Accurate Wide Range Reissues?

[MTLasater]

I know by now that Fender's reissue Wide Range pickups are complete crap.  But are there any companies out there that make accurate reproductions?  Like does Seymour Duncan make any?

[RumorsOFsurF]

Our very own Curtis Novak is working on a mod for the RI Wide Rangers.  You will have to source some reissue WRHB's, and he will mod them to original specs.  He'll let us know when he's ready to start.

[k o y l]

He'll let us know when he's ready to start.

I bet right now, he's training himself to wind pickups as fast as he can because he knows he will have something like 100 orders placed in the same week when he'll announce that the mod is available ! 

[i love sharin foo]

I don't think the reissue pickups sound like crap at all. I hear a lot ofpeople saying that they are really muddy and indistinct sounding, but I didn't hear it. I had a pair in a Jazzblaster that I built from the ground up. It was one of the best sounding guitars I have ever owned. Pot and cap coice/ values can have an influence in the sound too. But either way, I like them and think they sound good. I haven't owned any originals though to compare them to. On that end, I do know that they don't sound like the originals, just wanted to say that they can sound nice in their own right.

Justin

[Stereordinary]

I've been biting my tongue about this for a while, but I have a mod that I've been working on as well.  I'll actually have threaded magnetic pole-pieces, just like the original Wide Rangers, if all goes well.  I'm in the final test stage, and I have no reason to believe that it won't work.  In which case, I'm making an order and I'll have my mod ready in a few months.  My mod won't initially have any re-winding of the reissue bobbins involved so the sound I'm supposing will differ from vintage WRHBs, but I'll get to that point soon enough.

This is just FYI, I'm not the respected pickup winder that Mr. Novak is, and I don't intend to compete with his level of craftsmanship, but I couldn't sit silently reading this thread.

[Blobcaster]

I've been biting my tongue about this for a while, but I have a mod that I've been working on as well.  I'll actually have threaded magnetic pole-pieces, just like the original Wide Rangers, if all goes well.  I'm in the final test stage, and I have no reason to believe that it won't work.  In which case, I'm making an order and I'll have my mod ready in a few months.  My mod won't initially have any re-winding of the reissue bobbins involved so the sound I'm supposing will differ from vintage WRHBs, but I'll get to that point soon enough.

This is just FYI, I'm not the respected pickup winder that Mr. Novak is, and I don't intend to compete with his level of craftsmanship, but I couldn't sit silently reading this thread.

awesome!

[scottme]

I've been biting my tongue about this for a while, but I have a mod that I've been working on as well.  I'll actually have threaded magnetic pole-pieces, just like the original Wide Rangers, if all goes well.

Did you get hold of some long lost CuNiFe material? 

[Stereordinary]

No, CuNiFe is essentially extinct.  I found a modern replacement that to the best of my knowledge has all of the same megnetic properties and has never been used in a pickup before.  If I had found some CuNiFe, we'd be having a completely different conversation. 

[jetset]

These guys seem to be able to get it to make fittings:

http://www.parker.waaps.com/uk/lit_page ... 260&id=125

[eupat]

I've also searched a good reproduction of the WR for my Jazzblaster project, but I didn'nt find anything.
I heard about some Rio Grande Muy Grande, but I finally end up with WR RI, one MIM and one MIJ.
perhaps I'll get them mod by C.Novak, but first I'll try them like this.

[MTLasater]

If you like the sound of the reissues, then stick with 'em.  It's not that they sound bad.  It's that they don't sound like the originals.  Personally, if I were going to get modern pickups, I'd look at Seymour Duncans or other aftermarkets.  Fender just doesn't have what they used to, in my opinion.  That's why I'm more interested in vintage spec WRHBs.

[berlinbetty]

  I've always wondered what gets a worse rap on this board: wide range reissues or Strats?

[RumorsOFsurF]

  I've always wondered what gets a worse rap on this board: wide range reissues or Strats?

I like both, so I don't understand the hatred!  I honestly think the RI Wide Rangers sound pretty good.  Not like the originals, but still good.

[djetz]

Fralin Twangmaster pups have the Wide Range look.

They're not meant to sound like WR clones, but according to what I can find out about them, they do sound "Fender-like" - I've seen them compared to both Tele pups and Jazzmaster pups... which are fairly different sounds, I'd have thought, but whatever. Anyway, everyone seems to agree that they do sound really good. I'd consider them for my Jag Special (the humbucker equipped model that people call the "HH") but I'm pretty happy with the GFS double lipsticks I have in there now. I don't doubt that the Fralins would be a better option but at US $260 a pair... hmmm. I s'pose I could make some money back throwing the GFSes on ebay...

...anyway, they'd be something to consider. Maybe if Curtis Novak's modded WRHPs get rave reviews when they finally appear, and there isn't a 6 months + waiting list, and they aren't even more expensive than the Fralins...

[Hellion]

I use the RI on my 73 Deluxe and am pretty happy with them. Of course I wouldn't mind if the original pups were still in it. But I probably wouldn't own it if that were the case.