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Thread: Fender pickup variants

  1. #1
    Luthier&Pickup maker ret. Soundfarmer Pete's Avatar
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    Default Fender pickup variants

    I`ve just finished a pickup for a Fender FM61SE and was thinking of adding it to my range (customer complained of the usual weak E problems).

    I was wondering if there were any other models of Fender that shared this style of pickup?
    Cheers
    Pete

  2. #2

    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    The pick ups for the FM-988 and FM-984 look the same but I am not shure about the pole distances.Click image for larger version. 

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  3. #3
    Luthier&Pickup maker ret. Soundfarmer Pete's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    Thanks Gunwald - they certainly look the same.
    Cheers
    Pete

  4. #4
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    P bass Pickup got used often, in spite of the irregular end of magnet spacing..

    not off the shelf, S Duncan was the source of a 4 pole stacked humbucker
    that went in my A50 to 4 string EM 150 like conversion ..

    Sits nicely between the long tone-bars that are in those mandolins.

    You getting the covers made for you Pete, or does the customer have to send the original cover in?
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  5. #5
    Luthier&Pickup maker ret. Soundfarmer Pete's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    There`s no cover as such.....I made a silicon rubber mould from the original pickup case. To play safe, I worked to the same spec. as my Mandobird 8 pickups (which are resin potted) then simply cast the pickup into the rubber mould.....resin potting without the cover!
    The end result can leave a little "flash" around the bottom flatwork but this is hidden by the scratchplate.

  6. #6
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    Maybe the FM52E?
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  7. #7

    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    I'm not so sure about the FM52SE because the cover looks wider and thinner though it could be difficult to judge from photos. The first two images are of an FM52SE. The third is of an FM988.
    ]Click image for larger version. 

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    Pete, I find that the weak E problem is slightly more accentuated in the four string FM984 than the eight strin FM988. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Will you have to make a modified version for the FM984? I'm an intending buyer of one of each.

  8. #8
    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    I have a FM52E, it's a guitar pickup, six poles under that cover, with a long ceramic magnet underneath. Even though the E pair sits above the second pole they are still weak--it's something about E string mechanical characteristics. (I pushed up the E pole and strung it with nickel wound.)
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  9. #9
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    E mando E strings are at a handicap of Physics, they are short thin and at high tension.
    in a magnetic pickup, their motion in the magnetic field is harder to detect the field changes
    which the coil of wire around the magnet turns into the signal..
    the high pitch has a small amplitude, wave of vibrating string wont go as far because it's short.

    my favorite E mandos are CGDA, omitting the E problems the simple way..
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  10. #10
    Luthier&Pickup maker ret. Soundfarmer Pete's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    Those pickups certainly look different. The 52 looks like one of those far eastern A style jobs that are available with a gazillion different names on the headstock.
    I`ve never had chance to measure one but I`d guess that they are the same as fitted to the Eastwood / Alden etc. Mandocasters......just a smidge under the size of a Strat pickup.
    If that`s the case, then by my reckoning, the case is 67mm X 16mm with 76mm between screw centres (could anyone confirm please)?
    I don`t think that there should be any major difference between 4 and 8 string versions - whether the strings are single or paired, there`s still the same relative ratio of metal wobbling around (please excuse my techspeak :-)......just done a few sums and although it`s a long time since I left school, I think I`ve got this right - a .014" string has virtually twice as much metal vibrating as a .010".......food for thought!!!

  11. #11
    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    I measure mine at 67mm interior length (I no longer have the case), and 14 across. 16 would fit the cutout nicely, and total cutout length is 70mm. 77mm for screw spacing, (poles at 15mm centers spacing).
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  12. #12
    Registered User Dan Margolis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fender pickup variants

    I've toyed with the idea of replacing the pickup in my vintage Fender...

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