Ash at Oil City answers pickup questions:

OilCityPickups

WYNIR0 said:

Any reason why more pickup manufacturers don't make replacements for larger Fender Wide range pickups (other than the obvious smaller market), Second any reason why none of the replacements are affordably priced?

Well firstly Fender themselves make the reissue  for the princely sum of £84 quid each - so I think cheaper than any other maker ... which has the magic Fender stamping on the top ... which of course by law nobody else can add. The Creamery and Mojo pickups in the UK also make them (as do I to special order). As you rightly point out, there is not huge demand, so when you are faced with holding stocks of covers (around £20 each) and baseplates about £12 and specialist threaded magnets that are not used in any other pickups - it becomes uneconomical to make for such a slim margin. Wide Range parts are simply more expensive than other humbuckers parts wise.
 I spent a long time with my Wide Range 'Buccaneers' in my catalogue ... it was four conductor and fully custom to the customer's wishes re output - but I was lucky to sell three or four sets a year. For the same outlay on parts I could make lots of Strat or Tele pickups or even PAF types ... hence it has become a special order item for me.   

Funkfingers

Same-sized replacements for as opposed to historically accurate replicas of, presumably?

jpfamps

OilCityPickups said:

WYNIR0 said:

Any reason why more pickup manufacturers don't make replacements for larger Fender Wide range pickups (other than the obvious smaller market), Second any reason why none of the replacements are affordably priced?

Well firstly Fender themselves make the reissue  for the princely sum of £84 quid each - so I think cheaper than any other maker ... which has the magic Fender stamping on the top ... which of course by law nobody else can add. The Creamery and Mojo pickups in the UK also make them (as do I to special order). As you rightly point out, there is not huge demand, so when you are faced with holding stocks of covers (around £20 each) and baseplates about £12 and specialist threaded magnets that are not used in any other pickups - it becomes uneconomical to make for such a slim margin. Wide Range parts are simply more expensive than other humbuckers parts wise.
 I spent a long time with my Wide Range 'Buccaneers' in my catalogue ... it was four conductor and fully custom to the customer's wishes re output - but I was lucky to sell three or four sets a year. For the same outlay on parts I could make lots of Strat or Tele pickups or even PAF types ... hence it has become a special order item for me.   

Didn't the original wide range humbucker have a type of magnet that is no longer available?

Is this now available?

OilCityPickups

jpfamps said:

OilCityPickups said:

WYNIR0 said:

Any reason why more pickup manufacturers don't make replacements for larger Fender Wide range pickups (other than the obvious smaller market), Second any reason why none of the replacements are affordably priced?

Well firstly Fender themselves make the reissue  for the princely sum of £84 quid each - so I think cheaper than any other maker ... which has the magic Fender stamping on the top ... which of course by law nobody else can add. The Creamery and Mojo pickups in the UK also make them (as do I to special order). As you rightly point out, there is not huge demand, so when you are faced with holding stocks of covers (around £20 each) and baseplates about £12 and specialist threaded magnets that are not used in any other pickups - it becomes uneconomical to make for such a slim margin. Wide Range parts are simply more expensive than other humbuckers parts wise.
 I spent a long time with my Wide Range 'Buccaneers' in my catalogue ... it was four conductor and fully custom to the customer's wishes re output - but I was lucky to sell three or four sets a year. For the same outlay on parts I could make lots of Strat or Tele pickups or even PAF types ... hence it has become a special order item for me.   

Didn't the original wide range humbucker have a type of magnet that is no longer available?

Is this now available?

CuNiFe is being made again ... though there is a much better and more stable alternative FeCrCo that doesn't loose it's magnetic charge as easily fairly widely available. True it isn't CuNiFe but FeCrCo is indistinguishable in a  blindfold test, and is what I use for special order pickups. To be fair I'm really not interested in producing slavish copies old WRs ... none of us small makers can put Fender on the top and that's what folks want, so I'm far more interested in putting other pickup designs in WR shells ... let Fender etc have the 'copy' business :-) 
If you want a modified ''supermassive Firebird' pickup in a WR shell, or split stereo WR, or something exciting ... great. 

WYNIR0

OilCityPickups said:

WYNIR0 said:

Any reason why more pickup manufacturers don't make replacements for larger Fender Wide range pickups (other than the obvious smaller market), Second any reason why none of the replacements are affordably priced?

Well firstly Fender themselves make the reissue  for the princely sum of £84 quid each - so I think cheaper than any other maker ... which has the magic Fender stamping on the top ... which of course by law nobody else can add. The Creamery and Mojo pickups in the UK also make them (as do I to special order). As you rightly point out, there is not huge demand, so when you are faced with holding stocks of covers (around £20 each) and baseplates about £12 and specialist threaded magnets that are not used in any other pickups - it becomes uneconomical to make for such a slim margin. Wide Range parts are simply more expensive than other humbuckers parts wise.
 I spent a long time with my Wide Range 'Buccaneers' in my catalogue ... it was four conductor and fully custom to the customer's wishes re output - but I was lucky to sell three or four sets a year. For the same outlay on parts I could make lots of Strat or Tele pickups or even PAF types ... hence it has become a special order item for me.   

Thank you!, I'd seen the fender version on their own site at £199 a pop.  Really appreciate the insight.

OilCityPickups

WYNIR0 said:

OilCityPickups said:

WYNIR0 said:

Any reason why more pickup manufacturers don't make replacements for larger Fender Wide range pickups (other than the obvious smaller market), Second any reason why none of the replacements are affordably priced?

Well firstly Fender themselves make the reissue  for the princely sum of £84 quid each - so I think cheaper than any other maker ... which has the magic Fender stamping on the top ... which of course by law nobody else can add. The Creamery and Mojo pickups in the UK also make them (as do I to special order). As you rightly point out, there is not huge demand, so when you are faced with holding stocks of covers (around £20 each) and baseplates about £12 and specialist threaded magnets that are not used in any other pickups - it becomes uneconomical to make for such a slim margin. Wide Range parts are simply more expensive than other humbuckers parts wise.
 I spent a long time with my Wide Range 'Buccaneers' in my catalogue ... it was four conductor and fully custom to the customer's wishes re output - but I was lucky to sell three or four sets a year. For the same outlay on parts I could make lots of Strat or Tele pickups or even PAF types ... hence it has become a special order item for me.   

Thank you!, I'd seen the fender version on their own site at £199 a pop.  Really appreciate the insight.

No problem ... no sense in spending more than you have to :-)

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

I'm far more interested in putting other pickup designs in WR shells ... If you want a modified ''supermassive Firebird' pickup in a WR shell, or split stereo WR, or something exciting ... great. 

Firebird guts under a closed WR cover would work wonders on a Vintera '72 Telecaster Custom.

There is another OCP design that would make the same transformation in the bridge position of a Vintera Telecaster Deluxe. (I forget its name. D'oh!)

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

OilCityPickups said:

I'm far more interested in putting other pickup designs in WR shells ... If you want a modified ''supermassive Firebird' pickup in a WR shell, or split stereo WR, or something exciting ... great. 

Firebird guts under a closed WR cover would work wonders on a Vintera '72 Telecaster Custom.

There is another OCP design that would make the same transformation in the bridge position of a Vintera Telecaster Deluxe. (I forget its name. D'oh!)

To be fair there is an almost limitless scope to put custom guts in such a big shell! 

Funkfingers

Enough space for two Firebird pickups?