Is this a Duncan WIDE RANGE?

[merseymale]

Hi!
I hope this is the right forum!

Just got a pair of pickups from Ebay with very little info -I can honestly say I've not seen them before....

They can't be originals, I don't think, from the 70s, what with the price paid nor the condition

Both are just over 10 K impedance and seem to have threaded magnetic slugs

ANY idea as to age; model number or what Guitar they came from did SD make pick ups for fender

Thanks!

[beaubrummels]

Doesn't look like a Duncan at all to me. Even if it were, someone had to replace the cover to get a Fender logo on it. But it doesn't look like a Duncan to me; the cover, the baseplate, the hookup wire all don't look like Duncan. Looks like possibly a Fender reissue from the last couple decades, which would not be a CuNiFe wide-range but a regular humbucker in an over-sized package with half-half poles like you are seeing.

[GuitarDoc]

Duncan? No.
Fender.
The originals were discontinued in '79 I believe. But have been reissued lately with the original CuNiFe magnet threaded poles. I've seen the new ones $100-300. Not a clue what an original would be worth.
At ~10k, it sounds like they are both neck pups...bridges were just over 11k.

[GuitarDoc]

I've also seen some wide range pup copies that have regular alnico bar magnets in them. They don't sound at all like the originals.

[merseymale]

Doesn't look like a Duncan at all to me. Even if it were, someone had to replace the cover to get a Fender logo on it. But it doesn't look like a Duncan to me; the cover, the baseplate, the hookup wire all don't look like Duncan. Looks like possibly a Fender reissue from the last couple decades, which would not be a CuNiFe wide-range but a regular humbucker in an over-sized package with half-half poles like you are seeing.

I hear what you're saying but what is throwing me is the fact that the slugs, as I say, are magnetic so it's not just a regular humbucker it IS a legitimate widerange design

Someone has mentioned that they had heard that Duncan had made WRHB for a short period of time for Fender so that got me wondering...

it seems very like the 1970s originals EXCEPT for it's in much better condition so looks too New & it has PVC hook-up wire PLUS Low Price

so I'm stumped, myself!

[merseymale]

Duncan? No.
Fender.
The originals were discontinued in '79 I believe. But have been reissued lately with the original CuNiFe magnet threaded poles. I've seen the new ones $100-300. Not a clue what an original would be worth.
At ~10k, it sounds like they are both neck pups...bridges were just over 11k.

I suppose so… In which case I've managed to get that
rarest of things: an eBay bargain!!

do these $100-$300 pick ups have PVC wire though or are they braided like the original?

[merseymale]

I've also seen some wide range pup copies that have regular alnico bar magnets in them. They don't sound at all like the originals.

I happen to have three of those and really quite like them but they definitely sound like variations on a PAF & not like the originalWRHB that I've heard but they seem to be more consistent if that's anything important

would love to know what these are however!
I only got them this morning so I've yet to actually install them in anything

[beaubrummels]

On the originals, the tabs are squared off, the wire is braided and there's no grommet where the wire inserts into the baseplate. Also the plates were soldered to the cover in the center, not offset. Also, the (R) on the reissues is small. The originals had a huge (R) on the cover.

[beaubrummels]

...also the "ender" is smaller on the originals. Notice the r in 'ender' ends over the second pole, on the reissues the r extends partway between the last two poles.

[merseymale]

On the originals, the tabs are squared off, the wire is braided and there's no grommet where the wire inserts into the baseplate. Also the plates were soldered to the cover in the center, not offset. Also, the (R) on the reissues is small. The originals had a huge (R) on the cover.

Thanks!

This is really great to know…

My Mexican "fake Wide-Range " has the R-in-the-Circle, denoting a registered trademark, is certainly much bigger on my Mexican one then on these mystery ones IF that helps any

[merseymale]

...also the "ender" is smaller on the originals. Notice the r in 'ender' ends over the second pole, on the reissues the r extends partway between the last two poles.

T B H that's the same with these mystery ones from eBay

[Gold star]

Duncan? No.
Fender.
The originals were discontinued in '79 I believe. But have been reissued lately with the original CuNiFe magnet threaded poles. I've seen the new ones $100-300. Not a clue what an original would be worth.
At ~10k, it sounds like they are both neck pups...bridges were just over 11k.

the neck pick up should be no more than 8.5 K ideally. it's important to note that there was never anything spectacular about the sound of wide range p/ups. Whether fitted with a bar magnet or rod, the two sound pretty similar. From what I can tell the current wide range with Cunife magnets sound close to a standard PAF HB. So in all. these were as much about marketing as anything innovative. they were also discontinued for some 18 years by Fender

[freefrog]

AFAIK, Fender Wide Range's were discontinued because CuNiFe became unobtainium. They were reissued because there was a demand for that (previously satisfied by "Telenator" pickups).

And as it still appears to be unclear : a CuNiFe Wide Range doesn't sound like most P.A.F. replicas. :-)

Harmonics are objectively different because of how these PU's are sized. A useful tool to check it: https://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponseDemo/

The roll off in high frequencies is similar for both PU's because of inductance although steeper with a WR... but most Gibson style humbuckers are louder, with more low mids and less strings separation.

That's why Wide Range and Les Paul emulations sound so different in Roland / Boss guitar modeling (well, granted, they've exagerated the difference... but they still managed to capture "something" of the real product in each case).

As I said elsewhere, one can get "close enough" IME/IMHO with an underwound Gibson style HB. If it has a low inner capacitance, it's even better. But "close enough" doesn't mean identical. The most WR sounding P.A.F. replica that I've found is a boutique Dave Stephens VL1 - albeit it's still a tad less transparent than a WR with separate mag poles.


Regarding the idea that a neck PU musn't measure over 8.5k: what ACTUALLY counts is the number of TURNS and the measured inductance/stray capacitance of the coils, not AT ALL the DCR.

A Gibson style humbucker with 4542 turns of wire per bobbin will measure 7.50k if it's wound with AWG42 but 9.22k if it's wound with 43AWG. For a same number of turns, a same inductance. Only parasitic capacitance should rise a bit with the thinner wire. But the sound will be practically the same.

Another educational link : https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/th...-coils.369099/

Enough said: nothing is worth direct experience, anyway.