Jazzblaster Build/ WRHB questions

[Brock the Mod]

Hey gang its been a while. Technically this will be my 2nd NGD ever on this forum (14 years now )

I did a MJT build and haven't received it yet, but Im still trying to decide on which WRHB to use. Vintage ones are out of the question lol.

Ive had my eyes on Lollars, and the new CuFnie Fender release. Was wondering anyone's experience or other expertise on other brand ones.

LMK!

[ChrisDesign]

Which country are you based in?

[Brock the Mod]

U S AND A

[Somnospeed]

I have a Jazzblaster build in the works this week, with Fender's new Cunife WR. I'll probably record a clip or two and post a link. Any particular style of music you want to hear? I suck as a guitar player but I still take requests.
I also have a '78 Tele Deluxe with vintage WRHB to compare. That will be in the video as well. I'm excited to compare myself. Yeah there's some Youtube comparisons, but none that have gone straight from a guitar amp into my ears. lol

[øøøøøøø]

Controversial opinion ahead:

I think the Lollar WRHB sound better than the vintage originals. It's the first time I've ever felt that way about any vintage reproduction of any pickup.

I don't think there's anything magical about CuNiFe from a sound perspective... it's just easier to machine for threads.

If you want something to sound exactly like a 70s pickup, maybe there's merit there? But the Lollars just sound so damn good.

Disclosure: they somewhat recently hooked me up with a pretty good discount on my last set of Regal WRHB. But I bought my first set at full price, I wouldn't have even inquired about another had I not already been using them for 6 years at that point.

[Brock the Mod]

Ive read Lollars handle distortion better too in a lot of opinion posts.

The Fender Cufnie ones I can get through Amazon, but its also at that price point why not go for Lollars?

I dont really have a "sound" in mind, I just have my AVRI Jazzmaster with Novaks (V/Fat) and wanted a Jazzmaster with humbuckers. If anything Id like the best pickups that will go with my current pedal setup and Twin Reverb which makes me think the Lollars might be the best choice.

Is it bad I want blank covers without the "Lollar" imprint

[Somnospeed]

The Lollars are a great sounding pickup and crystal clear, but they don't sound convincing as a clone of the vintage Fender WRHB. If you aren't looking clone that certain "mojo" that the vintage Fenders have, the Lollars are a great choice. Personally, I like the Creamery WRHB even better than the Lollars. The new Fender cunife aren't quite as crystal clear as the Lollars, but they do have that vintage WRHB magic that the other brands just don't. There is a certain tone that none of the reissues can recreate, but the new Fender cunife come closest. I can't even explain it but the vintage WRHB I have in my '78 Tele Deluxe have a unique combo of crystal clarity, yet easy to breakup without losing ANY clarity. Even with a fuzz pedal and tube screamer both on, you can hear every string clear as a bell when strumming or picking. At no point do these pickups lose definition. With a Silverface Bassman cranked to 9, zero loss of clarity. I have a custom shop strat that can't even come close to the clarity and definition the vintage Fenders can. Yet, they sound even better when driven. There are simply no other pickups that I've ever heard that produce such a one of a kind, impossible to recreate tone, which explains the $1000 price tag for a pair of used vintage WRHB. But they aren't collectors items; they are that expensive because they have a tone that cannot be reproduced and at least a dozen companies have tried.

[Brock the Mod]

Appreciate the input pal

[øøøøøøø]

There are so many good options now.

Any of them will make most people happy.

The internet is dangerous for guitar stuff… it’s easy to read about this or that expensive thing and get FOMO.

Most of the time, you’re not missing anything major!

It’s hard to go too far wrong with any of the choices mentioned

[Brock the Mod]

Absolutely agree.

So maybe it's something im overthinking.

Im sure that theres some substance that vintage WRHB are in their own category because of the whole CufNie thing but like I said something in that ballpark I would be happy with.

Not to many mentions on the Fender Reissues though?

[Somnospeed]

After playing the new Fender cunife non-stop for the last few days, I now have a bit of a different opinion. I think their new WRHB is even closer to the vintage than I initially realized. The problem is that my vintage WRHB are on a Tele, which has individual volume and tone knobs. Obviously the JM doesn't have 4 knobs and that explains why I just couldn't nail down the same tone. That's why (mostly..) I said the new ones come up short of the vintage. I'd bet money whatever I thought these pups were lacking is almost exclusively due to less options for tone adjustments. I just can't fine tune the new cunife like I can the old, but that's not the pup's fault lol. I know most JM have that tone circuit thing for more tone adjustments but for me, none of those settings are even close to usable. I wish my Jazzbaster didn't have that circuit at all.

So I've spent a couple days comparing these new cunife to old, then today I just played the new ones for a couple hours. It was then that I realized there is almost no difference at most amp and pedal settings. I never play anything with a 100% clean tone though so YMMV. I'm completely sold on the new ones though. Over all of the other's I've heard in comparison, I'd pick these every time.

If you find yourself in the market for the new Fenders, make sure they are 2020 or 2021 models. I don't know much about all the older versions, but I know they don't compare to the newest ones.

[øøøøøøø]

Not to many mentions on the Fender Reissues though?

The older Fender reissues, as I'm sure you know, weren't really the same thing... just an inexpensive PAF-style humbucker under a larger cover with a bunch of wax filling in the empty space.

I haven't had a chance to try their new CuNiFe model, but it certainly looks promising. And like you, I prefer that it looks right (i.e. has the "Fender" logo on the cover, instead of blank or some other logo)

I've just been so happy with the Lollars that I kinda just stopped looking. But we've come a long way since Telenator first sourced some CuNiFe years ago and finally made a "real" WRHB for the first time in a long time. There are so many good, credible WRHB options out there now.

Guitar pickups are such a tricky thing. Small changes in implementation can have real impacts on the performance, but it's also very easy to get carried away. Internet discussion is kind of the worst for this... someone always feels very strongly one way or another, it sounds reasonable, and you start to wonder "what might I be missing out on?"

Hundreds/thousands of dollars later, it's easy to become very invested in the idea that you're gonna be blown away by this amazing/rare/expensive/new/boutique thing. Fine margins start to appear huge.

It's impossible to think straight under those conditions, so before you know it you might be the one on the forum talking about how amazing this thing is, influencing someone else to spend their money... I know I've been there!

[Somnospeed]

I can say for certain WRHB are NOT for everyone. Not at all. They make a unique tone that I would call polarizing. You either love it or probably don't like the tone enough to actually buy a set, or don't care much for the tone all. Most people don't care for them enough to actually want some and that's why very few companies even bothered trying to clone or reissue them in any meaningful way for a couple decades after they were introduced. Yeah there were humbuckers with a bunch of wax and fancy, oversized PU covers, but outside of a Tele Deluxe or Custom, it's only a random obscure guitar that came with "real" WRHB.

I wouldn't call wanting to have a top shelf WRHB tone a trend or bandwagon though. I think those builders that are making WRHB clones are aware that the audience is small by comparison, but I also believe they know how hard it is to clone that sound, or even improve a relatively unpopular 1970's design. So that makes me think those pup makers like the challenge. It's quite obvious that it's a competition of sorts with the pup makers. They aren't just looking to build a pup with a nice tone, they are looking for the very specific and uncommon 70's Fender WRHB tone and they want to be known as the pup that sounds most like the originals.
I know cunife supplies had an influence in Fender discontinuing the pups, but nonetheless, I don't recall many people who were talking about how disappointed they were that Fender discontinued the cunife WRHB in 1982 or so. And although Tele Deluxe and Customs from the 72-82 era were not hard to come by or rare, a quick check on Reverb will turn up maybe only 5-10 or so originals. I have a black 70's Tele Deluxe; last I checked, out of the many thousands of guitars for sale on Reverb, there was precisely 1 black one listed for sale on Reverb.

I did a google search of notable guitar players who use WRHB. The list is short and includes several names I've never even heard of. NONE of them mentioned in "great guitar players" conversations. For the relatively small population of hobbyist guitar players who love the classic WRHB sound, they reallllly love it. The rest... they probably have no desire to own a set at all. Or maybe they just do not believe the tone justifies the price tag. Unless it was a really good deal, of course. None of us can pass on that. lol.

[øøøøøøø]

I'm not sure I'd correlate WRHB use with "hobbyist guitarists."

They're fantastic pickups, and probably are just now becoming more widely-sought because they were kind of hiding in plain sight for awhile. 70s Fenders were kind of an anathema to guitar snobs up until the mid-2000s sometimes, and I suspect that has something to do with why interest in them has lagged.

I'll also gently point out that there's a whole, rich spectrum between players "mentioned in great guitar players conversations" and "hobbyist guitarists."

Many of the most fantastic players out there are people you've never heard of, but who make the artists you have heard of sound great on tours and recordings. And it has always been this way.

[marqueemoon]

I'll also gently point out that there's a whole, rich spectrum between players "mentioned in great guitar players conversations" and "hobbyist guitarists."

Many of the most fantastic players out there are people you've never heard of, but who make the artists you have heard of sound great on tours and recordings. And it has always been this way.

Damn straight.

There’s a huge spectrum of great players out there. If you limit yourself to some guitar magazine pantheon you’re missing out.

I don’t believe in ranking guitar sounds by some kind of “professionalism” standard. It’s about getting musical ideas across. Marc Ribot and Ry Cooder (just to name a few off the top of my head) are highly skilled players who are masters at using “bad” guitar sounds.