Antiquity Magnet change

[Charlie R57]

Got the neck antiquity and was expecting the
Holy Grail tone. Dissapointment #1
(This is my Dumb Assed oppinion only)
I thought, if this is what PAF tone is all
about, Forget it. Let me remind you I dont have any PAF guitars to compare to and (This is my Dumb Assed Opinnion Only)
But it was very weak, the bass was'nt there, the highs were
just ok the mids ,the same. So I said at least I got a
Zebra "when I took the screws out of the bottom, Thats what
I saw":alcy :alcy :alcy :alcy :alcy
But when I took the cover off-Double black.:huh
Anyway I changed the Aged Magnet to a Full strength
and LOOK OUT. Everything is sweet and smooth :lol :fiend :wail: :lolspin
This Sounds great now, Makes me wonder if
the aging on the magnet went a bit too far?
My 57 Custom has a stronger magnet pull then the aged
magnet does. And its 44 years old.
anyone with a real paf compare the magnet
strength with the Antiquity ?
Lets here from you.

 

[Dave Paetow]

I put an alnico V in the neck antiquity I have, and it did perk up the highs a bit more, it sounded kind of flat and blah before.

There may be something to the 'over' aging of the magnets in Antiquity pups.

The PAFs I have are fairly weak magnetically, but I don't have a gauss meter to get scientific about it.

 

[kt66]

Where do you guts get an AlNiCo5 magnet to replace the existing magnet in an antiquity?

 

[Dave Paetow]

You can get them from SD, or do like I did and rob one out of a dead Duncan JB from a music store junk box.

 

[toni]

Charlie and Dave,

to me, stock Antiquities sounded dull, no bass, no warmth,and peaky mids.

When Gaston compared his 2000/59 Burst equiped with stock Antiquities to old Bursts,all the the old ones had much more gain from PAF PU.

Charlie, did you put in an Alnico II or V, did it add some warm bass and sweet highs ?

Dave, did you compare the tonal differene between Alnico II and V ?

thanks

 

[Charlie R57]

Toni I used a Alnico II from a spare 57 classic
Yes the bass incresed mids and highs improved.
I did a back to back comparison with another
Great sounding Les Paul with 57's and the
Antiquity blew it away.
The treble strings were the most noticable improvement, Not harsh and bright like the 57's
but sweet and very clear.

 

[Dave Paetow]

I noticed more clarity, the neck pickup was just too dark before the change, especially when playing below the 12 fret using the neck pickup. Still had the sweetness that the '57's lack. Now the tone seems clearer in all registers, good for that Dickey Betts type sound with lower gain, and better note definition for high gain shredding.

I still think the Antiquity has more of that midrange peak than some PAFs I've tried. Seems like the mids are focused in a different frequency than some of the PAFs I've compared them to.

 

[toni]

thanks Charlie and Dave

I have two Classic 57 full strenght Alnico II spare magnets ! I'll try them in the Antiquities !

Dave,are you speaking about Alnico V compared to Alnico II or to stock Antiquity magnet ?

Toni

 

[charles farley]

Hey MMC

I asked Ed A this question but it seems to come up often so I'll ask again. Isn't an antiquity with a new magnet the same as a Seth with an aged cover?

 

[RICH]

I asked Seymour in person about the seth-antiquity thing, he just told me flat out that an antiquity is just an aged seth. I'm not sure if just changing the magnet in the antiquity will return it to seth specs, because I heard there is something else done to the wire to age that too, but who knows?

 

[tonejunkie]

Two Questions:

1) Does anyone think a Seth sounds as close to a PAF as an Antiquity? If an Antiquity is just an aged, demagnitized Seth, then wouldn't a Seth just sound like a stronger Antiquity? So wouldn't it sound closer to a PAF also? Some people complain that Antiquitys sound closer to PAFs than anything, but they're too weak, too demagnitized, for a PAF. Wouldn't a Seth cure that? If the Antiquity sounds closer to a PAF than a Seth, what accounts for the difference? (ok, different versions of the same question)
2) How does one go about swapping out magnets in a pickup? Is it difficult? Is it dangerous? I'm use to doing my own repairs on a lot of things, but I've never done that.

 

[Charlie R57]

I've never heard a seth or a real PAF in person
so I cant comment. All I know is I like the
sound of the Antiquity with the stronger magnet.
As for the magnet change, Yes it could be
dangerous if you are Clumbsy :lol2 but
if you are carefull its a piece of cake.
1. Remove the ring and pu cover
2. take out the 4 screws on the bottom
the coils will now flop around if you are not
carefull you could break a wire
3. With the coils now loose the magnet should easly
come out.
4. MAKE SURE you note the way it came out and
mark it so the north/south polls are the same
when you put it back together,
I marked mine with a magic marker.

 

[tonejunkie]

What happens if you accidentally reverse it so that north is where south use to be?

 

[Charlie R57]

You get the out of phase sound. I think poeple
refered to this as the peter Green sound
because it's said that the magnet was
fliped on His neck P/U.

 

[Ken]

THIS will clean up the mud in neck antiquity? OK, I guess I've got to try this now. :word

 

[Tim]

The antiquity is scatterwound, whereas the Seth is not.

 

[Ed Rafalko]

Duncan (the company ) told me that, but Duncan ( the man) told me differently.
I would love to buy a set of doublecream antiquities from someone ( Brian? DaveP??) and I'll be happy to check out the scatterwound vs non-scatterwound controversy.
I'll give 200 bucks for a set of doublecream antiquities.

 

[steve10358]

Well than, I guess you better call Dimarzio...as they have a patent on double cream pups.

So, in essence, the majority of you guys feel the Alnico II is the best in an Antiquity?

I thought all you guys loved Antiquities...you sure are a fickle bunch.

Steve

 

[Richard Russell]

here is a series of questions

I have a 90 or 91 LP Classic 1960
a 1995 LP Classic Prem Plus flametop
a 1984 Tokai Love Rock with a an old classic Gibson pickup that i found in a hotel room where a Gibson rep had spoken around 1987
1957 LP Special with orig P90 (great guitar)
a zemiatis 1982 metalfront w/ Gibson pups (great guitar)
a Tokai Strat with an old Seymour Duncan George Lynch
three 1980 era hamer Sunbursts
two Ibanez Destroyers, one has a Gibson PUP in it unknown age or make
one Ibanez Flying V, lawsuit era with original Ibanez pups
1968 ES-335 with orig Gibson PUPS
Does anyone know what PUPS are in these guitars and if not is there a way I can find out by looking at the PUPS themselves.
I want to try the antiquities test tone problem solver. The pups in the LP classic and the prem classic both sound terrible.

 

[DOSE!]

:dead:You guys are killin me. Too much data, too many options.
I've got a 96 Classic with 57 Classics and Gudeman caps in it. I've got new CTS 500k pots on the way and when I install them want to try another set of pickups. Not that I don't like the 57's but I might like something else better so the hunt continues.
I had made up my mind from what I read on this forum to get the Antiquities. Now, after reading about the new mod it sounds like they might be to weak with out changing the magnets.
I had also considered the Tom Holmes so now my ? is has anyone compared the modded Antiquity with the Holmes?