WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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NICQ
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WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by NICQ » Sat Jan 13, 2018 4:23 am

I finally got around and installed my Original 1976 WideRange Humbuckers in my Lee Ranaldo Jazzmaster-gone-Partscaster

Pickups
Image
Thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=104583
Guitar: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104501


First I recorded some clips with the Lee Ranaldo Signature Jazzmaster WRHBs (Fender 2008 Reissue WideRangeHumbuckers), then installed the original 1976 Fender WideRange Humbuckers that I bought from a guy who had them in a Vintage Tele Deluxe and recorded the same clips again.

Guitar has only a 1Meg Volume Pot (CTS) and was plugged in directly into my Fender Silverface Deluxe Reverb '73 (Normal Channel, Input 1, Bass on 4, Treble on 7). Recorded with a Sennheiser e906 standing about 15cm away from the speaker slightly off axis and that went directly into a Zoom r8 harddisk recorder - amp settings and mic placement have not been changed between the recordings. And please excuse my sloppy playing - haven't played in weeks and just tried to record the first couple of riffs that came into my mind...


https://soundcloud.com/user-221432790/s ... mparison-1

https://soundcloud.com/user-221432790/s ... mparison-2

https://soundcloud.com/user-221432790/s ... mparison-3

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Kent
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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Kent » Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:43 pm

Double-post
Last edited by Kent on Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Kent » Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:44 pm

Geil!

We should compare them to my Ranaldo with Novak WRHBs! I’m in the 3rd near Stadtpark.

And I like Radiohead too. ;D

It seems as if the reissues have the mids scooped out a bit and more bass being evident. Is everything else the same? The mic wasn’t moved or anything?

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Whiny Minotaur » Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:46 am

Originals sound better, but they're pretty close to me, surprisingly so. The WRHBs in the Ranaldo signature were actually revoiced, to be more close to the originals, right?

It'd be interesting to see how the original reissues and the Squier WRHBs hold up too.
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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by timtam » Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:04 am

Whiny Minotaur wrote:
Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:46 am
The WRHBs in the Ranaldo signature were actually revoiced, to be more close to the originals, right?
Yes ... as Renaldo himself said ....
https://www.guitaraficionado.com/blog/s ... jazzmaster

" With mine, the deal with my Jazzblasters, as we call them, is the old vintage wide-range Fender humbucker pickups. They haven’t made those pickups the way they made them in the old days in quite a long time. They make a new version, but as one of the more critical websites said about them, “These pickups look like the old ones, but they don’t sound like the old ones.” And it was kinda true.
So they sent one of the earliest prototypes of my guitar with a set of those pickups in it, and they didn’t really sound very good. To Fender’s credit, they were willing to go back in and tweak them and try to make them better. So we went through a couple of iterations of that. Truth be told, they still don’t sound like the old ones, but Fender did a good job, considering the way they manufacture those pickups now. It’s a whole different internal process in terms of the magnets and what not. So that was cool of them."
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Kihtaristi » Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:49 am

Thanks for the PM in this matter. Based on those clips the old ones were better IMO. I really liked my reissue WRHBs in AV '72 thinline, but those originals are really nice..

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Kent » Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:20 am

Kihtaristi wrote:
Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:49 am
Thanks for the PM in this matter. Based on those clips the old ones were better IMO. I really liked my reissue WRHBs in AV '72 thinline, but those originals are really nice..
Howso? What led you to holding that opinion?

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by NICQ » Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:51 am

To be honest I'm quite surprised how close the Reissues sound to the Originals - I expected a night and day difference from what I read from people who said the Reissues sound like they're under a blanket, totally muffled etc - but I suspect that they had 250K or 500K pots in their Teles OR the Lee Ranaldo WRHBs are really strongly revoiced and sound better than the standard Fender Reissue WRHBs ?

Judging from my comparison the Originals have a bit less bass and a slightly different/clearer voicing - sounds to me like a small notch somewhere in the midrange around 600 Hz or something.. but the Reissues also have a bump in the highs and sound a bit sparkly...

Either way I think the difference is not as big as expected - I can't really tell them apart when listening to the wav clip randomly...

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Kihtaristi » Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:17 am

Kent wrote:
Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:20 am
Kihtaristi wrote:
Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:49 am
Thanks for the PM in this matter. Based on those clips the old ones were better IMO. I really liked my reissue WRHBs in AV '72 thinline, but those originals are really nice..
Howso? What led you to holding that opinion?
In comparison 2, I feel that the differences were most significant. Im so bad describing what I hear, but I think the sound is little fuller or warmer on those clips. Oher comparisons doesn't show the difference so clearly and I think that I could play guitar with either pickups and be happy.

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Embenny » Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:21 pm

NICQ wrote:
Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:51 am
To be honest I'm quite surprised how close the Reissues sound to the Originals - I expected a night and day difference from what I read from people who said the Reissues sound like they're under a blanket, totally muffled etc - but I suspect that they had 250K or 500K pots in their Teles OR the Lee Ranaldo WRHBs are really strongly revoiced and sound better than the standard Fender Reissue WRHBs ?

Judging from my comparison the Originals have a bit less bass and a slightly different/clearer voicing - sounds to me like a small notch somewhere in the midrange around 600 Hz or something.. but the Reissues also have a bump in the highs and sound a bit sparkly...

Either way I think the difference is not as big as expected - I can't really tell them apart when listening to the wav clip randomly...
I find it quite a dramatic difference. More than EQ, it's the string attack. Rod magnet polepieces and bar magnet/screw polepieces are just night and day in that regard.
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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by spacecadet » Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:37 pm

If anything the originals sound a little more mid-rangey to me. I don't think I'd describe one as clearer than the other, and bass and highs sound about the same. I just hear a little more middle in the originals.

I'm listening through headphones; when I listened through my computer speakers it was hard to say I heard any difference at all.

I do wonder if they take effects as similarly.

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by Mickster » Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:20 pm

Like others I was really surprised how similar they both were; and if pushed I gotta say I preferred the reissues, on all 3 demos. Sounded a bit livelier, a bit brighter and w/ slightly better string separation & clarity imo :blush:

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by sunburster » Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:36 pm

Yeah the LR WRHBs are great pickups. Quite different from (and better than) the other reissue WRHBs Fender has put out there. Nice crisp, clean, full sound without being muddy.

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by MT » Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:44 am

Interesting comparison. Through computer speakers there isn't much difference. The vintage bridge pickup maybe a tad clearer but this could be pickup heights / pole piece height differences maybe. The two sets are definitely well in the same ballpark. Certainly not night and day as many people state they should be.

I recently bought a 2000's Fender Tele Deluxe and compared the newer WRHB's to the vintage set I have in my Greco Tele Deluxe and I struggle to tell them apart. So much so that I'll most likely sell the vintage pickups considering the prices they go for these days.

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Re: WRHB Comparison: Original 1976s vs 2008 Reissue

Post by MechaBulletBill » Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:16 am

MT wrote:
Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:44 am
I recently bought a 2000's Fender Tele Deluxe and compared the newer WRHB's to the vintage set I have in my Greco Tele Deluxe and I struggle to tell them apart. So much so that I'll most likely sell the vintage pickups considering the prices they go for these days.
Does the Greco have Fender WRHBs or japanese-made ones? I tried a 76(?) Greco tele deluxe in a shop and the stock WRHB clones were BEEFY.

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