DiMarzio dp149 jazz pickups are ceramic + alnico 5. ?

[Paul Szegedin]

I understand from the description that these DiMarzio pickups use both ceramic AND alnico magnets.

Does anyone happen to know how these pups are designed? Do they put a ceramic magnet underneath an alnico, and just generally, what the heck? I realize that they are split side by side to be humbucking but that's not relevant.

Asking because these pickups happen to sound great.

 

[dwizum]

Yes, they have alnico rod magnets as slugs in the coil, and then a very small ceramic bar stuck to the bottoms of the alnico rods, below the coil.

 

[Paul Szegedin]

Yes, they have alnico rod magnets as slugs in the coil, and then a very small ceramic bar stuck to the bottoms of the alnico rods, below the coil.

Great - thanks for that. I might try to DIY one of that design. I really wonder why they decided to do this, and what the intended effect is. I listened to a bunch of samples of jazz bass pickups and these were favs, and then saw the unusual design.

 

[dwizum]

My guess would be just a stronger magnetic field, without going overboard with potentially sterile sounding ceramic. You could try it out easily by just slapping a ceramic bar on the bottom of a normal Fender style pickup. Although I'd imagine they'd need to be overwound too in order to stay balanced.