Or how about a 9.5" fretboard radius.
while I'm here what is the difference between AINiCO and ceramic pickups. :confused:
What is Radius and...
How does it relate to the neck of a guitar. Example an adv. said 12" Radius.
Or how about a 9.5" fretboard radius.
while I'm here what is the difference between AINiCO and ceramic pickups. :confused:
Or how about a 9.5" fretboard radius.
while I'm here what is the difference between AINiCO and ceramic pickups. :confused:
# 1
Well... The radius refers to the radius (the curve) of the fretting surface of the neck... basically the roundness of the fretboard. A smaller radius means that the curve is a lot greater... 9.5" radius'd fretboards aren't that common anymore except on Vintage reissue guitars... most are with 10 or 12 inch radius fretboards. The advantage of having a larger radius fretboard is that it's flatter... making bends a littl bit easier to pull off without doing something called "fretting out". When you're dealing with vintage instruments with 9.5" radius' you have to worry about this... It's when you do a bend and the radius of the fretboard is so small that the string makes contact witht he fretboard farther down the string... subsequently muting the string... or cuasing string buzz during bends. Most modern guitars are 10 or 12" radius fretboards... And a lot of the higher priced instruments have something called a "compound radius" Meaning... the radius starts at 12" and gradually becomes a 10" radius as it gets closer to the the bridge. This makes chords easy at the low frets... and gives a little more comfort of playing leads at the high frets... That's the long and short of fretboard radii
As for the pickup question... Alnico and Ceramic refer to the specific magnet that is used in the pickup... Pickups are created by wrapping a bunch of conductive wire around a magnet... The type of magnet is a big factor in the tone... Alnico stands for Aluminum/Nickle/Cobalt... It's an alloy mixture of those three types of metals... Guitar pickups aren't the only use for this alloy... but they are the most common types of pickups. You will most likely see a roman numeral or a number following the name... (ex. Alnico IV). There are different mixtures of the three metals to give it different characteristics... It would take quite a while to go over all that so just do some research on that one... I think I did a thread awhile back explaining the different tones of each... just look it up in the archives. The most common Alnico pickups are by and large the Alnico IV,V,and II. They give a pretty common mid range tone to bassy tone... with good EQ across the board. They get good highs and good lows with a little midrange. They're the middle of the road, common tone pickups... They can be enhanced by overwinding to give them a little higher output... hence the Fender Texas Specials... Alnico pickups are generally mid range output pickups...
As for Ceramic pickups... The magnet is made of a ceramic material or sometimes a ceramic coated metal... These magnets are the most common "Metal" pickups. They get extremely high output levels and get bell like clear tone when played clean... A little too thin for most when the clean channel is kicked on. However... when you kick in major gain and distortion... and/or overdrive... that's when these pickups really shine. They handle distortion very well... But outside the rock/metal scene they aren't widely used. Not very versatile... but good for metal or hard rock.
As for the pickup question... Alnico and Ceramic refer to the specific magnet that is used in the pickup... Pickups are created by wrapping a bunch of conductive wire around a magnet... The type of magnet is a big factor in the tone... Alnico stands for Aluminum/Nickle/Cobalt... It's an alloy mixture of those three types of metals... Guitar pickups aren't the only use for this alloy... but they are the most common types of pickups. You will most likely see a roman numeral or a number following the name... (ex. Alnico IV). There are different mixtures of the three metals to give it different characteristics... It would take quite a while to go over all that so just do some research on that one... I think I did a thread awhile back explaining the different tones of each... just look it up in the archives. The most common Alnico pickups are by and large the Alnico IV,V,and II. They give a pretty common mid range tone to bassy tone... with good EQ across the board. They get good highs and good lows with a little midrange. They're the middle of the road, common tone pickups... They can be enhanced by overwinding to give them a little higher output... hence the Fender Texas Specials... Alnico pickups are generally mid range output pickups...
As for Ceramic pickups... The magnet is made of a ceramic material or sometimes a ceramic coated metal... These magnets are the most common "Metal" pickups. They get extremely high output levels and get bell like clear tone when played clean... A little too thin for most when the clean channel is kicked on. However... when you kick in major gain and distortion... and/or overdrive... that's when these pickups really shine. They handle distortion very well... But outside the rock/metal scene they aren't widely used. Not very versatile... but good for metal or hard rock.
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