Wide Range Humbuckers - the proper ones

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Mages
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Post by Mages »

I think the key to the WRHB is not the oh-so-special cuNIFeZ magnets. it's the fact that they are humbuckers made with pole magnets. the fender reissues are constructed with a bar magnet on the bottom, just like normal humbuckers. they might be good sounding humbuckers, but they're made in quite a different way than the original WRHBs. but I think what the magnets are made of is not as important as their strength and location in the pickup design. for example: ceramic magnets create a different sound in a pickup because they are fairly weak compared to alnico and can't be cast into bars like alnico. the magnet itself doesn't have any sound. it's just a magnet. if you can construct a pickup with the same strength magnets (you can get different kinds of alnico with different magnetic strengths and properties) in the same location, I don't see why they shouldn't sound a lot like WRHBs.

and I really don't think it's, the reissue WRHB sound fine. so discussion over. it's not over at all. I mean all kinds of guitar stuff sounds fine but we still try out new stuff. a humbucker made with pole magnets sounds really interesting to me. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to try them out. I really want to try some of novak's out someday when I can scrape some cash together.
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Post by Billy3000 »

I might try out some 1 meg pots in my tele deluxe. I actually still like the way it sounds stock, but I've been wanting to do some modding lately!
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Post by timhulio »

benecol wrote:* plus, hilariously, he googles his name a lot and pops up in threads - hi telemaster, you snake-oil-selling arsehole!
It's Telenator, isn't it? His flash-based website made my eyes want to puke.
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Post by stewart »

timhulio wrote:
benecol wrote:* plus, hilariously, he googles his name a lot and pops up in threads - hi telemaster, you snake-oil-selling arsehole!
It's Telenator, isn't it? His flash-based website made my eyes want to puke.
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Post by taylornutt »

I am glad for this thread. I have been wanting to pickup a used CIJ Black Jag HH and swap out the Fender Dragster pups for WRHBs and a new pickup. I have been curious where to find them. If the RI pups are good with 1M pots, that will be perfect because that's what that Jaguar already has.

Would there be any problem wiring the WRHB up to the Rhythm circuit?
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Post by benecol »

I thought this was pretty widely known, but just in case: widerange humbuckers are much bigger than standard humbuckers, and will not fit in a regular rout. There are far more options available in a regular-sized humbucker format: routing a guitar to fit only widerangers would be utterly counter intuitive.
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Post by taylornutt »

benecol wrote:I thought this was pretty widely known, but just in case: widerange humbuckers are much bigger than standard humbuckers, and will not fit in a regular rout. There are far more options available in a regular-sized humbucker format: routing a guitar to fit only widerangers would be utterly counter intuitive.
I knew the WRHBs are wider, but in my case, I don't like any other humbuckers and I think the routes in the CIJ Jag HH are big enough and would only require enlarging the pickguard holes. I would be making a custom pickguard to replace the plain black one.
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Post by Freddy V-C »

taylornutt wrote:I would be making a custom pickguard to replace the plain black one.
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If those are the three pickguard colours you're considering I would definitely go with mint. Pearl and tort usually look good on black jaguars, but I think not with the wide rangers.
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Post by johnnyseven »

The pearl was my favourite followed by the mint. Not a fan of the red tort.
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benecol
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Post by benecol »

taylornutt wrote:I knew the WRHBs are wider, but in my case, I don't like any other humbuckers and I think the routes in the CIJ Jag HH are big enough and would only require enlarging the pickguard holes.
Then why not just use some of the several available widerange clones made in standard humbucker size?
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Post by Mages »

taylornutt wrote:I knew the WRHBs are wider, but in my case, I don't like any other humbuckers
the reissue WRHBs with 1M pots are probably going to sound the same as any fairly good humbucker with 1M pots. they are not all that different from a regular humbucker. if you are happy with that sound I would recommend you just get the GFS WRHBs with 1M pots. if you want something closer to the vintage WRHBs get the novaks.
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Post by Mages »

ohhh, look at lollar's version: linky

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same footprint as the OG ones, looks real prettayy... :P~~~
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Post by sp3k »

can anyone tell me where i can buy 1m pots? i'm in portugal btw, so eu would be better
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Post by taylornutt »

This is some good info. I am learning a lot here. The Novaks are definitely cheaper than the Lollars and don't require enlarging the pickup cavity. Stilll $145 for one pickup is a lot. I gave $160 for my Lindy Fralin Jazzmaster set. If I ever pickup the Jag HH, it might be worth it to Grab the GFS set for $60 before investing over 3 times that on one pickup or find some RI Fenders cheap online.
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Post by johnnyseven »

sp3k wrote:can anyone tell me where i can buy 1m pots? i'm in portugal btw, so eu would be better
You can get them from Allparts or just Google 1 meg pot and see what comes up.
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Post by johnnyseven »

johnnyseven wrote:
timhulio wrote:£150 a pair? Sheesh. Have you tried Catswhisker Pickups? They'll be about £40-50 each.

Actually, I've never found anything wrong with the AVRI Jazzmaster pickups. Perfect pickup for this guitar imho. Not too hot, not too cold, just right!
Not much info on the Catswhisker website re their pickups but they do one called the Ranger DLX which could be their equivalent, maybe i'll email to ask.
The Catswhisker man confirmed that his Ranger DLX's are his version of the WRHB. Anyone had experience with Catswhisker pickups - any good?
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Post by Dave »

johnnyseven wrote:
johnnyseven wrote:
timhulio wrote:£150 a pair? Sheesh. Have you tried Catswhisker Pickups? They'll be about £40-50 each.

Actually, I've never found anything wrong with the AVRI Jazzmaster pickups. Perfect pickup for this guitar imho. Not too hot, not too cold, just right!
Not much info on the Catswhisker website re their pickups but they do one called the Ranger DLX which could be their equivalent, maybe i'll email to ask.
The Catswhisker man confirmed that his Ranger DLX's are his version of the WRHB. Anyone had experience with Catswhisker pickups - any good?
I've had good experience with his stuff and I believe Timhulio has too (for a rewind?). I suppose the only caveat is that I find it hard to imagine he'd have quite the research that Novak has put into it to get the voicing near.... but whatever the case I'm sure they are well made and sound great and Alan is a nice guy to deal with who is willing to help with a custom order. I'm seriously considering his Jag p90s for my CP jag
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Post by timhulio »

He did a partial rewind on my Musima Elgita neck pickup- itself an interesting pickup as these Simetos have the magnets outside the coils and non-magnetised polepieces. The rewind was a paltry £20, so I can't recommend this service highly enough.

I've also got a Catswhisker mini humbucker in my thinline tele, and a vintage-style tele pickup in the bridge (I couldn't guess the model names). Both sound tip-top. Tippity-toppity.

That said, if you're chasing the mojo get the Lollars.
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Post by MikeG »

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/just-pickups ... ckers.html


Someone starts a thread about how happy they are with their stock reissue pickups. Telenator leaps in with a sales pitch and starts babbling about 'complex harmonics'.

Classic Lollar/Telenator dust up. As ever, Lollar comes across thoroughly reasonable.
ekwatts wrote:
If you really need those extra harmonics then play a fucking sitar.
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Post by Johno »