PSA: Fender WRHBs with CuNiFe are back

[ThatGuyOverThere]

Hasn’t been much talk of this around here... would have thought there’d be a fair bit of enthusiasm on this, though maybe the whole WRHB thing has blown over.

Anyways, seems they’ll soon be individually available as neck and bridge pickups, if Andertons is any indication.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/fend ... range-neck

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/fend ... nge-bridge

[secretroutines]

I literally came here to post about getting a Tele Deluxe yesterday and to ask recommendations on WRHB replacements. Thanks for this!

[Embenny]

That's pretty cool that they're already available as replacement parts. Not as cool that they cost that much.

I used to think I'd like WRHBs but they really aren't for me. The firebird pickup ended up being what I always wanted a WRHB to be for me, and they fit into guitars way more easily, too.

[s_mcsleazy]

i thought it was gonna be cool but £200 per pickup...... NOPE

[andy_tchp]

maybe the whole WRHB thing has blown over.

I doubt it. Still one of the most over-hyped pieces of gear in the guitar landscape, for something that sounds 'ok' to 'pretty good'.

Great to see Fender rewriting history, too These 'much desired' items with 'beloved' tone weren't discontinued due to their incredible popularity...

[Maggieo]

maybe the whole WRHB thing has blown over.

I doubt it. Still one of the most over-hyped pieces of gear in the guitar landscape, for something that sounds 'ok' to 'pretty good'.

Great to see Fender rewriting history, too These 'much desired' items with 'beloved' tone weren't discontinued due to their incredible popularity...

I had a '77 thinline with them, and they sounded like ass through my Deluxe Reverb. But that was back in the 80s, when those Fenders were just "cheap old guitars."

[countertext]

I don’t know, man, I heard a lot of Tele Customs back in the ‘90s, and they can sound pretty amazing. The best sound was a friend of mine who played through a MusicMan 1x12 combo cranked up. Those mocha Customs were all over Atlanta back then.

But I wouldn’t pay that much for them.

[Ceylon]

It's a neat option for anyone who'd otherwise pay about the same for a pickup from a boutique winder. Now you can get the real-ish deal and it even says Fender on the cover.

Nonetheless I foresee a bunch of threads in which they will compare unfavourably to the originals for whatever reason.

EDIT: I should add that I still think it's really cool Fender is deciding to go through the effort of getting their WRHB's right after all this time. I figured CuNiFe was pretty much unobtanium seeing as no one but Telenator apparently used it after these pickups were discontinued in the first place, so it's got to be a pretty big operation still. I guess they must really think there's a market for it, after having been content with putting out regular humbuckers in WRHB-covers for so many years.

[ThatGuyOverThere]

i thought it was gonna be cool but £200 per pickup...... NOPE

CuNiFe surcharge maybe? It's crazy I can go to Creamery and buy a pair for the same price as one Fender pickup.

[timtam]

Alnico or FeCrCo pole pieces in the boutique WRHB 'clones' cost a few bucks. We'll probably never know how much it's costing Fender to resurrect a CuNiFe source when other efforts had dried up (Telenator), but a 'substantial' amount is likely. Whether people will want to pay the new price ? ... time will tell. Of course one could buy an original WRHB on ebay/reverb instead, but that would cost more.

[BoringPostcards]

The price isn't so bad, considering the rarity of actual CuNiFe sources, and the fact that boutique makers charge close to the same amount for lookalikes with incorrect magnets.
I imagine this won't be a permanent offering.

[algeriet]

I tried one of the AO70's Teles with this one in the neck straight into a Deluxe Reverb '64 reissue on clean with no breakup whatsoever for a few minutes and it sounded pretty nice actually. I'm just wondering how close the boutique ones are when they aren't actually using CuNiFe.
Also that price is deadly. 398 £ for a pair when Andertons ask 1650 £ for the AO70's Telecaster Custom:

https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender-amer ... age-blonde

Granted, you only get the neck pickup on that one, but nonetheless a steep price for two pickups.

[CaptainCrunch]

Novak was doing a switcheroo conversion of the incorrect Fender RI‘s, I never saw much on how those were received.

[Kent]

Novak was doing a switcheroo conversion of the incorrect Fender RI‘s, I never saw much on how those were received.

I have those in my Lee Renaldo JM. They sound great. Alas, I've not been about to have it in the same room as a guitar with original WRHBs.

[CaptainCrunch]

I have a Tele with one I’ve considered sending him, so it’s at least good to hear you like yours. Not that the RI sounds terrible, but what is all this extra spare time good for if not overthinking things that are already fine?