Fenders with humbuckers

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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stevejamsecono
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Fenders with humbuckers

Post by stevejamsecono » Sun Jun 19, 2022 7:53 am

I've been on a Van Halen kick lately and it's had me daydreaming about putting together a single humbucker parts guitar in the vein of Frankenstein. Only problem is my experience with putting humbuckers in Fender guitars in the past has been fairly... disappointing so far? I've had a few that admittedly all weren't ideal (i.e. a MIM Strat with a hotrail bridge, my aborted Lead II project), but my experience is generally instead of having a thick tone with the articulation I'd expect from the increased scale length, I find that they sound kinda cheezy and 1 dimensional? Like there's some missing low-mid heft that should be there but isn't.

What are ya'lls experience with this? Obviously a Fender will never sound like a GIbson for dozens of reasons, but maybe I've just had a few lousy examples?
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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by sal paradise » Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:20 am

I love high output humbuckers in Fenders. Strats are pretty straight up, Mustangs work & Jags give a super unique sound.

Mostly DiMarzio super distortions in the bridge, although I did make a Highway One strat HH with Bareknuckle Nailbombs. That sounded insane.

Ordered a PAF from Creamery for my Mustang- that will be an experiment, first time I’ve used lower output.
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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by sal paradise » Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:26 am

Here’s proof. Oh yeah, and I blocked off the trem & bought a 24.75” conversion neck.

Honestly, I should have bought an Epiphone, saved a lot of money & not parted out a USA strat. But it did sound cool.

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by Flurko » Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:30 am

The bridge pickup in my Jazzmaster started acting out again, I think this week I will replace it with the 8 string humbucker that has been laying around in my parts box for a while, which has the advantage of fitting perfectly under a JM cover. This would also allow me to use my favorite guitar in the grindcore band I'm probably joining.

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by garyfanclub » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:28 am

A Tele Deluxe sounds pretty good, and I’m always advocating that the Tele Custom (70s config) is the highest evolution of the Telecaster. That in between setting on the Custom is *chef’s kiss*.

Would love to try minihums in a Jag or Jazzmaster one day, I’m sure that’d be bad ass.

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by soggy mittens » Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:57 pm

I've in recent times dreamed of a HSH strat as an alternative to the flat and wide jazzmaster pickups. I sometimes listen to bands that use humbuckers and get jealous of the sound they get from them. They seem to increase the low end in a tighter way and open up the high end in a unique way. I don't know if I'd get away with one and enjoy it but part of me definitely dreams of it. So I understand the fascination and would gladly watch along. I do have a SSS strat and I kinda like it but never really found a way to utilize it in a way that I liked. I really wanted to finish my tele build but I ended up selling it as I was broke at the time and it had too many problems at the time so I couldn't even play it right so that is still yet another guitar I will always dream of having, I always preferred the tele sound over the strat so not sure why or how I ended up finishing the strat first, but eerrr I digress... F.
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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by ctu » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:54 pm

I have installed Alnico V humbuckers (11.6k neck and 13.6k bridge, both with 12 screw pole pieces) along with 500k pots lead circuit in my Squier CV JM, sounds as expected. I will probably install 1M pots in rhythm circuit, just to add some versatility.

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by MattK » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:56 pm

well not *exactly*, but I'm down with the concept
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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by sal paradise » Mon Jun 20, 2022 1:21 am

MatthewK wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:56 pm
well not *exactly*, but I'm down with the concept
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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by JVG » Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:27 am

sal paradise wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:20 am
Mostly DiMarzio super distortions in the bridge,
Agree!!

Super Distortions make any guitar fat.

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by garyfanclub » Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:08 pm

MatthewK wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:56 pm
well not *exactly*, but I'm down with the concept
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Now we’re talking! This is perfect.

How do those pickups sound vs Fender WRHBs?

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by MattK » Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:20 pm

garyfanclub wrote:
Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:08 pm
How do those pickups sound vs Fender WRHBs?
Hard to say - I don't have a guitar with the Fender ones. A lot clearer than the "standard" humbuckers I had in a 1999 Epiphone Sheraton once. Unsurprisingly, pretty similar to the faux-WRHB in the 83 Squier Japan Tele Custom - I think this guitar is about 1975 and I assume the pickups came from the same source. The neck pickup in the Squier isn't a proper WRHB but I would say it's my alltime favourite pickup anyway, very woody and clear, like a giant Strat neck pickup.
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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by gishuk » Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:10 am

I rather like Fenders with humbuckers myself

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by Jonesie » Tue Jun 21, 2022 10:29 am

Just going to jump in here and mention that I think he was talking about strats with a standard humbucker, not a Tele Deluxe / Starcaster with wide ranges...

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Re: Fenders with humbuckers

Post by Dok » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:50 pm

I think Fender-made humbuckers just don't tend to sound very good. I've never liked them (though I haven't spent any time with a Toronado), and even the vintage WRHB in my tele custom doesn't really wow me very much. I have a MIJ Jaguar Special that has PAF-style humbuckers that the previous owner installed, though. Sounds great.
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