Post Type Archives: SWD

The early Fender 1000 (Double neck) and Fender 400 (Single neck) pedal steel guitars used 8 pole pickups similar to Jazzmaster guitar pickups. The early pedal steel pickups used 8 cylindrical rod magnets that were flush with the top of the molded cover and staggered below for the various strings. Each neck used a single…

The period of time that Fender Musical Instruments were manufactured before the purchase and cost cutting efforts by the Columbia Broadcasting System on January 4th, 1965. I noticed many changes to the specifications and details before Leo sold the company for 13 Million. Leo Fender was retained as a consultant and Don Randall was appointed…

There can be several factors that make newer pickups sound different than older ones. One is the how the magnets were cast and the dimensions used for a particular pickup. The quality or even lack of quality added to the total performance of the pickups. The way the coil was wound such as hand winding…

There are many things you need to look for and sometimes even experienced collectors or repairman have a hard time trying to determine the type or age of a pickup. The older Fender pickups usually use a .197″ diameter magnets with much of the pits and roughness still left from the sand casting. The magnets…

Left handed Fender guitars usually had the pole pieces reversed so they could be used in left handed models. While visiting the NAMM show in Nashville, my sales manager Tom Waters and I visited George Gruhn’s Guitar Shop and spotted a beautiful left handed ’57 sunburst Fender Stratocaster. We photographed the guitar with reverse staggered…

The majority of Fender pickups that are dated are the ones made of light and dark gray vulcanized fiber during the mid 60s on. They used a pencil and then an ink stamp. I’ve seen mid 60s black bottom bobbins stamped with yellow ink and mostly on Fender Mustang and Duo sonic pickups. The best…

If you ever look at the early Stratocasters you can see the coils are wound quite full when wound with 42 Formvar. The coils on the pickups are wound by hand as the insulated magnet wire is guided back and forth on the bobbin. Hand winding can make for fatter coils as each turn is…

The bridge pickups on Telecasters and Stratocasters are slanted to expand the range of the pickup. The treble strings will have more bite and the bass strings will have more depth. The bridge pickup usually lacks output and fullness as compared to the neck or middle pickups. Slanting the bridge pickup gave it a little…

I find several things that make the early Fenders different from the CBS pickups made after 1965. The early Fender pickups had much more hand work and unique sounds. The bobbin was mostly black Vulcanized fibre flatwork. The magnets were a larger diameter (.197″) and the CBS pickups used a (.187″) diameter magnet. The magnets…

Many of the pickups designed at Fender were designed by Leo Fender and I’m sure suggestions were issued by players and employees. The same goes for the many models designed at Gibson by Walt Fuller, Guy Hart and especially for Gibson’s most successful pickup, designed by Seth E. Lover, the “Patent Applied For” humbucker. Seth…