Fender Wide Range
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| Fender Wide Range | |
| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1971–1979 (original) 1998–current (reissue) |
| Type | Passive humbucker |
| Magnet type | CuNiFe(original) Alnico(reissue) |
| Output specifications | |
| Voltage (RMS), V | {{{outputrms}}} |
| Voltage (peak), V | {{{outputpeak}}} |
| Noise, dBV | {{{outputnoise}}} |
| Impedance, kΩ | 11kΏ (original), 8kΏ (reissue) |
| Current, µA | {{{outputcurrent}}} |
| Sonic qualities | |
| Resonant frequency, Hz | {{{resonantfreq}}} |
The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a "single coil guitar company", and to gain a foothold in the humbucker guitar market dominated by Gibson.
The pickups enjoyed some popularity, though they certainly were never as widespread as Fender's single-coil pickups. Original Wide Range pickups were available from 1971 and subsequentially installed in the Deluxe, Custom and Thinline Telecasters, as well as the Starcaster, ceasing production successively in 1979, when these models were discontinued. Fender Japan were the first to introduce a reissue around 1990, followed by the Made in Mexico version around 1998. The Wide Range Pickup found on American made Fender guitars is actually the Made in Mexico model introduced in 1998. All reissues differ in construction from the original Seth Lover design, and sound very different (see below).
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[edit] Construction
The Wide Range pickup was conceived to be sonically closer to Fender's single coil pickups than Gibson humbuckers. This concept called for the use of CuNiFe (Copper/Nickel/Iron) rod magnets as pole pieces within the coil structures, more closely resembling a regular Strat pickup than a Gibson humbucker. The CuNiFe magnets were threaded and slotted to function and resemble the adjustable screw type poles of a Gibson humbucker. The pickup bobbins were wound with approximately 6800 turns of copper wire around the pole-pieces.
The 1998 re-issued pickup, despite an almost identical appearance, is constructed differently from the original 1970s unit. Like a Gibson humbucker it features a bar magnet underneath the bobbins that abut to 6 screw type pole-pieces in each coil; the 1998 Wide Range is in fact an ordinary humbucker placed in a larger casing, and the gap is filled with wax. This is one important reason the re-issue sounds very different from the original pickup. Another reason is the use of 250 KΩ volume pots, as the original used 1 MΩ pots. Using 250 KΩ pots on very high-output humbuckers produces a sound described as "dark" and "muddy".
[edit] Sound
Original "Wide Range" pickups are described as sounding "fat" but with a noticeable improvement in clarity and detail over Gibson humbuckers. Combined with a bridge single coil pickup on a Telecaster it gives a smooth, warm yet biting sound. Famous users include Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, Ryan Adams, Franz Ferdinand, Roy Buchanan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Thom Yorke of Radiohead as well as Sonic youth's modified "Jazzblasters" which featured "wide range" pickups on Fender Jazzmaster guitars.
[edit] Market value
Due the use of the Wide Range Humbucker by modern bands as Franz Ferdinand and the fact that the reissue FWRH sounds different to original, vintage pickups, demand has grown for the original pickup. As of 2007, the value of an original WRH in excellent condition is approximately $200.[citation needed]
