Stag Mag, coinvent Wide Range alternative?

[SimpleT]

Hey there,

After doing some research online I have seen a couple people suggest the stag mag as a cheaper alternative to the original Fender Wide Range pickups because they both use magnetic pole pieces, which, according to some is more important to the sound of the wide ranges then the CuNiFe magnets. I know that the Stag Mag is wound much hotter but are they in the ballpark? Anyone with some first hand experience who can either confirm or deny this claim?

Thanks

 

[beaubrummels]

I haven't played original Wide Ranges myself, but they sound really thin and bright in recordings. The StagMag isn't that. They are A2 poles, so soft on the top, soft on the bottom and an upper mid peak/chime to it.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, the Stag Mag in series is actually pretty dark/thick compared to most humbuckers. I've never heard a humbucker sound much like a WR, unless it was active.

 

[freefrog]

Never compared directly a Stag Mag to a WR but the CuniFe Wide Range as I know it hasn't the same specs than a Stag Mag: the one that I've currently in the neck slot of a Tele measures 10,34k for an inductance of 4.8H, for example (which is the inductive value of a Duncan APH1 bridge, for the record).
A WR is in fact not "wide range" since it hasn't extended bass and high frequencies. Actually, it's rather "flat range": the response is even from the lowest fundamental notes to the corner frequency due to a relatively high inductance. So it's warm BUT tight with shiming harmonics, in the same vein than a good vintage Gibson Patent Sticker to my ears. YMMV.
I've modified the aforementioned one to allow coil splitting (by adding wires between its coils) and once split, it gives a transparent single coil tone, that I really appreciate. But it's clearly weaker in this case than a Strat PU. So, two Strat PU's side by side wouldn't make a WR as I know it, unless they would be underwound (in the 5k range) and weakly magnetized (with A3 rods inside, for instance).​



Tech footnotes - CuNiFe rods are noticeably less magnetizable than AlNiCo ones. A WR also includes a baseplate made of magnetic steel. AFAIK, it's not the case of the Stag Mag. Finally, the WR has a cover filtering its response and its specific dimensions give a specific comb filtering of harmonics that other pickups don't exhibit. It's not so drastically different sonically but it still does its own thing IME / IMO.

More infos about WR below, FWIW:

https://lawingmusicalproducts.com/dr-lawings-blog/tag/wide+range+humbucker

 

[Chistopher]

The biggest reason people buy guitars with WRH's is so that the other college kids will tell them how interesting their telecaster looks