What's the generic term for those pups.....

Thermionik

Thermionik

New member
.....that look like humbuckers but instead of one row of screws poking through the cover, they have three under the bass strings on one side and three under the treble on the opposite edge (Fender Wide-Range spring to mind)

WideRange5.jpg

instead of the more normal
suhrhumcover.jpg


And what is the tone like compared to ordinary buckers.
 
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Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

i've tried only the reissues('72 deluxe tele) a couple times, but from what i gather they're rather bassy pickups.:dunno:
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

Those are P-92 pickups....
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

fenders original wide range humbucker is a different beast than a normal bucker and even more so than a p92 (which is just a fralin thing), even fenders re-issued wide range humbucker isnt the same as the old ones
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

If its a original 70ies pickup it has cunife (copper/nickel/iron) magnets, the now reissue has normal alnico humbuckers with the old look. The original cunife pickup was designed by Seth Lover and bring now some money on the market.
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

Hey peoples - my thanks to you, and I am sorry I wasn't clearer in my question.
I know the staggered pole-piece in the picture is:

Original CBS-era Fender/Seth Lover "Wide Range Humbucker" pickup

That's the SPECIFIC name. It was the GENERIC name I was after, the name that is given to that style of pup by all manufactuers (like 'single-coil', 'humbucker', 'bar', 'piezo' etc. rather than P-90, PAF, Charlie Christian, etc).
[Are these what Lindy Fralin calls "Split-Single-Coils"?]

General concensus is they are bassier than a straight 'bucker, which is useful info..... though users in the wild also suggest brightness too, confusing.

Does anybody else make a similar item now.
Only ones I can find seem to be the GFS "Vintage Split" humbucker - which are strangely low cost - and seem NOT to be CuNiFe.

I ask because I was wondering who else (OTHER than Fender / Seth Lover) was turning them out in the seventies. Got my eye on a pair - come in a metal mounting-ring with three (yup - 3) screw mounts instead of the usual four-screw. Doesn't seem to be much discussion out on the interweb-thingy about them - so I am thinking they just look good but don't sound too wonderful (presumably why they are not so popular.....)
 
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Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

Thermionik said:
Hey peoples - my thanks to you, and I am sorry I wasn't clearer in my question.
I know the staggered pole-piece in the picture is:

Original CBS-era Fender/Seth Lover "Wide Range Humbucker" pickup

That's the SPECIFIC name. It was the GENERIC name I was after, the name that is given to that style of pup by all manufactuers (like 'single-coil', 'humbucker', 'bar', 'piezo' etc. rather than P-90, PAF, Charlie Christian, etc).
[Are these what Lindy Fralin calls "Split-Single-Coils"?]

General concensus is they are bassier than a straight 'bucker, which is useful info..... though users in the wild also suggest brightness too, confusing.

Does anybody else make a similar item now.
Only ones I can find seem to be the GFS "Vintage Split" humbucker - which are strangely low cost - and seem NOT to be CuNiFe.

I ask because I was wondering who else (OTHER than Fender / Seth Lover) was turning them out in the seventies. Got my eye on a pair - come in a metal mounting-ring with three (yup - 3) screw mounts instead of the usual four-screw. Doesn't seem to be much discussion out on the interweb-thingy about them - so I am thinking they just look good but don't sound too wonderful (presumably why they are not so popular.....)
Click to expand...

The magnet material really isn't as important as the magnetic field. CuNiFe was chosen because it can be threaded economically by conventional methods whereas alnico is extremely expensive to thread.

I have done alot of research in this field and come up with a direct retro-fit for the MIM Re-issue WRHB's that really nails the tone of the original. This was a little project I did when I bought a Thinline re-issue and found the pickups to be quite dismal. I wanted the look of the original as well as the sound. Other pickup guys make excellent sounding replacements for these guitars but they just don't have that sweet chrome cover to complete the look. Any many, while they do sound good, don't come anywhere near the original tone.

I use alnico 5 rod magnets and then grind the tops to look like screws. THESE ARE NOT THREADED! They're just dolled up a little to look like the originals.

The bobbins are hand machined from Delrin and wound to original 70's specs. Wire them up to a set of 1 meg pots, just like the originals, and you've got the sound!

Completelores.jpg


topnocoverlores.jpg


Here's a link to a recent sound clip where a guy in Australia tried these out in a stunning home-built Thinline through a Bronco amp. Pretty convincing I'd say!

http://www.offsetguitars.com/personal/sookwinder/various/telebronco.mp3
 
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Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

.
.
I am sorry Tele-Bob - great info and real interesting, but yah totally lost me. Bobbins, magnets, even a sound clip, all great, and I thank you. But what is the generic name for this type of pup. That's all I need to know - what's the name that describes all these pups where the poles/slugs are 3/3 asymetrical left to right.....
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

I'd assume it's the same as those G&L staggered pickups (on the Comanche?)
Split-step humbuckers or something?

Since it didn't grow to an industry standard like "humbucker" and the like, I'm assuming there is no "generic" term for them.


Is the 3/3 screw layout supposed to do something?
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

There isn't a generic name for this type of pickup. Fender put them out on some models in the 70's and they are called Fender Wide-Range Pickups.

We understood your question and all your caps for emphasis were unnecessary. :smokin:

You can't find other pickups like these. Lots of people have looked and as far as I know, the only way to get the look and the sound (before reading Tele-Bob's post) is to get the actual 70's Wide Range buckers for your guitar.

Sorry they're not more popular pickups.
 
Re: What's the generic term for those pups.....

They're called "Fender wide range humbuckers" and were available in their original form from 1972 to 1981.

The re-issue of these pickups do not sound even remotely like the originals. In fact, they sound a bit dismal.
 
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