What's the major differences in the magnet types?

[Mr Ed]

Not just in Bare Knuckle's, but in pickups in general - what differences would one expect from an Alnico II bar, a V bar, a Ceramic, etc...

[Transcend]

i would also like to know this would be helpful if there was like a chart listing the characteristics each magnet would make to the sound fo a pickup

[hunter]

Good question ... Tim, can you enlighten us? How does Alnico II, III, IV, V sound, how ceramic, how the others (if any)?

[Transcend]

Good question ... Tim, can you enlighten us? How does Alnico II, III, IV, V sound, how ceramic, how the others (if any)?

i know theres an alnico 8 but dunno about 6 & 7

[ericsabbath]

generally ceramic mags sound brighter, really tigh bass with a lot punch, and crispy on highs
alnico 2 has a loose spongy bottom end, more vintage sounding and a lot of upper mids
alnico 5 has a tight bass, scooped dark mids and beautiful highs, but it depends on the winding
alnico 8 has a tight bass between alnico 5 and a ceramic, a lot of low mids, a little brighter sound than a5, but less bright than ceramic, round highs like a5

but what will make the real difference is the winding
i don't know much about the other alnico magnets

[BloodMountain]

does that mean that if i want a dark sound, then the ceramic warpig isn't the way to go?  :(

[indysmith]

does that mean that if i want a dark sound, then the ceramic warpig isn't the way to go?  :(

The wind of the warpig has HUGE, tight bass.

[BloodMountain]

better  :)

[Neemo]

I'd say my nailbomb (A5) has anything but scooped mids

[Mr Ed]

generally ceramic mags sound brighter, really tigh bass with a lot punch, and crispy on highs
alnico 2 has a loose spongy bottom end, more vintage sounding and a lot of upper mids
alnico 5 has a tight bass, scooped dark mids and beautiful highs, but it depends on the winding
alnico 8 has a tight bass between alnico 5 and a ceramic, a lot of low mids, a little brighter sound than a5, but less bright than ceramic, round highs like a5

but what will make the real difference is the winding
i don't know much about the other alnico magnets

That's a damn fine start, cheers.

[ericsabbath]

I'd say my nailbomb (A5) has anything but scooped mids

winding, man
there are a lot of middy alnico 5 pickups like jb and tone zone
but if you swap the magnet of "neutral" pickup (like a paf or duncan custom V) for another kind of magnet you will hear a lot of differences, especially on mids
your can clearly hear the difference if you compare an early ibanez super 70 (alnico 8 magnet, made in 70's), the late ibanez super 70 (ceramic magnetm, from 80's), a traditional Gibson or Duncan PAF (alnico 5) and a duncan alnico II pro or gibson burstbucker (alnico 2)

the a8 ibanez super 70 will sound less bright than the ceramic, but brighter and more modern sounding than a alnico 5 paf
the alnico 2 has a lot of upper mids, where alnico 5 sounds dark and a hollow on mids (cleaner too)

these are the standard sound characteristics, but i'm not saying that all ceramic pickups will sound harsh and all alnico 5 pickups won't have mids
magnets are like tubes
if you put EL34 on your mesa rectifier and 6L6 on your marshall they will sound different, but a mesa will always sound like a mesa and a marshall will always like a marshall

[Tim]

Magnets on their own don't have a tone, it's the way they interact with the coil windings and a plucked string to induce an AC signal. A good way to think of them is as the engine in a pickup although until the strings are moving in the magnetic field, no current is being induced in the windings.The strength of the magnet emphasises different frequencies in the pickup which the previous thread very informatively outlined.
In a scale of output Alnico III is the lowest output, then AII, AIV and AV. You do come across AVI and AVIII although they're not very common in guitar pickups. I've tested AVI quite extensively this past year but must admit I still find AIV better and AVIII can be overbright, almost like a ceramic in some contexts due to it's low remanence.
Ceramics are viewed as being more effecient and more powerful although not as 'musical' as  Alnicos...........a bit like playing your guitar through a hifi speaker as opposed to a guitar speaker.The more ineffecient guitar speaker colours the tone and harmonics in a more pleasing way to our ears as opposed to the hifi speaker which replicates the tone very much as it is.
Pickup tone is very much a combination of factors-wire, number of turns, magnet and component materials.