A magnetic write head includes a seed layer and a magnetic layer on the
seed layer. The seed layer includes seed-layer grains having either a
face-centered cubic (fcc) crystalline structure with a surface plane
substantially oriented in a [111] direction or a hexagonal-close-packed
(hcp) crystalline structure with a surface plane substantially oriented
in a [0001] direction. The magnetic layer includes magnetic-layer grains
having a body-centered-cubic (bcc) crystalline structure with a surface
plane substantially oriented in a [110] direction.