My One And Only Les Paul...A Question!

[purplyhazy]

This is my (I think) 2017 Standard blueberry burst LP with skinnerburst pickups in it.

My question is, what am I missing without Alnicos? I know there's more than one kind of Alnico pickup, but I am talking what would have been standard equipment (natch) on this axe had it not been ordered or otherwise equipped with these Skinnerbursts. I like them, and I have been trending towards a more natural, less-effected sound for the shitty music that I play to amuse myself that's pretty bluesy anyway, so they suit that.

What is the chief difference in what I would hear between the two? I know I could look up some of this, but being on a forum requires opinions to consider. What's the fun otherwise? Should I get a pair for shits? I have never played or owned a Les Paul ever before this guitar and I have had it about a year and a half now. Dream axe for me, and I dig the colors and all. It's art. But what's my sonic difference I would hear?

Full disclosure: I have only tube amps, and three smaller ones at that:

1) Orange Micro-Terror for practice (and headphone jack, I live in an apartment). Cool little thing for the money. And powerful for it's size. I know it's technically a hybrid amp, but it does have a preamp tube.

2) Fender '57 Tweed 5-Watter. My most recent amp purchase, I have had it about 6 months. I Love it, tried to sell it becuase I felt I couldn't play it in this place without police intervention as it's SO loud at just past breakup, which is where this thing lives if not producing creamy clean tones at lower volumes, and now the world's longest run-on sentence.

3) Blackstar HT-20 Combo. Versatile as hell. Swapped in a Celestion V30 12" and JJ tubes. Awesome amp, hard to get fixed if it breaks though as they don't make it anymore and haven't for awhile.

Mea culpa.

Here's my Les Paul.

 

[Big Monk]

This is my (I think) 2017 Standard blueberry burst LP with skinnerburst pickups in it.

My question is, what am I missing without Alnicos? I know there's more than one kind of Alnico pickup, but I am talking what would have been standard equipment (natch) on this axe had it not been ordered or otherwise equipped with these Skinnerbursts. I like them, and I have been trending towards a more natural, less-effected sound for the shitty music that I play to amuse myself that's pretty bluesy anyway, so they suit that.

What is the chief difference in what I would hear between the two? I know I could look up some of this, but being on a forum requires opinions to consider. What's the fun otherwise? Should I get a pair for shits? I have never played or owned a Les Paul ever before this guitar and I have had it about a year and a half now. Dream axe for me, and I dig the colors and all. It's art. But what's my sonic difference I would hear?

Full disclosure: I have only tube amps, and three smaller ones at that:

1) Orange Micro-Terror for practice (and headphone jack, I live in an apartment). Cool little thing for the money. And powerful for it's size. I know it's technically a hybrid amp, but it does have a preamp tube.

2) Fender '57 Tweed 5-Watter. My most recent amp purchase, I have had it about 6 months. I Love it, tried to sell it becuase I felt I couldn't play it in this place without police intervention as it's SO loud at just past breakup, which is where this thing lives if not producing creamy clean tones at lower volumes, and now the world's longest run-on sentence.

3) Blackstar HT-20 Combo. Versatile as hell. Swapped in a Celestion V30 12" and JJ tubes. Awesome amp, hard to get fixed if it breaks though as they don't make it anymore and haven't for awhile.

Mea culpa.

Here's my Les Paul.

View attachment 539399

I’m not sure I understand what you are asking.

 

[Duane_the_tub]

Me neither. Your pickups have Alnico magnets in them.

 

[sparky2]

It looks like you have the Gibson Les Paul Standard 2017 T model, and not the HP.

It came stock with these pickups, specs below:

 

[sparky2]

Here are the specs that I was able to find on your Seymour Duncan Skinner Burst pickups.

 

[sparky2]

So, as the fellows stated earlier, you have Alnicos.
Your guitar came with Alnico 5 magnets, and now you have Alnico 3's.

So, what about Alnicos, and magnets in general?

Well, since you asked;
(Borrowed from Fralin)

"A Magnet is any type of material that produces a magnetic field. Elements like Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt are what is known as Ferromagnetic – an alloy or material containing some iron that can be charged and magnetized to produce a field. In guitar pickups, they use Permanent Magnets. These are magnets that produce a persistent magnetic field – a field that will keep pulling and pushing, all the time. This can be an alloy (a mixture of metals) – like AlNiCo (Hey! You’ve heard of that!), or, Rare-Earth magnets like Samarium-Cobalt and Neodymium magnets.

We don’t expect you to be an electromagnetic engineer – but what’s the difference tonally? What do they do to your tone?

ALL ABOUT ALNICO:

Alnico is a type of alloy consisting of Aluminum, Nickel, and Cobalt – all mixed with Iron. I’m sure you’ve heard of people using alloys because they make stronger and more efficient metals. For our purposes Alnico is relatively hard to de-magnetize and comes in different strengths as well. These all have an important impact on your tone.

ALNICO 2:
Alnico 2 is the second weakest of the Alnico Guitar Magnet strengths, thus it pulls the strings less. It also has what’s referred to as the most “vintage” tone. It has more mids, and more tapered and softer highs than Alnico 3. As a guitar pickup magnet, the lows are loose and bouncy, instead of tight, some might refer to it as “vintage” or “smooth”.

ALNICO 3:
Alnico 3 is the weakest of the Alnico magnets and has the lowest amount of string pull in a bar magnet. As a guitar pickup magnet, it’s lows are soft and bouncy, mids are generally warm and full, and highs are glassy. Curiously, Alnico 3 is weaker than Alnico 2 in a Bar Magnet form, but stronger than Alnico 2 in a Rod Magnet form.

ALNICO 4:
Alnico 4 is stronger than both Alnico 2 and 3, but weaker than Alnico 5. It has the most balanced and “even” EQ out of all of the Alnico strengths. The bass and highs are tighter and stronger than Alnico 2, and the midrange is more balanced. Often used in P.A.F. replicas and P90‘s, and it helps to balance out the overwound properties of them. Alnico 4 has softer highs than Alnico 5.

ALNICO 5:
This is by far the most widely used guitar pickup magnet. In it’s rod form, Alnico 5 gives the traditional Fender tone. We use Alnico 5 in all of our Strat, Tele, and Bass pickups. In Fender-style pickups, it has the best balance of extended lows, mids, and highs. Alnico 5 gives that open, airy top-end sparkle that we’re so used to. In Humbuckers, it gives pickups a brighter tone, which is why they are used in High Output Humbuckers."

I hope this helps.

 

[framos]

The Duncan skinner bursts are one of the best PAF pickups around. You've got gold on your guitar.

Unless you're into high gain stuff, just leave them be.

 

[purplyhazy]

So I have been confusing pickup types with what the magnets are?

So as posted above with the charts, had they not been equipped with these Skinnerbursts (with one kind of Alnico pickup..3?) it would have been a Les Paul Standard with another type of pickup with Alnico 2's?

 

[purplyhazy]

So, as the fellows stated earlier, you have Alnicos.
Your guitar came with Alnico 5 magnets, and now you have Alnico 3's.

So, what about Alnicos, and magnets in general?

Well, since you asked;
(Borrowed from Fralin)

"A Magnet is any type of material that produces a magnetic field. Elements like Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt are what is known as Ferromagnetic – an alloy or material containing some iron that can be charged and magnetized to produce a field. In guitar pickups, they use Permanent Magnets. These are magnets that produce a persistent magnetic field – a field that will keep pulling and pushing, all the time. This can be an alloy (a mixture of metals) – like AlNiCo (Hey! You’ve heard of that!), or, Rare-Earth magnets like Samarium-Cobalt and Neodymium magnets.

We don’t expect you to be an electromagnetic engineer – but what’s the difference tonally? What do they do to your tone?

ALL ABOUT ALNICO:

Alnico is a type of alloy consisting of Aluminum, Nickel, and Cobalt – all mixed with Iron. I’m sure you’ve heard of people using alloys because they make stronger and more efficient metals. For our purposes Alnico is relatively hard to de-magnetize and comes in different strengths as well. These all have an important impact on your tone.

ALNICO 2:
Alnico 2 is the second weakest of the Alnico Guitar Magnet strengths, thus it pulls the strings less. It also has what’s referred to as the most “vintage” tone. It has more mids, and more tapered and softer highs than Alnico 3. As a guitar pickup magnet, the lows are loose and bouncy, instead of tight, some might refer to it as “vintage” or “smooth”.

ALNICO 3:
Alnico 3 is the weakest of the Alnico magnets and has the lowest amount of string pull in a bar magnet. As a guitar pickup magnet, it’s lows are soft and bouncy, mids are generally warm and full, and highs are glassy. Curiously, Alnico 3 is weaker than Alnico 2 in a Bar Magnet form, but stronger than Alnico 2 in a Rod Magnet form.

ALNICO 4:
Alnico 4 is stronger than both Alnico 2 and 3, but weaker than Alnico 5. It has the most balanced and “even” EQ out of all of the Alnico strengths. The bass and highs are tighter and stronger than Alnico 2, and the midrange is more balanced. Often used in P.A.F. replicas and P90‘s, and it helps to balance out the overwound properties of them. Alnico 4 has softer highs than Alnico 5.

ALNICO 5:
This is by far the most widely used guitar pickup magnet. In it’s rod form, Alnico 5 gives the traditional Fender tone. We use Alnico 5 in all of our Strat, Tele, and Bass pickups. In Fender-style pickups, it has the best balance of extended lows, mids, and highs. Alnico 5 gives that open, airy top-end sparkle that we’re so used to. In Humbuckers, it gives pickups a brighter tone, which is why they are used in High Output Humbuckers."

I hope this helps.

Thank you for all that information, I appreciate it. I only have a rudimentary understanding of how the strength or lack thereof of a magnetic firled influences the sound of the guitar,

 

[purplyhazy]

The Duncan skinner bursts are one of the best PAF pickups around. You've got gold on your guitar.

Unless you're into high gain stuff, just leave them be.

Can you elaborate on why they are so good? I mean, they sound great to me regardless of which amp I am using. When I crank gain on my Blackstar it gets my two V-30's cooking all right.

I am considering selling it. I listened to some Billy Strings and Loar Joamets on Sturgill Simpson's recordings, bought a really nice Yamaha acoustic and now my far less expensive Mexi-Teli is the only electric in my hands far more often. LOL.

If I sell that, I want a Pro II Dark Night Strat. I guess at that point for electrics I'd be all in on Team Fender.

 

[purplyhazy]

So I have been confusing pickup types with what the magnets are?

So as posted above with the charts, had they not been equipped with these Skinnerbursts (with one kind of Alnico pickup..3?) it would have been a Les Paul Standard with another type of pickup with Alnico 2's?

We both learned something today!

 

[Brazilnut]

Skinnerbursts are worth mentioning in the ad when you sell your LP. They increase the value of your guitar.

 

[drmmrr55]

FYI, I also had a 2017 LP Standard in heritage cherry burst, and it came stock with Burstbucker Pro pickups, so just look up the spec's on those...