Alnico 2 for Ash/Alder and Alnico 5 for Poplar

[Butch Snyder]

This is the revelation I have had recently. As most of you know, I had an APTL-3JD in the bridge position of my Tele; which is poplar. At one time, I even installed an APTR-1 in the neck. The APTL-3JD was nice. The APTR-1 was not... It was just too mellow. I just bought this new Thinline; which is not only a semi-hollowbody; but mahogany as well. It's a very bright guitar. The stock pickups, which are alnico 5, were way too bright and icepick-like. The neck pickup was pure crap. Well, it was time to change strings on the Thinline and the B-Bender. I decided to exchange bridge pickups.

I took the APTL-3JD out of my B-Bender Tele and put it in my Thinline. The Thinline came with a set of 50's RI pickups (the cheap kind). I put the Thinline's bridge pickup in the B-Bender. It actually sounded better, in that guitar, than the APTL-3JD did. So, this led me to believe that a Tele bridge pickup with alnico 5 magnets and a vintage vibe would be what I need in that guitar. I had tried a Fender Nocaster Clean pickup in there and didn't really like it. It had too much mids. But then I remembered that it had Alnico 3 magnets.

So, I'm thinking an STL-1b Broadcaster might be what I need for the poplar-bodied Nash B-Bender Tele. Going back and thinking about a neck pickup for my Thinline, I started rethinking the whole thing. Now, a pickup with Alnico 2 magnets (APTL-3JD) sounds great in the Thinline. It would seem to make sense that a good neck pickup in that guitar would be the APTR-1; the same pickup that was just too mellow in the Poplar-body B-Bender Tele.

These are my thoughts so far...

[Eric OBrien]

I think, it is better to use a ALNICO 5 pickup on neck position.

I have Haeussel Broadcaster-Set (it had Alnico 3 magnets on bridge pup). It sounds great in Tele.