Two notes into it and I knew the Re-issue Wide Range Humbuckers had to go!
My beautiful new Telecaster Thinline® project guitar played terrific but was suffering the Re-issue Wide Range Humbucker blues. I felt dejected.
It didn’t sound at all like the Fender Telecaster Thinline® I had bought in 70’s. That guitar was great until circumstances forced me to sell it in 1979.
All these years later, I built a new Thinline® project to try and re-capture a bit of the old glory. My new Thinline® looked great but those Re-issue Wide Range Humbuckers (WRHB) just weren’t getting the job done.
Having only moderate success with all the pickup tweaking suggestions from people on the internet, I realized I’d either need to buy a set of vintage WRHB’s, or I’d have to make my own.
At this point I enlisted the help of my friend and guitar tech extraordinaire Mike, and asked him what he could do to help. Mike winds a mean set of custom pickups.
One thing led to another and before long we had an army of friends both on-line as well as right here in our own neighborhood all pitching in to help solve some of the challenges that faced us. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Anyone who knows me personally is aware that I never back away from a challenge and that I truly love a good project!
We had custom bobbins machined. We hand ground and slotted alnico 5 magnets to look like screws, and we modified the stock bracket of a Re-issue Wide Range Humbucker so it would all fit together properly with that shiny chrome cover. After eight months of experimenting, the final version was done.
When the first few chords were played, all in attendance sat there in stunned silence. We knew we had captured the sound of the original WRHB pickup.
This could very well have been the end of the story. But since this whole project had played out on a couple of guitar forums, several people became interested in getting this sound for themselves. Having no intention of becoming pickup manufacturers, we agreed to do a limited run of 30 pickup mods for those who had hung in there and supported the project from the very beginning.
During this time, several people mentioned that it’s a shame the magnets couldn’t be threaded like the original vintage pickups which used CuNiFe, a malleable magnet material that could easily be machined or threaded. An exhaustive search proved that CuNiFe simply wasn’t available in suitable shapes or realistic quantities. We have since found a small stash of CuNiFe and now offer a limited run of just 30 pickups using this rare alloy.
Telenator, the sole manufacturer of threaded CuNiFe magnet pickups in the world!
A Word of Thanks
We would like to thank the following people for their efforts and contributions to this project.
The “Telecaster Discussion Page Re-Issue” an on-line guitar forum. I can’t begin to thank all of the people on this guitar forum who helped and contributed to the humble beginnings of this project. Without their dedicated interest and ongoing enthusiasm none of this would exist.
The “Offset Guitars” on-line forum. A great group of people who helped with photos, dimensions, loaning of actual pickups, and a serious outpouring of inspiration and encouragement.
Sam Ash Music New Haven CT – These guys put up with me for a whole year of testing my pickup mods against similar guitars in their inventory.
Guitar Center Orange CT and Guitar Center Manchester CT – Both these stores graciously suffered through my repeated visits and relentless questioning. “How does this one sound? Closer to the original? Can I play that original vintage ’72 again for comparison? Please?”
Joe’s Guitars Wallingford CT – Joe’s insight and experience as a respected guitar player and business man in the region were very helpful in making many of the “behind the scenes” decisions we came across during this whole process. Joe offered a unique business perspective tempered by the wisdom of a long time gigging musician and good friend.
Bill Morton – Bill is not only a great bass player and singer, but a fine machine set-up guy as well. He worked tirelessly cutting our first several hundred magnets to exacting specs and was instrumental in launching this whole project.
Jim Feather – My dad, who took my hand drawn scribbles and transformed them into beautiful technical drawings that our vendors could understand. Also, for the endless use of his shop where much of the proto-typing work was done.
Paul Gabriel – Blues man extraordinaire, Paul indulged me endlessly when I’d stop by his house to hear him play our pickups while they were in development. A true blues master, Paul was able to get the most out of our pickups and offered some helpful insight from the player’s perspective.
Nick Caruso – Nick is one of those great, good natured friends who will jump in and help you out no matter what the task. He produced our first round of sound clips featuring the original Telenator WRHB mod. The rest is history!
Paul Secondino – A few late nights with Paul at the controls, and we were able to get our first website clips up and running. He just plain helped us out! What a guy!
Ken & Sal – Here are two guys that played a major proprietary role in the development of this entire project. Without their efforts and tenacity, there would be no Telenator Musical Electronics!
Vincent Cervoni – Lawyer & Musician. Who better to help with a start-up company catering to the musical instrument industry than a guy who knows the law and understands musicians? Vinny helped us navigate the legal issues concerning the formation of our company and all that fine print stuff that you just have to trust to the experts.
All the people who have inquired and purchased our original WRHB mod. Thank you!
