Was Abigail having a bad day?

[LeftyStrat]

Back on February 10th, 2004?

I have a set of Fender Custom Shop 69's that I have spent almost six months "trying" to like. I say that because I was using EMG-SA's for several years prior, and felt like maybe I needed time to adjust.

But these pickups just plain suck. I have heard others rave about them, so either I got a bum set of pickups, or the "others" got a bump set of ears.

They lack any high end sparkle. There is a harshness in the upper mid range that negatively affects the "quack". The low end doesn't get any better, instead of a bell-like or piano-like bass, it sounds "blocky", like there is an emphasis in the upper bass to midrange.

The really strange part, is I took out my volume and tone pots, wired it straight, and then ran it to a box where I could try different value pots for the volume. Turns out a one meg pot makes it sound almost balanced! I would have expected this to be way too bright.

Is it just a bad set, or is this really how a 1969 strat pup is supposed to sound? Or is it all marketing crap?

[Rosewood]

I don't think a 69 strat was ever lacking any high end, are they overwound?

[LeftyStrat]

They are marketed as being to 69 specs. They don't seem to have very high output (well, other than the hum).

I should add, they are right handed pole stagger, and I have them in a lefty, but I can't see how that would affect much other than string balance.

[LeftyStrat]

The Fender specs are:

DC Resistance: 5.8k
Inductance: 2.2 Henries

I measure DC resistance as 5.4k. I don't have an inductance meter.

[Spence]

These pickups were just part of the mass-marketing machinery that is the Fender Custom Shop. Are we really to believe that a little old lady was wheeled out of retirement to do anything other than the signatures on the pickups and the photo opportunities ?
The other thing I've always argued is that no one, not even Fender ever said that she was any good at winding pickups. She's just the last one around who can do it.

[Rosewood]

5.4k with the pot connected sounds about right and that should have good high end to me, I don't know.

[Possum]

huh??????

I heard they were wound to around 6K. Maybe I am not remembering right. they are supposed to be '69 repros. I've only heard one or two Fender custom shop pickups and they sounded dull to me. I have no idea what they are doing there, they use the same wire as the rest of us. at 5.4K they should be pretty darn sparkly. I think that number is wrong for that year though. Supposedly their magnets are dead-on recreations, maybe they are just dead :-)

For comparison here's my version of that year in two flavors:
http://www.sdpickups.com/audio/red%20house%20clean.mp3

This second version is slightly more chimey version:
http://www.sdpickups.com/audio/red%20house%20clean.mp3

If you were expecting really chimey tones you got the wrong year, you have to go to pre-CBS years for that, here's my take on 1959:
http://www.sdpickups.com/audio/59%20clean.mp3

The difference is the magnet wire, pre-CBS is heavy formvar types, CBS is plain enamel and skinnier magnets, very different styles. Not trying to sell pickups here, but this is a good sampling of classic strat formulas.

[madialex]

Sounds to me like they are wired wrong or out of phase somehow. When you said the lows were boxy I think, that sounds out of phase to me.....

[LeftyStrat]

Thanks for the responses. I'm mystified. I even pulled the shielded cable I had running from the volume pot to the jack and measured the capacitance on it. I've tried just about everything. I've played these through Marshalls, Blackface Fenders, as well as my Trainwreck clone, and they actually make these amps sound bad, lifeless, and dull (which is no easy task on the Trainwreck, making it sound dull is like taming a nuclear explosion).

My only reason for purchasing these was to sort of establish a baseline for my ears, I've been using the EMG-SA's for so long.

I'm actually thinking I'd rather break from wanting to sound like an old strat from a particular era (or any of my favorite players), I just wanted to get away from active electronics, I like the interaction with old fuzz faces and passive pickups, and you lose that with the EMG's.

Dave, I've actually been listening to clips on your site. Funny thing is, my favorite recording isn't of a strat pickup, it's the Icehouse Supercaster neck pickup. THAT is how I want my neck pickup to sound.

When I have the cash, I'll probably be contacting you. I'm also looking for something pretty hot in the bridge to push my trainwreck clone over the edge, something P90-ish.

For now I'll still the EMG-SA's back in. At least I won't have to deal with the hum. Of course, that brings up another thing about these pickups. My guitar is shielded with copper tape, and these pickups hum worse than any single coil I've every heard.

[David Schwab]

...but this is a good sampling of classic strat formulas.

Those clips sound great Dave!

Nice work.

I can see why people like old pre-CBS pickups.. the new ones are a tad bit bright, no?

[Spence]

Abigail's long suffering husband Terry Ybarra reckons that she always controlled her scatter pattern by creating a gentle breeze with her bingo wings



She has since had brachioplasty which may explain the poor sound.

[madialex]

Ahhh, I see everyone's been in the happy juice this weekend.... Including me

[David Schwab]

I've always heard that Fender's Custom shop just walks down the hall to the production line and grabs parts.

Except for the finish or inlays or something they aren't all that different from the regular Fenders.

[Rosewood]

Thanks Spence, we were just about to eat, ham, ewwww.

[Possum]

fix 'em

the best solution to fix them is put them on Ebay and then go buy something else. This will fix the problem :-) I bet Abagail just sits around signing pickups that come off the computer winders. I've never really been impressed with Fender pickups in the last , uh, 30 something years. I bought a '57 reissue in the 90s and the pickups were just dead sounding, no life, pedals didn't help them, I read they redesigned them whatever that means and never read any positive reviews of those either. Like I said I don't know what they are doing but it doesn't work. Its actually kind of hard to make a strat coil sound bad but they manage to do it.....

the Supercaster neck pickup is real unique in the way its done there's nothing normal about it, it definitely does a classic strat tone in a tele neck spot.