FENDER PICKUPS CHRONOLOGY

Fender has made pickups since the 50´s. but did not sell them individually until early 90s. If you are not fuzzy about boutique pickups, Fender's own does the job well


- Pure Vintage series are aiming for period correctness. similar bobbin, wire, magnets etc as the original pickups. Made in Ensenada Mexico

- Custom Shop series are machine wound in USA. Aiming to bring some of the hand-wound CS spec models for world wide retail at lower cost.

- The Standard series are machine wound in Ensenada. A mix of both full price and budget friendly pickups, and comes in various bobbin and wire materials.

- Noiseless: Fender used Lace Sensors back in the day. They eventually developed their own line and introduced the first model for sale in 1998

- Handwound Limited Retail: A small selection of Custom Shop handwound pickups that was released for sale in limited amount.


When looking for pickups, Inductance is equally important as ohm readings on a pickup. Higher inductance means heavier string pull. Also factor in magnets used in pickups. 

When you sum Ohm+Henry+Magnet together they give you a good indication to how vintage or how hot they will be. But not necessarily how they will sound. What type of wire wound has also a small affect for the sound of them. They are either Enamel or Formvar wire or the newer Polysol coated wires.


Magnets: Alnico 2: Second weakest - Alnico 3: weakest - Alnico 4: second strongest - Alnico 5: Strongest

STRATOCASTER:

70th Anniversary 1954

Pure Vintage ’57

Pure Vintage ’59

Pure Vintage ’61

Pure Vintage ’65

Pure Vintage ’73

Pure Vintage ’54 LTD

Pure Vintage ’57/62 RWRP

Pure Vintage ’56


TELECASTER:

Pure Vintage ’51

Pure Vintage ’52

Pure Vintage ’64


BASS:

Pure Vintage ’74 Jazz Bass

Pure Vintage ’62 Jazz Bass

Pure Vintage ’66 Jazz Bass

Pure Vintage ’60 Precision

Pure Vintage ’63 Precision


JAZZMASTER / JAGUAR:

Pure Vintage ’65 JM

Pure Vintage ’65 Jaguar


STRATOCASTER:

Tex- Mex

Original ’57/’62

Deluxe Drive

Eric Johnson Signature

Vintera ‘50s Vintage

Vintera ‘50s Modified

Vintera ‘60s Vintage

Vintera ‘60s Modified

Yosemite

V-Mod

Original ’57/’62 (pre-1998)

Shawbucker 1 HB

Shawbucker 2 HB

Kingfish Signature HB

Coastline ’57


TELECASTER:

Original ’52

Tex-Mex

Vintera ‘50s Vintage

Deluxe Drive

Joe Strummer Signature

Jason Isbel Signature

John Osborne Signature

Shaw Hot ‘50s

Cobalt Chrome Tele

Coastline ’63


BASS:

Cobalt Chrome Precision

Cobalt Chrome P/J

Cobalt Chrome Jazz Bass

Yosemite

Yosemite P/J

Coastline ’62 Jazz Bass

Coastline ’60 Precision


JAZZMASTER:

J.Mascis Signature JM

Coastline ’65 Jazzmaster

Coastline ’65 Jaguar

STRATOCASTER:

Vintage Noiseless (Gen.1)

SCN Noiseless (Gen.2)

N3 Noiseless (Gen 3)

Gen.4 Noiseless

Ultra Vintage

Ultra Hot

Jeff Beck Hot

CuNiFe Single Coils

CuNiFe Widerange HB

Michael Landau Ultra

Super-55

CuNiFe Widerange HB

Landau CuNiFe HB


TELECASTER:

Gen.4 Noiseless

Vintage Noiseless

Noiseless Ultra

Super 55 Telecaster


BASS

Super 55 Jazz Bass

Jazz Bass Vintage

Jazz Bass Ultra

Jazz Bass Gen.4

Ultra VIntage Jazz Bass


JAZZMASTER:

CuNiFe Widerange

The Fender logo & headstock is a trademark of Fender Music Instruments Company

Axefiles.com 2026 All Rights Reserved

The Fender logo & headstock is a trademark of Fender Music Instruments Company

Axefiles.com 2026 All Rights Reserved