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Post subject: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 7:33 pm
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I just purchased one of the new FSR '72 Tele Deluxe's in the Tangerine Flake finish and overall I really like it, but had a question with the polepiece heights. I adjusted them to 4/64th on the low and high E as the manual suggested, and then raised the inner poles to 4/64th as well, which also made them curve to the fretboard radius. This is basically how i have set up my humbucker guitars for years now, and these sound quite well set this way also...especially on my '93 Fender Super Amp, and new Super Champ X2, but it seems like a lot of others complain about these pickup's saying that they are muddy sounding and lack dynamics. I'm sure a set of Lollar's would sound better (and for 200 apiece they should) but I think these pickups get way more of a bad rap than they should. A nephew of mine has one of the white FSR models from 4 or 5 years ago, and he gets nothing but compliments on his sound, and his guitar is completely stock and he runs it through an old Dual Showman and Twin Reverb. Maybe these guitars are just made to sound great through brighter Fender and Vox amps, and their many clones. I think most Marshall's are muddy personally, but others can't live without them. As always though: To each their own.


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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 10:13 pm
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I concur. A friend of mine has one and he runs it through a twin and it absolutely sings (to my ears). That Tangerine finish must be tops, any chance of a pic?

Dan

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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 3:35 am
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are you referring to the neck or bridge position ? would obviously make a difference i guess.

i love the WR bucker in my '72 custom, but i do see where people are coming from when they talk about it being muddy and dull - bearing in mind the custom only has 1 WR at the neck. but, thats why i brought it, pretty much based on the sound from that pup. i dont care much for the bridge single coil, to me it sounds very thin and cheap, and is probably the worst sounding pup on any of my 3 fenders (72 custom tele, 62 custom tele, MIM std strat, all stock). but god i love that neck position. i would probably fit a WR bucker at the neck on any guitar i designed from scratch.


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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 10:26 am
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The Tangerine flake is amazing looking, and I think the bridge and neck Wide-Range sound great. I worked in a Fender shop a few years and got to play some of the early to mid-seventies one's, and while they do sound clearer and brighter, like a traditional Tele, those original Seth Lover pickups are also not wax potted, which makes them microphonic, and they bay at the moon with any kind of distortion. I think this is one of the reasons why these guitars were not popular with players in their original run. In my opinion, these updated ones sound like more trebly versions of Gibson PAF's, which is fine with me, because now, when I want a rock sound, I can get it, without having to play a Gibson, as I much prefer the playability and feel of a Fender. If you want the brighter, trebly sound of the older ones, by all means change the pickups and pots, or better yet, just get a vintage Tele with 2 single coils and put noiseless pickups or single slot humbucker's in them to sound more like the original Seth Lover pickups. However, I think when you buy a solid body guitar with 2 humbucker's, a 12" radius fretboard and medium jumbo frets, as well as separate volume and tone controls...you want it to ROCK. And Rock this guitar does...in stock form. I do agree with the other poster, saying that the single coil sounds bad in his Custom. I would change this any day over the stock Wide-Range humbucker. A single coil sized Duncan JB would sound really well there, and have no hum.


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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:07 am
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hrod68 wrote:
I adjusted them to 4/64th on the low and high E as the manual suggested, and then raised the inner poles to 4/64th as well, which also made them curve to the fretboard radius. This is basically how i have set up my humbucker guitars for years now, and these sound quite well set this way also...


I like your concept for setting up the WRHB pickups. Makes a lot of sense to me.

Do you still have them set up this way?

I just picked up a nice, used 2008 '72 Tele Thinline (Natural with BWB pickguard). This morning, I adjusted them as per your guidelines, but I haven't yet had the chance to try it. I'll do THAT this weekend.

Thanks.

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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:45 am
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Great choice on the guitar. Thinline's rule! I still do set my Wide Range pickups this way. What you want to do is set the high and low E pole pieces level with the pickup surface, and then adjust the 4 pole pieces in the center for the curvature of the fretboard, which is much more rounded on your Thinline than the flatter 12" radius of the Deluxe, but will still give the same great results. As always press down at the 21st fret when making your pickup height adjustments. There are older manuals in the download section of this site that show you exactly how to set these pickups up, and whether it is the older pickups with the cunife magnets or the newer alnico ones, really doesn't matter, because setting the pickup this way will bring the part of the Wide Range pickup that doesn't have pole pieces to the same height as the low E and high E that does, and it makes the whole pickup sound much more balanced. Non-conformist Fender model players unite!


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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:08 pm
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hrod68 wrote:
There are older manuals in the download section of this site that show you exactly how to set these pickups up, and whether it is the older pickups with the cunife magnets or the newer alnico ones, really doesn't matter, because setting the pickup this way will bring the part of the Wide Range pickup that doesn't have pole pieces to the same height as the low E and high E that does, and it makes the whole pickup sound much more balanced.


The only reference (albeit an indirect one) that I found in the Support section, for setting up a WRHB pickup, was in the older, original manual for the '72 Tele Thinline. It says: 1) adjust the pickup covers to 4/64" on the treble and bass sides, 2) adjust the pole pieces for strings 1 and 6 so they do not extend above the pickup cover, and 3) adjust the pole piece for string 2 so it is lower than the other pole pieces. Huh? What does that mean? What about strings 3-5?

Furthermore, I have found no specifications on Fender's web-site which demonstrate the proper method for adjusting modern AlNiCo WRHB pickups.

The current Fender setup specs for the Telecaster specify a pickup height of 4/64" for humbuckers. I'm good with that. Regarding the individual pole piece adjustments, I like your method because it makes the most sense to me: Adjust the pole pieces for strings 1 and 6 to be flush with the cover, then adjust each of the remaining pole pieces to be 4/64" from its corresponding string.

Thanks.

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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:16 pm
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I adjust pretty much all my humbucking guitars this way, but some of my guitars with hotter 'buckers, I will sometimes lower them some. But with these pickups being moderate output, the 4/64" setting is just fine.


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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:10 pm
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hrod68 wrote:
I adjust pretty much all my humbucking guitars this way, but some of my guitars with hotter 'buckers, I will sometimes lower them some. But with these pickups being moderate output, the 4/64" setting is just fine.


:D

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Post subject: Re: '72 reissue Deluxe Wide Range humbucker rap
Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:10 pm
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hrod68 wrote:
I still do set my Wide Range pickups this way. What you want to do is set the high and low E pole pieces level with the pickup surface, and then adjust the 4 pole pieces in the center for the curvature of the fretboard.


The Fender owner's manual for the '72 Telecaster Thinline says, "the 1st and 6th string pole piece screws should not extend above the pickup cover."

The heads of the pole piece screws are shaped like a mushroom cap, so which part of the "mushroom" should not extend above the pickup cover, the rounded, top of the mushroom or the flat bottom?

Thanks, guys.

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