Were Jaguar original pickups alnico 2, 3 or 5?

[John Cassady]

Out of curiosity, were Jaguar original pickups alnico 2, 3 or 5?
I know that Fender AVRI 62 pickups use alnico 2 magnets, but I've never read about them being used by Fender in the 50s or 60s, so that made me wonder: is that choice "vintage correct"?

[alexpigment]

Here’s a quote from the guy at EP Custom pickups:

1962 jag pickups were made with Alnico 5 magnets and 42 awg wire. It was the only year that Formvar was used. In 1963 they switched to 42 awg plain enamel wire. All of the pre cbs jags had Alnico 5 magnets.

Hopefully that helps!

[John Cassady]

Here’s a quote from the guy at EP Custom pickups:

1962 jag pickups were made with Alnico 5 magnets and 42 awg wire. It was the only year that Formvar was used. In 1963 they switched to 42 awg plain enamel wire. All of the pre cbs jags had Alnico 5 magnets.

Hopefully that helps!

Thanks! That's what I thought as well.
I wonder why Fender went for alnico 2 for the AVRI 62.

[MrFingers]

Maybe to mimick the ~50 years of magnetic decay that an AlNiCo5 would have had, which would bring it in 2-territory?

[GreenKnee]

Maybe to mimick the ~50 years of magnetic decay that an AlNiCo5 would have had, which would bring it in 2-territory?

AlNiCo magnets take a VERY long time to degauss, negligible over 60 or so years under normal conditions.

I have a '62 Jaguar and the pickups are noticeably thicker/smoother/no ice pick at all compared to every single other Jaguar pickup I have ever tried.
Could formvar make such a big difference compared to plain enamel insulating the windings?
I imagine Fender used AlNiCo 2 to try and mimic the original '62 pickup sound without having to use wildly different materials to what they use for all other pickups.

[GilmourD]

I imagine Fender used AlNiCo 2 to try and mimic the original '62 pickup sound without having to use wildly different materials to what they use for all other pickups.

Yeah, but it's not like they don't have Formvar wire. They use it on the Pure Vintage '59 pickups, just as one example.

[fuzzjunkie]

I have a '62 Jaguar and the pickups are noticeably thicker/smoother/no ice pick at all compared to every single other Jaguar pickup I have ever tried.
Could formvar make such a big difference compared to plain enamel insulating the windings?
I imagine Fender used AlNiCo 2 to try and mimic the original '62 pickup sound without having to use wildly different materials to what they use for all other pickups.

I wasn’t aware of a difference in wire, but that was my experience as well with ‘62 Jaguars vs ‘63-65 Jaguars.