Wide Range Humbucker
The Fralin Wide Range Humbucker is a cleaner and more articulate version of the original, with all the clarity and definition you’ve come to expect with Fralin Pickups. Made with USA-Made parts and wound by hand, this will give you an amazing, sweet era-authentic tone!
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True '70s Wide-Range Tone
Want to learn more about our Wide Range Humbucker? Here's all the information you'll need:
Wide Range Humbucker FEATURES:
Our Wide Range Humbucker is a modern take on the original classic. Originally built and designed by Seth Lover for Fender, this was the answer to Gibson’s darker-sounding humbuckers. Today, Lindy Fralin took his idea a little further, by making this pickup sweet, articulate, and clear and clean. Our Wide Range humbuckers will drop right in to your guitar, as they are the same fit and finish as the factory ones. This pickup will sound reminiscent of our P-92’s – Bold, but clear and articulate.
Features:
- Loud, bright, articulate clean tones and smooth, slightly crunchy distortion tones.
- Same size as the original Wide Range Humbuckers
- Threaded Alnico 5 Pole Pieces and for top-end sparkle
- Traditional humbucker design and looks
- USA-Made Parts, and Wound to spec, one at a time.
Sound
The Fralin Wide Range Humbucker is Clean, articulate, and bright. If you have a darker or dull-sounding guitar, these will breathe new life into it. Lows are big, bouncy and clear like most Fender humbucker designs. The Mids are slightly scooped with an emphasis on the high mids. This pickup is sure to cut through the mix, without sounding brittle, shrill or thin. Playing dirty, this pickup won’t break up as early as traditional humbuckers. It will still sound thick in the low mids and smooth on the top-end. As with all our pickups, we take care to make sure we wind it to your specifications. Want it to sound a little fatter and darker? No problem – we’ll wind it to spec, free of charge.
Tech Specs
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Wide Range Humbucker.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 9K |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 9.7K |
| Neck Polarity: | Reversible With 2-Conductor Lead |
| Bridge Polarity: | Reversible With 2-Conductor Lead |
| Magnet Material: | USA-Made Alnico 5 |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42-Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Bobbin Material: | Nylon |
| Baseplate Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| Cover Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| String Spacing: | 54mm |
| Recommend Pot Value: | 300K | 500K* |
| Recommended Cap Value**: | 0.02mfd |
**We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.
300K pots will give this pickup a slightly darker and warmer tone.
Sizing
Lead Color Codes
See below for our Lead color codes. For help with matching to other manufacturers, check out this resource here.
Gibson Braided Lead:
2-Conductor Lead:
Wide Range Humbucker Questions And Answers:
Notice:
Have a question about our Wide Range Humbucker? Ask it here. Your Question will be publically visible. If you want to ask a Private Question, please contact us through our Contact Us Form.
If you have multiple questions, please call us at (804) 358-2699.
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Hi... maybe a silly question but is there a recommended method or tool for installing threads to mount the humbucker? Not sure if I should try to find a 3-48 sheet metal screw?
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Q Hi... maybe a silly question but is there a recommended method or tool for installing threads to ...... Read moreA
Hey Joseph, a tap and die set would be the correct tool for this job.
Are these threaded magnetic poles like the original Fender pickups, or do these have separate magnets?
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Q Are these threaded magnetic poles like the original Fender pickups, or do these have separate mag...... Read moreA
Hey Jeff, our Wide Range Humbucker features threaded magnetic poles.
What tone cap value would you recommend for these pickups?
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Q What tone cap value would you recommend for these pickups?A
Hey Stephen, we recommend 0.02 for a subtle tonal roll off, or 0.047 for a darker roll-off.
Is the wide range humbucker available in a standard humbucker size? If not, what standard size humbucker would be the most similar? I have a set of your wide ranges in a tele deluxe and love them—I’d love to try them in a few other guitars.
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Q Is the wide range humbucker available in a standard humbucker size? If not, what standard size hu...... Read moreA Hey Nick, you may order a Wide Range Humbucker Set and use the "notes" field on the checkout screen to request a Standard PAF size. We'll make it custom for you!
Is it possible to make a split wiring or parallel wiring with these Wide Range Humbuckers?
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Q Is it possible to make a split wiring or parallel wiring with these Wide Range Humbuckers?A
Hey Victor, yes, you can request either wiring in the "Notes" field on the checkout screen and I'll make it to order. - Tyler
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GET IT PREWIRED
Go the extra mile and combine our Wide Range Humbucker with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
Just what the doctor ordered for my latest build. Perfect fit and awesome range
’73 Tele Custom reborn
Really amazing. Tightened up the sound and makes the neck position more articulate. Was totally what I was looking for. Original pickup got way muddy even with the mildest overdrive. Middle position also a sweeter place to be now too. Great!!!
The low end BOOMS, but remains articulate and balanced. This pickup also responds well to pick attack and volume and tone adjustments. I highly recommend it.
I am impressed by the output of these pickups. Put a big smile on my face
I put the Wide Range Humbuckers in my MIM Fender ’72 Thinline and it was glad I did. The clarity and fullness of the tone was more than expected. Thank you Lindy and company.
I’ve only had these in my Squier Thinline Tele for a week, so I won’t give a full description of their comparative tone, etc. I will say that they have brought the sound and the response of the guitar… its musicality..to a much more satisfying level. Ridiculous, really…the improvement. Thank you very much.
Wonderful tone. It gave superpowers to my Fender Telecaster Deluxe 72 (2012 – MIM). I’m really happy. Thanks a lot!
Just What I Was Looking For!
This is the fourth set of Fralin pickups I’ve owned, and as anticipated – they are fantastic! I had them installed in a semi-hollow Fender ’72 Thinline. Tonally, I feel they land somewhere between a single coil and a humbucker, but differently than P-90s do. The P-90s I owned (also from Fralin) were like a slightly hotter single coil with more output. I feel the Wide Range Humbuckers have some of the clarity of single coils, but also a fuller body of that is associated with humbuckers. Of course I’m using all sorts of subjective jargon right now, so do yourself a favor and take a listen some sound samples! And as always – Lindy and friends make up one of the finest companies to do business with. Their passion for pickups and music in general is apparent any time you work with them. Thanks for another awesome product, Fralin Pickups!
I own a dark sounding alder bodied HS Telecaster that I was trying to brighten up, especially in the neck position. I have a sound in my head for a neck humbucker and no one seems to make it. Every neck humbucker I play sounds very muffled and dark, like it has a sock over the pickup. The neck humbucker sound I have in my head has tight lows and very bright highs, with even or even slightly boosted mids; no “woof” in the low strings with a lot of shimmer on top that gets hairy quickly.
Anyways, I called Fralin’s phone number and got to talk to an actual human being (um, wow!) named Luke who gave great recommendations. After discussion, they custom made me the Wide Range in traditional humbucker housing. I have to admit, I was not crazy about the sound of this pickup at first. It was pretty “woofy” on the low strings and the highs were muted, but it was very clear and articulate. I didn’t dislike the overall tone profile but the woof had to go and I needed more breakup. I really had to play around with the pickup height and pole pieces. The good news is that you can get a lot of very different tones out of this pickup if you tweak it.
I ended up setting the pickup height very low (almost flat with the pickguard) then turning the treble side up about two turns. This cleared up the pickup and eliminated the “woof” but in exchange I lost a lot of power. The gain level between the neck and bridge was too intense. When I flipped to the bridge (a Fralin Blues Special Tele) it was like turning up the gain on my amp 3-4 notches. Maybe some players like this but I was going for more balance. I was pretty frustrated but decided to play with the pole pieces. I raised the pole pieces 2-3 turns on the high E, B, and G, 2 turns on the D, and 1 turn on the A and low E. This gave me some of the power back while keeping the “woof” in check. Overall I’m pretty satisfied now. The balance is pretty good. I still wish the pickup had tighter lows, was a smidge brighter and maybe had just a little more output.
Awesome! These pickups sound amazing. I put them in a Squire Classic Vibe Starcaster. Nice warm tones.