In the world of humbucking pickups, the original Fender humbucker – the so-called “Wide-Range” Humbucking Pickup – is a rather special animal. Although it has not achieved the notoriety and status of the Gibson PAF, it does have its fans and enjoys a really good reputation … good enough that several clones have been made available by various pickup manufacturers. Fender has also included reissued of the pickup on several guitars (made by Fender Mexico and Fender/Squier).

At GITEC, we have recently had the possibility to check out and compare original “wide range” humbuckers (with CuNiFe-Magnets), reissues, and some clones. This turned out to be an interesting experience, especially since we also compared some of the “old competition” (i.e the Gibson humbucker and the Strat pickup).

Our report has the form of three articles. Check  out the first one here!

N.B. In the process, even some theoretical considerations were triggered – these were the basis of the article on the “Q-factor”. All things are connected!