These new pickups look and sound really interesting! Lee is a wonderful interviewer - he listens, puts his guests at ease, and gives them freedom to express themselves naturally. A lot of TV "celebs" could learn from him! Great playing as always from Pete! 😎
As the owner of a guitar with the reissue Cunife wide ranges, this video discusses exactly all the questions I had about "how and why", both about the old pickups and the new ones. Thanks.
He seems genuinely interested, and asks intelligent questions, the reasons he is so good at interviewing people about their contributions to the gear industry.
Should have asked the real hard hitting questions like who did you vote for and do you donate to charities, if so which ones? You know, the real nitty gritty.
Tim is a genius, every pickup he has designed have been my favorite style of pickups, I love that mid scooped bright fender sound, shawbuckers for humbuckers transfer that perfect fender tone in humbucker, which I actually prefer singlecoils, but really like his humbuckers. I build my own pickups because almost every thing I bought after market was to mid driven, for country twang. I take my inspiration from Tims pickups.
i just got a set of CuNiFe wide-rangers for my masics squire jazzmaster & i am dying to hear how they all sound, all the samples i've heard are incredibly cool
I think I finally found a Strat bridge pickup that I actually like, and not having to make space like fitting a humbucker or Tele bridge pickup is a nice bonus
I am a Les Paul/Telecaster/Jaguar guy, but that Stratocaster at 10:23 is something else. Best Strat tone I've heard in years, yet, sufficiently different for me to like it for what it is.
This is a great interview! It leaves me very impressed with Mr Shaw and so happy that I ordered the Tele set for a guitar I’m building from scratch from some of my ash stash.
My 2019 American Professional Telecaster is the best sounding Telecaster that I've ever played. Thank you so much Mr. Shaw for all your time & patience & effort in all of your work. You have definitely nailed that classic Telecaster sound.
Wow,, thanks Lee and Pete. I knew the fantastic tone range and clarity of the Wide Range pickups already but this is the first time I've heard a preview of the Strat pickups. WOW those are the best Strat pickups to my ears. And OMG the bridge pickup. I've never heard one so good.
@@ThatMattGoodMusic So true. I've gone back and listened a couple times now. In the past the middle pickup is only good in position 2 and 4. Now tho,,, with those pickups it is capable of standing alone and producing a great sound.
Fascinating . . . sort of a Masterclass, really. Hope to get a chance to try these - esp the Jazzmaster combo. Currently circling the American Pro II and the newer Ultra Rosewood board Strats - both nice, the S1(?) switch which gives you the Bridge & Neck together is a really nice touch!
What an amazing pickup journey you two took us on! Love to learn about this, especially straight from a fellow Kalamazooan (yes, I was born in raised there, too). :-)) Makes me proud to be from there, even though I was only in my early teens back when the pickup revolution sprouted its tender roots, and I was only plucking away at my cheapo Harmony Sovereign acoustic back in the day. Fast forward to now, I happen to be getting ready to buy my first Jazzmaster, and am shopping for the right pickups for it. Bingo!
I can see people buying these pickups to retrofit their strats just for aesthetic reasons. That metal surround gives it looks in the style of a 1950's Chrysler. I can see it doing very well if Fender offer it with a variety of 'top' colour options.
"Why don't they ever do anything new?" "Why are they trying something new when old stuff already works?" They're always going to make some people angry, even when they just offer the wrong colors of pickup covers or whatever. It's nuts.
@@sagittated it’s really annoying lol. Probably the best thing about the cheaper ranges of guitars is their willingness to explore new things. I just wish the high end market would follow suit.
@@talltale9760 I also happen to support them trying new things all the time, but regardless of what they do, 30% of the people will scream bloody murder.
@@sagittated Yeah, but by many accounts, Fender's new instruments have piss poor quality control issues. Like inexcusably bad and unacceptable problems.
Pick ups are the bomb! Tim is responsible for the so many improvements in pickup technology. Installing SD Seth Lovers in my next partscaster. Considering TV Jones or Fralins for next build but now interested in these especially strat ones. Good video 😊
I’m curious if the option of an uncovered Strat pickup was explored vs using a thinner metal cover to accommodate the additional winds. Maybe the CuNiFe metal surround cover just has to grow on me?
I’m not a Strat guy, I much prefer a Tele but that blue Strat with those pickups in it looks and sounds beautiful! Unlike most people, I love the Pao Ferro fretboard.
Best part of the video is Pete’s playing. The average person in an audience can’t tell any damn difference in pickups in a guitar. Honestly, I don’t hear any huge difference either. A good eq pedal can make any pickups sound different & better too
The great thing about the Wide Range Humbucker is that unlike the common Gibson humbuckers-which quickly deviated greatly from Seth Lover's original PAF design-they sound just as open and clear as the original PAFs, maybe even a little more so. There's no stuffiness with them. Most of the Gibson-style humbuckers that people think are representative of the Gibson sound are overwound compared to the original PAFs and sound much different to the original PAFs.
I get the impression that these are in the same ballpark as G&L MFD pickups. MFDs have big magnets and less wire CuNiFe have low magnetism and extra wire. The end result could be similar although the MFDs are likely to handle RFI and EMI slightly better due to less aerial wire. A comparison video would be interesting.
I wasn’t looking at the screen the whole time so when Lee drops off talking and the playing started I was asking myself how the hell he learned so many new things so quickly. Then I realized it was Pete again 😂
I can’t wait for a larger sample size of guitarists (other than retailers) to start buying these and trying them so we can get a more clear picture about real world impact. Like will the strats and teles lose their signature tones. I’m super optimistic and would buy some right now just to try but they’re so blasted expensive.
Tim Shaw is LEGENDARY!! From the Gibson Shaw PAFs to Shawbuckers at Fender. I don't think anyone has made as much of an impact on electric guitar pickups for big name companies in the last 50 years as Tim.
For once, FOMO actypaid off for me. Less than 2 months after release, the Strat set are sold out at Fender. Can’t wait to have them installed on my Squier. Most fascinating and beautiful Strat pickups I’ve ever heard/seen.
In the UK we call the same material KuNiFer , a copper nickle iron compound used in everything but very familiar with automotive engineers as the material used to make rust free solid brake lines but has a multitude of uses in the marine industry too. 45% Nickle 2% Iron its use in manufacturing coins of the Realm has impressed us for decades as to their magnetic properties , the magnetic properties in this case , being acquired during use as legal tender . For the past 50 years Ive known it as Kunifer , now I suspect the users of snake oil will mispronounce it Cunifé , ala Francais .
Okay, I think we all understand this is as much marketing as informative. "We made this new thing, please consider buying it." But it's great marketing when you allow the people who build these things to be the rock stars.
Nice ! I really want to a shootout between those and the Rabea Triptych new ones !! and maybe agaist the ultra noisless while we are there ;) Please :)
Excellent interview & demonstration of these pups & with their creator. This should be the standard - great edits for the variety of sounds available and of course the explanations from Mr. Shaw himself is the whipped cream on top! Rock On! 🎸😎🎸
I'd like to hear Lee's and Pete's commentary on these playing these pickups especially the Strat set they are so new there are almost no videos or comments on the humbuckers and this is the first I've seen of the Strat pickups. Lee was focused on the interview and as a player I'd like his take on them.
Great demo and interview. I am in the middle of a Telecaster build and would be very interested in Pete’s view of the Tele set has I have Monty’s DP51’s in my previous build. Thanks
I like his pickups besides the Noiseless ones. There is no twang in the Tele ultra, because the noiseless is basically a vertically stacked humbucker. I do enjoy his APii and Performer pickups however.
When I first started learning guitar, I always thought that the Jazzmasters and Jags were simply the best-looking guitars out there, even when I could recognize the beauty of a LesPaul. Then I listened to them and fell in love with Jazz/Jags, but to this day, I've never got myself to own either. Funny enough, I got myself a couple of LPs, one letting me down but currently LOVING the other one. "That's it. Just an LP and a Superstrat are what I need. I don't need the P90 sounds, nor the complex control of Jazz/Jags, and I can get a good sound for anything with these two" I started thinking. Then the ones in this video came out and now I need another guitar.
Nice interview and exciting to see something new. It'll be nice to see the pickups come standard in their line to try out before possibly buying, hard to hear anything really special in a RUclips video. One thing I'm kind of surprised not talked about is the possibility of needing a different standard installation height if their build and design had to be changed so much.
I must say the Wide range jm set sounds really nice. Nice job on the tele set too. :) I need to try a deluxe tele someday. Johan segeborn just did a comparison between les paul and tele deluxe and it was quite interesting.
I haven't watched the video, but I assume it means Copper- Nickel- and Iron. Which would have to refer to the magnet in it, so it's a new magnetic alloy- I think.
Fender first used CuNiFe magnets in the 1970s. Seth Lover’s original Wide Range HBs had ‘em. The main reason was CuNiFe could be machined to be used as adjustable polepiece magnets.
In my honest opinion, although these pickups sound good, what brands like EMG and Fishman are doing is more impressive and will shape the instrument's future.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
These new pickups look and sound really interesting! Lee is a wonderful interviewer - he listens, puts his guests at ease, and gives them freedom to express themselves naturally. A lot of TV "celebs" could learn from him! Great playing as always from Pete! 😎
Always great to hear someone so passionate talk about the subject which gets their juices flowing.
Lovely conversation - thanks for sharing it team!
Absolutely love the references to Bill Lawrence. He was a fantastic musician, designer and gentleman. Rest in peace.
Dozens of pickup makers now, but few (any?) have the knowledge of Bill Lawrence - one of the unsung pioneers of pickups design.
Met Bill Lawrence when working a NAMM show. I wish I recorded everything he said. He was constantly talking pickups, amps and guitar.
As the owner of a guitar with the reissue Cunife wide ranges, this video discusses exactly all the questions I had about "how and why", both about the old pickups and the new ones. Thanks.
Lee is such a good interviewer.
He seems genuinely interested, and asks intelligent questions, the reasons he is so good at interviewing people about their contributions to the gear industry.
I Agree !! 100 %!! EXCELENTE!!
Couldn’t agree more ! 👌
Should have asked the real hard hitting questions like who did you vote for and do you donate to charities, if so which ones? You know, the real nitty gritty.
This is one of the best ways to showcase pickups I've seen. Super helpful!
Tim is a genius, every pickup he has designed have been my favorite style of pickups, I love that mid scooped bright fender sound, shawbuckers for humbuckers transfer that perfect fender tone in humbucker, which I actually prefer singlecoils, but really like his humbuckers. I build my own pickups because almost every thing I bought after market was to mid driven, for country twang. I take my inspiration from Tims pickups.
i just got a set of CuNiFe wide-rangers for my masics squire jazzmaster & i am dying to hear how they all sound, all the samples i've heard are incredibly cool
@@SimAlex20000 And? How do they sound?
I think I finally found a Strat bridge pickup that I actually like, and not having to make space like fitting a humbucker or Tele bridge pickup is a nice bonus
I thought the Exact same thing about the bridge pickup tone too, 👍🏻
@@jalithic Now if only they sold it individually. I'd totally rock alnico neck and middle and then a CuNiFe bridge
@@MuscleCarLoveryes! I just want the bridge pickup for my Tele!
I am a Les Paul/Telecaster/Jaguar guy, but that Stratocaster at 10:23 is something else.
Best Strat tone I've heard in years, yet, sufficiently different for me to like it for what it is.
Agreed!
This is a great interview! It leaves me very impressed with Mr Shaw and so happy that I ordered the Tele set for a guitar I’m building from scratch from some of my ash stash.
In love with these technical details, pickup design is such a cool balance of science and preference. Cheers to Tim Shaw, what an impact.
Anything that Pete plays will sound good
it really is cheating
My favorite pickups.Thank you Pete for the amazing notes. Especially on the Jazzmasters.
this is a completely fascinating interview, by the way. terrific job, lee.
Recently added one of Mr Shaw's 'Shawbuckers' to my strat in the bridge position and it sounds incredible. The man knows magnets.
Another really good interview. It’s great to hear the insight on the design decisions and the pickups sounds fantastic
Finally some love for cunife. The Wide range pickups in my tele deluxe are awesome.
Added CuniFe wide-range humbuckers to a '72 reissue thinline Tele a couple of years ago. Wasn't disappointed. Costly, but worth it...
This is like hearing secrets from the master alchemist! So many variations in a simple piece of gear!
Genius
👍🇦🇺
Great interview. I've a couple of Gibson's with Tim Shaw PAF's.
My 2019 American Professional Telecaster is the best sounding Telecaster that I've ever played. Thank you so much Mr. Shaw for all your time & patience & effort in all of your work. You have definitely nailed that classic Telecaster sound.
What pickups are you using?
They do sound really good. I’m interested in the Strat pickups, for a Partscaster project I’m going to be working on in the near future.
Most exciting thing to happen classic style pickups in a long time
Wow,, thanks Lee and Pete. I knew the fantastic tone range and clarity of the Wide Range pickups already but this is the first time I've heard a preview of the Strat pickups. WOW those are the best Strat pickups to my ears. And OMG the bridge pickup. I've never heard one so good.
Actually quite amazing - it's the first time I've ever been bowled over by a middle pickup on a Strat! Pete running it with the Dane sounded so good
@@ThatMattGoodMusic So true. I've gone back and listened a couple times now. In the past the middle pickup is only good in position 2 and 4. Now tho,,, with those pickups it is capable of standing alone and producing a great sound.
Fascinating . . . sort of a Masterclass, really. Hope to get a chance to try these - esp the Jazzmaster combo. Currently circling the American Pro II and the newer Ultra Rosewood board Strats - both nice, the S1(?) switch which gives you the Bridge & Neck together is a really nice touch!
What an amazing pickup journey you two took us on! Love to learn about this, especially straight from a fellow Kalamazooan (yes, I was born in raised there, too). :-)) Makes me proud to be from there, even though I was only in my early teens back when the pickup revolution sprouted its tender roots, and I was only plucking away at my cheapo Harmony Sovereign acoustic back in the day. Fast forward to now, I happen to be getting ready to buy my first Jazzmaster, and am shopping for the right pickups for it. Bingo!
I’ve always thought Kalamazoo would be a great name for a band 😂
Yep, sounds like a guitar alright.
Change your hearing aid, bro!
@@bigjimponder9183 🤓🤓🤓
I just go these for my Jazzmaster so this is exactly what I needed. Thanks guys!
I can see people buying these pickups to retrofit their strats just for aesthetic reasons. That metal surround gives it looks in the style of a 1950's Chrysler. I can see it doing very well if Fender offer it with a variety of 'top' colour options.
That’s a good idea! I’d like some black ones :)
Fender CEO: bring out a product that pleases guitarists.
Guitarists: I hate that Fender have tried to please me.
"Why don't they ever do anything new?"
"Why are they trying something new when old stuff already works?"
They're always going to make some people angry, even when they just offer the wrong colors of pickup covers or whatever. It's nuts.
@@sagittated 💯
@@sagittated it’s really annoying lol. Probably the best thing about the cheaper ranges of guitars is their willingness to explore new things. I just wish the high end market would follow suit.
@@talltale9760 I also happen to support them trying new things all the time, but regardless of what they do, 30% of the people will scream bloody murder.
@@sagittated Yeah, but by many accounts, Fender's new instruments have piss poor quality control issues. Like inexcusably bad and unacceptable problems.
Pick ups are the bomb! Tim is responsible for the so many improvements in pickup technology. Installing SD Seth Lovers in my next partscaster. Considering TV Jones or Fralins for next build but now interested in these especially strat ones. Good video 😊
If you don't have TV Jones, get them asap. Just wonderful pickups in every way.
I’m leaning towards them! Thanks 😄
I have a 2019 American Elite Strat Shawbucker HSS and that pickup is wonderful. It just has this fuzzy quality that makes me happy.
I love this new video angle format. Keep it up
Amazing! More videos just like this one please. More pickups/speaker/strings info 🙏
I’m curious if the option of an uncovered Strat pickup was explored vs using a thinner metal cover to accommodate the additional winds. Maybe the CuNiFe metal surround cover just has to grow on me?
I’m not a Strat guy, I much prefer a Tele but that blue Strat with those pickups in it looks and sounds beautiful! Unlike most people, I love the Pao Ferro fretboard.
Best part of the video is Pete’s playing. The average person in an audience can’t tell any damn difference in pickups in a guitar. Honestly, I don’t hear any huge difference either. A good eq pedal can make any pickups sound different & better too
Agreed.
These sound quite crisp and lively...nice pickups
Yes they definitely are a crisp sound 500k Pots too.
The great thing about the Wide Range Humbucker is that unlike the common Gibson humbuckers-which quickly deviated greatly from Seth Lover's original PAF design-they sound just as open and clear as the original PAFs, maybe even a little more so. There's no stuffiness with them. Most of the Gibson-style humbuckers that people think are representative of the Gibson sound are overwound compared to the original PAFs and sound much different to the original PAFs.
I get the impression that these are in the same ballpark as G&L MFD pickups. MFDs have big magnets and less wire CuNiFe have low magnetism and extra wire. The end result could be similar although the MFDs are likely to handle RFI and EMI slightly better due to less aerial wire. A comparison video would be interesting.
They are very different
I wasn’t looking at the screen the whole time so when Lee drops off talking and the playing started I was asking myself how the hell he learned so many new things so quickly. Then I realized it was Pete again 😂
Good stuff. Loved hearing the man himself and of his experiences. Did he also design the Gibson Dirty Finger humbucker?
I can’t wait for a larger sample size of guitarists (other than retailers) to start buying these and trying them so we can get a more clear picture about real world impact. Like will the strats and teles lose their signature tones. I’m super optimistic and would buy some right now just to try but they’re so blasted expensive.
Yep, they are expensive but a pickup just died on my Tele, so it sounds like the perfect excuse to go buy some 😂 I’ll report back :)
Tim Shaw is LEGENDARY!! From the Gibson Shaw PAFs to Shawbuckers at Fender. I don't think anyone has made as much of an impact on electric guitar pickups for big name companies in the last 50 years as Tim.
Jaysus Lee! You even talked over Tim Shaw!!!
That jazzmaster is a beast! Very interesting.
Missed the opportunity to ask for Tim's 'potted history ' :D
I love my Tim Shaw designed Fulltron Pickups in my Gretsch Broadkasters.
Petty sure Tim also designed the pickups in my Fender Pro II Telecaster Deluxe.
For once, FOMO actypaid off for me. Less than 2 months after release, the Strat set are sold out at Fender.
Can’t wait to have them installed on my Squier. Most fascinating and beautiful Strat pickups I’ve ever heard/seen.
LOVE the look of those strat pickups!!!
In the UK we call the same material KuNiFer , a copper nickle iron compound used in everything but very familiar with automotive engineers as the material used to make rust free solid brake lines but has a multitude of uses in the marine industry too. 45% Nickle 2% Iron its use in manufacturing coins of the Realm has impressed us for decades as to their magnetic properties , the magnetic properties in this case , being acquired during use as legal tender .
For the past 50 years Ive known it as Kunifer , now I suspect the users of snake oil will mispronounce it Cunifé , ala Francais .
Oh yes! I’ve been waiting for some reviews outside of the Fender channel.
I'm just going to say it but those humbucker pickups are super reminiscent of a really good PAF!! And boy I'm into it!
Okay, I think we all understand this is as much marketing as informative. "We made this new thing, please consider buying it." But it's great marketing when you allow the people who build these things to be the rock stars.
GR8 interview Lee!
FINALLY SOMEONE POSTED A VIDEO
I love low output pickups
Nice ! I really want to a shootout between those and the Rabea Triptych new ones !! and maybe agaist the ultra noisless while we are there ;)
Please :)
These all look & sound stellar!
To me, vintage style PAFs are the best… Schaller Golden 50s, SD Vintage Blues… even the stock PRS 58/15s sound really good!
I like the strat pups, but the tele ones were abysmal way too thin sounding. Jazzmaster sounded great.
Great interview though.
Lee’s been tossing back a few cold ones 🍻
I am going to get the Telecaster set! Can't wait!
Excellent interview & demonstration of these pups & with their creator. This should be the standard - great edits for the variety of sounds available and of course the explanations from Mr. Shaw himself is the whipped cream on top!
Rock On! 🎸😎🎸
I'd like to hear Lee's and Pete's commentary on these playing these pickups especially the Strat set they are so new there are almost no videos or comments on the humbuckers and this is the first I've seen of the Strat pickups. Lee was focused on the interview and as a player I'd like his take on them.
Great demo and interview. I am in the middle of a Telecaster build and would be very interested in Pete’s view of the Tele set has I have Monty’s DP51’s in my previous build. Thanks
13:54 Pete had to sneak it in😂😂😂
I like his pickups besides the Noiseless ones. There is no twang in the Tele ultra, because the noiseless is basically a vertically stacked humbucker. I do enjoy his APii and Performer pickups however.
I really like the look of that green Jazzmaster with the wide range pickups. Are there going to be any Jaguar pickups?
Thanks for the hard work, Tim.
Tim Shaw - What a legend!
When I first started learning guitar, I always thought that the Jazzmasters and Jags were simply the best-looking guitars out there, even when I could recognize the beauty of a LesPaul. Then I listened to them and fell in love with Jazz/Jags, but to this day, I've never got myself to own either. Funny enough, I got myself a couple of LPs, one letting me down but currently LOVING the other one. "That's it. Just an LP and a Superstrat are what I need. I don't need the P90 sounds, nor the complex control of Jazz/Jags, and I can get a good sound for anything with these two" I started thinking.
Then the ones in this video came out and now I need another guitar.
Great interview, thanks!
To everyone involved, Thank You
Nice interview and exciting to see something new. It'll be nice to see the pickups come standard in their line to try out before possibly buying, hard to hear anything really special in a RUclips video. One thing I'm kind of surprised not talked about is the possibility of needing a different standard installation height if their build and design had to be changed so much.
I must say the Wide range jm set sounds really nice. Nice job on the tele set too. :) I need to try a deluxe tele someday. Johan segeborn just did a comparison between les paul and tele deluxe and it was quite interesting.
so how about an A/B test against the usual alnico and ceramic pickups?
Tim Shaw is doing it again. Nice.
It makes really good brake pipes for cars.
I like that light blue Strat
What model strat is being played here? Is that daphne or sonic blue?
when will these be available for bass. we need a reissue of the 70s telecaster bass
would be good if there would also be some sort of comparison between the normal pickups
These pickups sound awesome.
Good interview. Always wondered why Fender so quickly went from V-Mod 1's to V-Mod 2's in their American Pro line. What was the change in the pickups?
I interviewed Tim Shaw when they first re-issued the wide range humbucker a couple of years ago and did a comparison video. First on the web 👌
Those Wide Range Humbuckers would look right at home in a Starcaster (please Fender?)
Id like a set of pickups that make my LP sound like bagpipes
Wow, just checked the price on these. I know that Au is the periodic shorthand for gold but are we sure there isn't gold in the mix?
Remind me of G&L pickups the way they have a sort of 'hi-fi' quality to them.
I haven't watched the video, but I assume it means Copper- Nickel- and Iron. Which would have to refer to the magnet in it, so it's a new magnetic alloy- I think.
Fender first used CuNiFe magnets in the 1970s. Seth Lover’s original Wide Range HBs had ‘em. The main reason was CuNiFe could be machined to be used as adjustable polepiece magnets.
Is Danish Pete playing don’t take the girl on that Strat? @danish?
What is the Amp ??? For This demo please!!’??
Can someone explain the difference between the two jazzmaster sets?
In my honest opinion, although these pickups sound good, what brands like EMG and Fishman are doing is more impressive and will shape the instrument's future.
There was a Biology Teacher at my school called Mr T Shaw , he was from Ireland his full name was Toby Shaw , It's Just A Joke
CuNiFe was a Pharoah of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. He built the first squashed pyramid before the first step pyramid.
IIRC
/S
😁
17:30 yes
That Tele sounds a lot like the guitarsound of The Kinks 'till the end of the day.
Are they selling guitars or RUclips ad space???