New Fender CuNiFe & Cobalt Pickups (Jazzmaster, Tele, Strat)

[whatisdust]

I really wish the Tele pickups were CuNiFe. The Strat pickups are, so why not the Tele too?

[Embenny]

I really wish the Tele pickups were CuNiFe. The Strat pickups are, so why not the Tele too?

CuNiFe is a pretty weak magnet, and Tele neck pickups have tiny little bobbins. My guess is that they couldn't get enough output without using a massive overwind and tiny wire, which would leave it with way more of a midrange focus than most people would want in that position.

FeCrCro can hold a stronger charge, so it can be used in ways more similar to AlNiCo. Strat pickups may not look that much bigger than Tele neck pickups, but when you subtract out the area occupied by the magnets and look at the area available for the coil itself, it's a very large percentage difference.

I'm done with single coils, but I'd still love to try a guitar with these new pickups.

[mcbrandt]

I wish he didn't talk over so much of Lemmo's playing. I also wish he didn't perpetuate myths, like when he was talking about the magnets' properties and said, "you also get a scoop in the upper mids," because that type of thing is 100% under the control of the winder and where they place the resonant peak. Magnets don't contain tones within them, it only seems that way if you swap between them on an identical pickup, because you're not controlling any of the electrical variables. But he is controlling those variables, so the only reason for it to have a midrange scoop is if he deliberately wound it with one.

I'm also surprised at how hot he wound these pickups. The FeCrCro bridge pickup is over 6H. That's nearly 2x a vintage JM pickup, and hotter than a PAF.

You can find videos of just the playing on Fender's pages for the pickups.

Cunife/Cobalt page

[Embenny]

You can find videos of just the playing on Fender's pages for the pickups.

Cunife/Cobalt page

Awesome, thanks for that! It felt like a waste to relegate Lemmo to the background like that. I should have figured that they'd have the full performance somewhere.

It's a great tone, but I'm much more entertained by the playing. Lemmo is one of the few players getting demo work online that I can listen to endlessly without getting bored. He never defaults to the tired pentatonic wankery that plagues 99% of gear demos.

[sugarandopium]

I wish he didn't talk over so much of Lemmo's playing. I also wish he didn't perpetuate myths, like when he was talking about the magnets' properties and said, "you also get a scoop in the upper mids," because that type of thing is 100% under the control of the winder and where they place the resonant peak. Magnets don't contain tones within them, it only seems that way if you swap between them on an identical pickup, because you're not controlling any of the electrical variables. But he is controlling those variables, so the only reason for it to have a midrange scoop is if he deliberately wound it with one.

I'm also surprised at how hot he wound these pickups. The FeCrCro bridge pickup is over 6H. That's nearly 2x a vintage JM pickup, and hotter than a PAF.

You can find videos of just the playing on Fender's pages for the pickups.

Cunife/Cobalt page

Thank you!

[whatisdust]

I really wish the Tele pickups were CuNiFe. The Strat pickups are, so why not the Tele too?

CuNiFe is a pretty weak magnet, and Tele neck pickups have tiny little bobbins. My guess is that they couldn't get enough output without using a massive overwind and tiny wire, which would leave it with way more of a midrange focus than most people would want in that position.

FeCrCro can hold a stronger charge, so it can be used in ways more similar to AlNiCo. Strat pickups may not look that much bigger than Tele neck pickups, but when you subtract out the area occupied by the magnets and look at the area available for the coil itself, it's a very large percentage difference.

I'm done with single coils, but I'd still love to try a guitar with these new pickups.

Thank you for your information! I definitely understand about limitations of CuNiFe due to its weaker charge and the size difference between Tele neck & Strat pickups. I know of at least one winder who is doing a Tele bridge pickup with CuNiFe, which I am really interested in hearing with CuNiFe Humbucker.

[Downsman]

I really wish the Tele pickups were CuNiFe. The Strat pickups are, so why not the Tele too?

CuNiFe is a pretty weak magnet, and Tele neck pickups have tiny little bobbins. My guess is that they couldn't get enough output without using a massive overwind and tiny wire, which would leave it with way more of a midrange focus than most people would want in that position.

FeCrCro can hold a stronger charge, so it can be used in ways more similar to AlNiCo. Strat pickups may not look that much bigger than Tele neck pickups, but when you subtract out the area occupied by the magnets and look at the area available for the coil itself, it's a very large percentage difference.

I'm done with single coils, but I'd still love to try a guitar with these new pickups.

You say you're done with single coils, is that because of the 60 cycle hum? I'm wondering if the metal casing on the new tele pickups really would deal with that as they claim in the ads? I'm thinking it must be a gimmick as otherwise why wouldn't all modern single coils be made that way if it really was such a simple fix?

[Embenny]

You say you're done with single coils, is that because of the 60 cycle hum? I'm wondering if the metal casing on the new tele pickups really would deal with that as they claim in the ads? I'm thinking it must be a gimmick as otherwise why wouldn't all modern single coils be made that way if it really was such a simple fix?

Yes, it's because of the noise. I use Kinmans in my Fenders to cover single coil tones now.

The metal casing is just a shield like any other. It'll reduce high-frequency buzz from external EM noise sources, but won't eliminate 60Hz hum. I have no idea why they'd advertise any of these pickups as noiseless other than the WRHB.

If shielding eliminated single coil hum, then telecaster neck pickups would always have been noiseless. I think shielding is important too - especially in a noisy environment like my house, the difference between a shielded and unshielded guitar is quite dramatic - but that's only one of the two pieces of the puzzle. It doesn't eliminate mains hum, which is low frequency. To shield against low frequency noise, you'd need thick mu metal, which would never work in a guitar. The only definitive solution is a second, reverse-wound coil.

[mcbrandt]

You say you're done with single coils, is that because of the 60 cycle hum? I'm wondering if the metal casing on the new tele pickups really would deal with that as they claim in the ads? I'm thinking it must be a gimmick as otherwise why wouldn't all modern single coils be made that way if it really was such a simple fix?

Yes, it's because of the noise. I use Kinmans in my Fenders to cover single coil tones now.

The metal casing is just a shield like any other. It'll reduce high-frequency buzz from external EM noise sources, but won't eliminate 60Hz hum. I have no idea why they'd advertise any of these pickups as noiseless other than the WRHB.

If shielding eliminated single coil hum, then telecaster neck pickups would always have been noiseless. I think shielding is important too - especially in a noisy environment like my house, the difference between a shielded and unshielded guitar is quite dramatic - but that's only one of the two pieces of the puzzle. It doesn't eliminate mains hum, which is low frequency. To shield against low frequency noise, you'd need thick mu metal, which would never work in a guitar. The only definitive solution is a second, reverse-wound coil.

So the JM cunife/cobalt set aren't noiseless? I haven't read Fender claim it anywhere, I guess.

[Downsman]

JM cunife/cobalt set aren't noiseless? I haven't read Fender claim it anywhere, I guess.

They don't claim the Tele and Strat ones are noiseless, but make a pretty bold claim that many will read as suggesting pretty close to noiseless:

"The distinctive-looking chrome-ringed cover acts as a shield to help eliminate 60-cycle hum, making these pickups a remarkably true and quiet single-coil option."

[Downsman]

You say you're done with single coils, is that because of the 60 cycle hum? I'm wondering if the metal casing on the new tele pickups really would deal with that as they claim in the ads? I'm thinking it must be a gimmick as otherwise why wouldn't all modern single coils be made that way if it really was such a simple fix?

Yes, it's because of the noise. I use Kinmans in my Fenders to cover single coil tones now.

The metal casing is just a shield like any other. It'll reduce high-frequency buzz from external EM noise sources, but won't eliminate 60Hz hum. I have no idea why they'd advertise any of these pickups as noiseless other than the WRHB.

If shielding eliminated single coil hum, then telecaster neck pickups would always have been noiseless. I think shielding is important too - especially in a noisy environment like my house, the difference between a shielded and unshielded guitar is quite dramatic - but that's only one of the two pieces of the puzzle. It doesn't eliminate mains hum, which is low frequency. To shield against low frequency noise, you'd need thick mu metal, which would never work in a guitar. The only definitive solution is a second, reverse-wound coil.

I have very noisy electrics in my house and copper shield every guitar I get. Makes a massive difference. So sounds like what they've done is effectively shield them at source. I don't really use distortion so 60 cycle hum not much of an issue for me anyway, but it bugs me a bit they're claiming those covers will help eliminate it.

[mcbrandt]

I'm only really concerned about the two sets of jazzmaster pickups. The WRHB are obviously humbuckers so no question there, and this article Guitar World calls the cunife/cobalt set 'humbuckers' so I guess that means those are noiseless too, at least in terms of humbuckers not having 60 cycle hum.

[Embenny]

Interesting. I wonder what's going on under those covers. Sidewinder coils? Steel polepieces with bar magnets? Stacked coils around CuNiFe/FeCrCro polepieces?

[rhythmjones]

I keep one of my Teles in C# standard but the stock alnico pickups are a tad muddy. Would the Cobalt set help or hurt this situation you think?

[mynameisjonas]

I'm only really concerned about the two sets of jazzmaster pickups. The WRHB are obviously humbuckers so no question there, and this article Guitar World calls the cunife/cobalt set 'humbuckers' so I guess that means those are noiseless too, at least in terms of humbuckers not having 60 cycle hum.

That must be a mistake or a misunderstanding on Guitarworld's part. The official specs from Fender list the set as "SS" (single/single) under Configuration, and there's no mention of "hum cancelling" or "noiseless" in the description.