Joe Perkins's video: AlNiCo 5: Oriented vs Unoriented What s The Difference

So I've recently been down another rabbit hole...!! I fitted a set of ThroBak PG-102 LTDs into my No. 1 Les Paul - wound with 1950s wire; and everything else as vintage-correct as it's possible to be. We'd expect nothing less from Jon Gundry now, would we...?! I've generally preferred Alnico 2's in my PAFs over the years - so trying some A5s was a bit of a departure for me. And whilst there were some elements of the A5 sound that I've been enjoying, I found the sizzly, aggressive top end a little bit too much in this particular guitar. So I began thinking - would swapping the magnet help? I emailed Jon at ThroBak, and he told me that the PG-102s have Oriented A5 magnets in them. Reading on their website, it sounded like switching to an Unoriented A5 might be just the ticket for me...as they're said to sound somewhere in between an A2 and A5, it might give me the girth of the later PAF sound, but with the warmth of the earlier examples. So I popped the order in. Today, I'm going to take you with me as I experiment with Oriented vs Unoriented magnets in my ThroBak PAFs. Will it sound as I want it to sound? Or will it be very different? What do you think? Which sounded more like a 'real' 59 PAF to you? Comment below! Amp is a Vajra JTM45 clone running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Gold & Fane A30 AlNiCo speakers. Recorded with Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic. 0:00 Intro 5:29 Edge of Breakup 7:54 Crunch 9:40 Heavier Saturation 12:15 Outro www.facebook.com/joeperkinsmusic jp@joeperkins.co.uk Vector images by freepik.com