Fender Wide Range
The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a "single coil guitar company," and to gain a foothold in the humbucker guitar market dominated by Gibson.
| Fender Wide Range Humbucker | |
|---|---|
Fender Wide Range style pickup | |
| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1971–1979 (original) 1983–present (Japan reissue) 1998–present (Mexican reissue) 2020–present (American reissue) |
| Type | Passive humbucker |
| Magnet type | CuNiFe – (original, American RI), ceramic – (Japanese RI), AlNiCo – (Mexican RI, Ranaldo model RI) |
| Output specifications | |
| Voltage (RMS), V | 211.9 mV at 7.135 kHz resonant frequency |
| Impedance, kΩ | 602 kΩ at 7.135 kHz resonant frequency |
| Sonic qualities | |
| Resonant frequency, Hz | 7.135 kHz |
The pickups enjoyed some popularity, though Fender's single-coil pickups retained widespread popularity. Original Wide Range pickups were available from 1971 and subsequently installed in the Deluxe, Custom and Thinline Telecasters as well as the Starcaster, ceasing production successively in 1979 when these models were discontinued. Fender Japan was the first to introduce a reissue in 1983, followed by the Made in Mexico version around 1998. The Wide Range Pickup found on American-made Fender guitars is the Mexican-made model introduced in 1998. All reissues differed from the original Seth Lover design in construction and sound until 2020, when Fender began manufacturing the pickup with the original materials again. The company also produced a variation of the pickup for bass guitar from 1971 to 1979.