Fender Custom Shop hand wound Fat 50s Josefina pickups - the video

RandallFlagg

Are the hand wound Fat 50s Strat pickups snake oil marketing bullshit or genuinely a better quality pickup?

I love the way they show them in a late 60s styled custom shop Strat!

Does Josefina, the humble immigrant worker that joined Fender in 1991 have magic fairy dust fingers?

I have had 3 sets of hand wound CS pickups in Strats, wound by Abby Ybarra, Josefina Campos and Team wound and they do sound very good, but I'm not sure I could tell in a blind test who wound them.

RandallFlagg

and just to be very un-PC...she does have very kind and experienced looking hands...

AlexC

Oh my word! Great pick ups without a doubt, but I really had no clue that the person who wound them was named. I am unsure whether this is a terrific piece of employee acknowledgement or just a wonderful bit of marketing hype... This has opened my eyes!

RandallFlagg

 AlexC said:

Oh my word! Great pick ups without a doubt, but I really had no clue that the person who wound them was named. I am unsure whether this is a terrific piece of employee acknowledgement or just a wonderful bit of marketing hype... This has opened my eyes!

The magic ladies sign the underside of the pickups, presumably with love, here are some I owned:

thermionic

I want to try some of Roh’s pickups, she sounds like a good winder.

Funkfingers

RandallFlagg said:

Are the hand wound Fat 50s Strat pickups snake oil marketing bullshit 

To some extent, yes.

It is an attempt to claim some direct heritage link to how the pickups were made back in the day. Josefina learned from Abigail who learned from Leo. (Remember, Leo Fender had no children to inherit either his business or his legacy.)

Seymour Duncan Incorporated does a similar thing with their custom shop pickups. Seymour hand winds limited quantities of special order pickups, ably assisted by his son, Derek, and another long-serving lady of Mexican extraction - Maricela Juarez. 

For the record, MJ (deservedly) received the plaudits a long time before Fender ever mentioned AY. 

thebreeze

I've got a Tele - the neck pickup is signed by Abby and the bridge pickup signed by Josefina which I think is cool.  I love the sounds of both personally.  I think you've just got to come to this with your ear.  Some hate the Abby and Josefina pickups - I love them.