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A standard Fender® reissue Wide Range Humbucker vs one of my Creamery upgrades to true Wide Range Humbucker specifications

After an email chat about Wide Range Humbuckers I came up with these.

Essentially a single coil but with more presence and fatter tone. Like the standard single coil, each string has its own magnet. The difference with these is that the slug that sits opposite widens the area of string magnetised, creating a beefier tone but unlike the humbucker where the bar magnet lies underneath both the slugs & screws giving an even spread of magnetised string, these new pickups have a pole magnet and a slug. By design the slug is still magnetised but nowhere near as strong as the polepiece. Whereas the humbucker gives the tone of the full length of magnetised string between the slug & screw, these merely give the tone of the point of magnetisation over the pole with a kind of residual tone of the string above the slightly magnetised slug. This in effect is similar to the sound fading from magnet to slug which is somewhat fatter than a single coil but not as beefed up as a humbucker. Essentially a single coil with more presence. They're overwound with thinner wire to a specific number of turns to really break up an amp and I use Alnico 2 magnets to give more warmth. The use of thinner wire helps to keep the high frequencies in a narrower coil.

Pine is such an underrated wood for guitars. Its seen as a poor man's thing; cheap and without prestige. I like it, and although there are a myriad of types, it can be a great tonewood. There, I've said it - and I know there will be guitarists out there whose nostrils flare and eyes bulge at the idea, but I stand by the claim. My one caveat being that it must be bone dry, the kind of mature, dry wood that only time can offer. The pine, in this case Scottish Pine (Redwood) had very little moisture left having dried out for 30yrs. Due to the sheer amount of sap in the wood, its easy to see why it could be unusable as a tonewood but once that sap has gone and the guitar has been strung wired and plugged-in, there's such a snap and bite to it that you can't help thinking, "Why aren't more single coil guitars built this way."

The reason The Accidental Humbucker works well with this wood is down to the low number of winds and offset coils, giving the pickup a spank and clarity that just isn't usually possible with non-custom humbuckers. The 3-way switching and 2 x Volume, 2 x Tone controls give the guitar a versatility of sounds not often available to the Telecaster style guitar.

Handcrafted March 2010.

Pine is such an underrated wood for guitars. Its seen as a poor man's thing; cheap and without prestige. I like it, and although there are a myriad of types, it can be a great tonewood. There, I've said it - and I know there will be guitarists out there whose nostrils flare and eyes bulge at the idea, but I stand by the claim. My one caveat being that it must be bone dry, the kind of mature, dry wood that only time can offer. The pine, in this case Scottish Pine (Redwood) had very little moisture left having dried out for 30yrs. Due to the sheer amount of sap in the wood, its easy to see why it could be unusable as a tonewood but once that sap has gone and the guitar has been strung wired and plugged-in, there's such a snap and bite to it that you can't help thinking, "Why aren't more single coil guitars built this way."

The reason The Accidental Humbucker works well with this wood is down to the low number of winds and offset coils, giving the pickup a spank and clarity that just isn't usually possible with non-custom humbuckers. The 3-way switching and 2 x Volume, 2 x Tone controls give the guitar a versatility of sounds not often available to the Telecaster style guitar.

Handcrafted March 2010.

Pine is such an underrated wood for guitars. Its seen as a poor man's thing; cheap and without prestige. I like it, and although there are a myriad of types, it can be a great tonewood. There, I've said it - and I know there will be guitarists out there whose nostrils flare and eyes bulge at the idea, but I stand by the claim. My one caveat being that it must be bone dry, the kind of mature, dry wood that only time can offer. The pine, in this case Scottish Pine (Redwood) had very little moisture left having dried out for 30yrs. Due to the sheer amount of sap in the wood, its easy to see why it could be unusable as a tonewood but once that sap has gone and the guitar has been strung wired and plugged-in, there's such a snap and bite to it that you can't help thinking, "Why aren't more single coil guitars built this way."

The reason The Accidental Humbucker works well with this wood is down to the low number of winds and offset coils, giving the pickup a spank and clarity that just isn't usually possible with non-custom humbuckers. The 3-way switching and 2 x Volume, 2 x Tone controls give the guitar a versatility of sounds not often available to the Telecaster style guitar.

Handcrafted March 2010.