Need some info. about Pickups

Hey everyone....i'm thinking to change the pickups of my guitar, i was searching to know what exactly the pickups are and i'm kinda intrested in "Alnico V"....now i know that i have to change the pickups....but i'm not sure if its the right one to replace with....can anyone suggest any good humbucker pickup for rock style, and also the website where i can buy it from....and does all the pickups have standard size...? and does it comes in pair??...and offcourse is it easy to install??

Regards

Seymour Duncans and Dimarzio will most likely be the two brands that people would put in. The little 59's (SD) are good pickups. go to the websites and listen to the sound bites, they will give you a slight idea. Also looks at the charts to see the responses and the output the pickups give. this will give you a good understanding of what the pickup is going to do.

i've got some dimarzio super distortions. i can honestly say they're inexpensive and have a really cool grunt to them. they were supposed to be about £50 and i would've said they were worth it (i got them for about £20 cos i knew the guy)

Ive been looking for feedback on this, but maybe itll help you too. I did something wild and movedthe dimarzio pickup to the neck position (yes i had to make a cavity) and put an active EMG 60 in the old cavity. Had to install separate volume and tones, and a 5 way switch. BUT WOW, does it scream. No hum no BS. i love it, but have been told "YOU got lucky". I say try it, and have a one of a kind sound, plus the agility to switch back and forth or blend a couple really diff sounds. Couldnt figure out how to put a pic on here or id show it to you.

pickups are one of those things that are hard to suggest to people. Seymour Duncan does a 21 day trial where you buy a pickup, play with it, and if you don't like it, you can send it back and get something different. One way to tell what a pickup can do, is to look at the specs on the pickups. The higher the resistance (expressed as KOhms), the more bass and output it will have. Alnico V is the type of material used in the magnet which is another area you will need to look as well. Alnico V and it's brother Alnico 2, is made of aluminum, nickel and cobalt. sometimes tin, and other things are used in place of the other stuff. these have a softer sustain. ceramic mags have lots of bite. more harmonics. the thickness of copper wire around the bobbins, type and position of the polepieces or blades and the material of those, will have an affect as well. i would go to a store and look around and play as many different guitars with different pickups to get a general tone quality. EMG pickups use active electronics (a little preamp wired to the tone and volume pots) to help in noise reduction and such. that's about all i can tell you.

[FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]GO DIMARZIO[/FONT] ive used em for three years and they never dissapoint, if you want to run lead i would go dimarzio Evolution Bridge-Paf Pro neck its vai's setup, or if you run rythm try a paf pro set its what i use and i would never trade them for anything else

Heres an older thread in which I explain the types of magnets...

http://www.guitartricks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14626&highlight=Types+pickups