I absolutely love the sound of my Tribute Les Paul with it's 57 Classic and 57 Classic + pickups. These pups have AlNiCo II magnets, and I can't say enough about the fantastic tone they have. I also have an Agile AL3000 that I just swapped out the stock pickups for some GFS VEH pickups, which have A V magnets. I do like the sound of the pickups, but I was hoping to get a tone more similar to the 57s. They're not worlds apart, but I'm wondering if I go to an A II pickup if the chances are better that I'll get that magic tone.

What exactly are the differences in the magnets, as far as tone? I'm sure the physical differences are the amounts of the alloys in the magnets, but what effect does that have on the overall tone? If this has already been covered, I apologize.