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Have any of you swapped the A2 magnets in your 490R or 490T to an A5, ceramic, A3 or A4? How about the polepieces? And, where do you buy replacement magnets and polepieces?

I have a 490R and 490T pair from my SG (which were replaced with BL 500R and 500XL, which will stay). The 490R at the neck seemed tubby and undefined, the 490T at the bridge seemed a bit thin at times, a bit undefined at others, and some of both at others. Some of the magnet swap and polepiece swap threads made me wonder if the the 490's could be improved.

You can get replacement magnets at though you'll have to place a minimum $25 order, which means 13 magnets. I'd get some of Alnico 2, 3, 4, and 5 so you can have all of them available for endless swaps and experiments. Don't know if the sell ceramics -- didn't ask, but I assume they do.


Originally Posted by chillHave any of you swapped the A2 magnets in your 490R or 490T to an A5, ceramic, A3 or A4? How about the polepieces? And, where do you buy replacement magnets and polepieces?

I have a 490R and 490T pair from my SG (which were replaced with BL 500R and 500XL, which will stay). The 490R at the neck seemed tubby and undefined, the 490T at the bridge seemed a bit thin at times, a bit undefined at others, and some of both at others. Some of the magnet swap and polepiece swap threads made me wonder if the the 490's could be improved.

I wouldn't touch it with a paul. I've always thought anything weaker than an Alnico V was too weak for pickups in an SG.

Thanks for the tip, ZH.

These pups will probably not go back into the SG because I like the BL's. They might find their way into an old Artist, a Hamer explorer, or a Strat-type axe...or the trading post.

Anybody changed A2 mags to A5 or Ceramic? What happened to the tone?

And, this was the polepiece thread: from : localhost//forum/s...ad.php?t=47948 It looks like larger polepiece heads and shorter polepieces beef up the low end, no? Anybody else tried those mods?