tuner 2 for my bridge pickup know man!!! All this talk about neodymium.....

i always wanTed to try q-tuners but no one I know (well or in person) has any experience with them and Those online describe them as most of u have (unusually bright)

but I love my scooped fluence ceramic bridge and Lace alumitone Deathbucker Bridge, which are VERY bright (“shrill” being a compliment is a great way to put it to borrow aPhrase) so idk if it’s worth a $300 experiment (buying a q-tuner and swapping it out of my Lundgren M7 , which I really love)

anyone else try Lundgren M or Qtuner 2?
 
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