Fender WRHB made by G&B Pickup CO.LTD

[Peter Naglitsch]

Just had a set of "Fender Wide Range HBs" in for a rebuild to as close to vintage specs as possible. They didn't sound very inspiring, at least not as they posed to be WRHBs. When I got them they had stickers on the back saying "G&B Pickup co.ltd". When i started to unwrap them they even had a layer of copper tape shielding the coils. So now I'm just curious: as those pickups resembled the low price range pickups one can se from say GFS (similar shielding etc), are those made in Asia? Anyone know of "G&B pickups"?

Edit: Forgot to mention: The vere potted in pure parafine, very brittle and with plenty of excess paraffin. In contrast to the earlier WRHB reissues I have remade before they did not have the this strip of felt surrounding the point to fill out the cover. Instead they had som type of "neoprene-ish" rubber gasket surrounding the coils.

[jack briggs]

Just had a set of "Fender Wide Range HBs" in for a rebuild to as close to vintage specs as possible. They didn't sound very inspiring, at least not as they posed to be WRHBs. When I got them they had stickers on the back saying "G&B Pickup co.ltd". When i started to unwrap them they even had a layer of copper tape shielding the coils. So now I'm just curious: as those pickups resembled the low price range pickups one can se from say GFS (similar shielding etc), are those made in Asia? Anyone know of "G&B pickups"?

Edit: Forgot to mention: The vere potted in pure parafine, very brittle and with plenty of excess paraffin. In contrast to the earlier WRHB reissues I have remade before they did not have the this strip of felt surrounding the point to fill out the cover. Instead they had som type of "neoprene-ish" rubber gasket surrounding the coils.

G&B are most certainly made in Asia - China perhaps. I've encountered them on several Epiphone and PRS SE models made overseas. Generally not worth my time....

cheers,

[Lollar Jason]

g an d b is korean- you can find them at the winter namm

[Peter Naglitsch]

Thanks guys. I double-checked with the customer and these pickups comes from a Squire, not a Fender. So Asian pickups for Asian guitars then... Makes sense

[Leo_Gnardo]

Thanks guys. I double-checked with the customer and these pickups comes from a Squire, not a Fender. So Asian pickups for Asian guitars then... Makes sense

USA Fender WRHB's are no treat either. A customer brought in his Mustang with a pair of them, now sporting 4 terminals for switching choices. In short order 3 out of 4 coils went open-circuit. Fender won't make good on the failures. Needless to say crustomer is PO'd big time.

Admittedly it's a sample size of only two pickups. But a failure rate of two out of two isn't good. Any working ones out there? How you like 'em? I do have a good working one, probably 1970-ish vintage, in one of my test guitars. Never failed, sounds great, has a good deal more zip in the high frequencies than many Gibson style HB's.

[Peter Naglitsch]

USA Fender WRHB's are no treat either. A customer brought in his Mustang with a pair of them, now sporting 4 terminals for switching choices. In short order 3 out of 4 coils went open-circuit. Fender won't make good on the failures. Needless to say crustomer is PO'd big time.

Admittedly it's a sample size of only two pickups. But a failure rate of two out of two isn't good. Any working ones out there? How you like 'em? I do have a good working one, probably 1970-ish vintage, in one of my test guitars. Never failed, sounds great, has a good deal more zip in the high frequencies than many Gibson style HB's.

In terms of WRHBs the reissues, US made or Asian made, is a complete fraud. They are not made like the originals at all. When Seth Lover was hired to make Fender their first HB for guitars he designed it to sound distinctively "Fender-ish". So the construction is distinctively different. The reissues are nothing but transformed Gibson style HBs. Sound nothing like the originals. Some like the reissues (I don't care for neither the US or the Asian made although I haven't been able to compare the US/Asian reissues side by side), but I feel it is extremely unfair to market them as WRHBs. The reissues only have the look in common with the original WRHBs. The original WRHBs however, are among my favourite neck pickups. Bright, clear, cutting through with healthy pinch of HB warmth.

[copperheadroads]

I always thought (what was Seth thinking) designing a humbucker almost the size of an IPHONE when it could of been much smaller.

[Jim Darr]

I always thought (what was Seth thinking) designing a humbucker almost the size of an IPHONE when it could of been much smaller.

I think he knew a slightly wider coil (bobbin), with the cunife magnets installed directly in the coil like the slug magnets in other Fenders, would yield a more "Fenderish" sound when wired as a humbucking. The size difference is really not that noticeable when the pickup is mounted in the guitar, but the sound difference, when compared to a regular HB, is huge.

[Peter Naglitsch]

Using a "non-standard" size might seem like madness today with the huge after market for pickups. However, in 1970-71 when Seth Lover designed the WRHB that market was more or less non-existing and the need to conform to some "standard" wasn't there.

Another cool thing with the WRHBs: The size of the bobbins are more or less exactly the same size as the Tele bridge flatwork. So Lover must have had that I'm kind too.

[Richard]

I always thought (what was Seth thinking) designing a humbucker almost the size of an IPHONE when it could of been much smaller.

iPhones were much bigger then.