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Thread: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

  1. #1

    Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Well, the name of this thread says it all: I heard someone say she already retired, but i don't know when.....and Fender is still putting out these (great) signed and dated '69 custom shop pickups!(?)

    It would be kinda stupid to have abigail Ybarra pickups that are NOT signed and dated by Abigail Ybarra!...right?
    (They would still sound great, i'm sure!)

    Anyone have some info on this?

  2. #2
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Not that I'm the kind of person who would doubt things FMIC does, but....

    Could she have signed a bunch of bobbins prior to retirement? :ahem

    Could they be facsimile signatures?
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    I don't have info for you regarding her retirement, but there is a *lot* of confusion when it comes to her and her involvement with Fender.

    There is a very limited set of pickups floating around in the world called MasterWound, IIRC. These pickups were done by AY with a machine that she guides herself, so the end product potentially can vary in tone like the very first Fender pickups did. They're signed and dated and if you believe the hype, you'd pay a million dollars for these, because they sound amazing. That's rather exggerating, but I've never seen a bad review about these pickups, yet people sell them.

    Anyway, the CS '69 pickups are only penned with AY's initials. All she does is overlook the final product, gives her "ok" and puts her stamp on them (initials and date). These are done by machine and all have the same number of turns, so you'll most likely get the same tone from one set to another.

    Hope that clears it up.

  4. #4

    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Thank you guys!
    Yes, i also saw these limited masterwound pickupsets on eBay a couple of months ago..people where paying rediculous prices!

    Anyway: I have one of the more common '69 customshopsets.
    Absolutely great pickups if i may say so myself....

    The pickupset i have is dated 4-14-4...(one pickup has 4-15-4) and i wondered if it was her who signed them, or someone else!

    It don't really matter actually...Cause you can't see them anymore! :-) Thanks for the replies..!

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    I'd actually like to know if she did... but it would have to have been recently since she wound the pickups for the Custom Shop 1954 Anniversary Strats. I hear that the CS do not assign hand winding to Abby anymore but to other masterbuilders. I got a set of the Abby Limited Edition Masterwounds... I paid like $450 (which even that is a steal). It may sound absurd to some people, but if you've gotta have 'em, you gotta get 'em before she's not around anymore... you'll spend $450 on a lot of other things in your life - a second guitar, a practice amp... I wanted a piece of Fender history and a set of pickups that nail that tone like no other.

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    And,... we're you satisfied? Yes, spending that much on any pickup, IMHO, is way overkill and exaggerated, but in the end, you need to do what's going to make *you* happy. Personally, I'd stay away from that. I sincerely doubt there is a $200 additional difference between those and the CS 69s.

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Same goes for anything you buy if you think of it. Some people think it's ridiculous to spend more than $400 on a strat since they think paying double for an AmSe doesn't add up. If you haven't tried it, it's easy to say this and that about it. I said the same thing at first and kind of bought it out of frustration and spotting a good deal (going through so many different pickups out there) knowing I could sell it in a flash and at least make a fast $100.

    Now for my personal "AND,..." worth every friggin' penny. Tone is very subjective and only as appreciated as ones ears will allow. Let me explain... The CS '54s are great pickups - they've got that classic vintage glassiness, low output mellowness, and sonically very nice. The Fat 50's break up nicely but can lack clarity. A lot better than those muddy Texas Specials but it's got that overwound midrangey vibe to it. However, the Fat 50s are kind of a departure from the great tonal qualities of the '54s. The CS 69's have a good bright spanky and bell like tone to them. They also got some good tight thumping low end - I think people like them because they've got sort of a midrange scoop (which can often makes pickups sound muddy) and yet also isn't too shrill (except for in the bridge). The '69s have sort of that NOS flavor to it that I'm not a big fan of...

    Well take the best of these pickups and throw it into one package and there you have the Abby Masterwounds. Tone perfection, perfect balance - it can really sings, the bell tones beautiful, the glassiness is sweet, the woodiness vintage, the break up is in just the right places, it's mellow, can responds perfectly with the movement and emotions in your playing... it can be subtle and sweet... it can twang and be edgy... it can overdrive smoothly with the just the right amount of bite.

    The reason why you got guys out there like Jason Lollar, Lindy Fralin, JM Rolph, Seymour Duncan, Chris Kinman, and a bunch of other "boutique" winders out there trying nail that holy grail tone that Abby's been doing since 1959 - and let me also say, making a good business out of it too. Many of them along with a lot of great players revere her as a magician when it comes to winding and I definitely hear where they're coming from.

    Someone made a very similar comment in a different forum with respect to the CS'69s and this is what Mike Eldred said in reply.



    "It's a completely different pickup. Different stagger, different wire, different windings.

    We use the same bottom fiber, only because her signature shows up better.

    Those pickups sound amazing. Ask Stew.

    She's been winding pickups since 1956.
    She's probably wound Jimi's, Stevies, Ritchie's, Eric's, and Jeff's to name a few.

    She won't be doing it forever. Then,...how much are they going to be going for?

    When Abby gets in spools of wire, she winds a pickup with them. Spools vary. Sometimes, the spool is abnormally "Hot" . Abby marks the spools, and stores them for "special" pickups, or she will use a certain spool to wind bridge pickups or neck pickups. It is a trip!

    So, you guys be real careful when you come on here and start saying it's "hype" or "go figure".

    The bottom line is.....She knows a heck of alot more about it than me or you."

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Well,... I'm glad you enjoy your pickups, but I wouldn't be so quick as to dismiss the other pickup manufacturers. Guys like Fralin voice their pickups unlike Fender's. Completely different voice. They might have a vintage vibe, but they definitely sound different than Fender's offerings and it's done on purpose. Same as with Kinman, plus their noiseless. Kinman sets out to correct inherent imperfections within the traditional single-coil pickup design (overpowering G string, string balance, string output, etc...).

    Some people like them, some don't. But to say they're aiming for that Abby vibe is a bit untrue. I haven't tried every pickup under the sun, but can definitely tell you they all have very different voices, for the most part. Seymour Duncan's ASP-1 pickups really have a vintage tone to them that, according to what you were saying, would sound very much like the CS '69s. But their Antiquity series sounds very different. Hot and throaty, they sound nothing like a traditional Fender pickup. They have a hint of vintage quack, but that's it.

    Of course, the Abby pickups aren't available on a massive scale, so it's easy for anybody to hype a product that most people will never have the privilege or hearing, much less owning. However, I don't doubt your happy with them and as I said before, that's the whole point of buying gear, isn't it?

    Do you have experience with other pickup manufacturers? From what you posted, you were hinting that you probably tested every Fender pickup available, but didn't test-drive other manufacturers' products.

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    I've had more non-Fender pickups in my strat that Fender pickups and for longer periods of time: Fralin VHs, Fralin Woodstocks, some of the CS pups above and some stock ones, Voodoo, OC Duff, Several Seymour Duncans, Cam Atkinson... that's off the top of my head.

    I've tried more...

    Test drive done! Anything other questions?

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Nope. That pretty much covers it. I guess that means you'll need to bring that Strat to a TFF jam to hear others' opinion of it. :)

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    I've tried a number of the aftermarker pickups as well as the original Fenders, mu vote goes to the JM Rolph '54s and '65s.

  12. #12

    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    ..and we STILL don't know if abigail retired! ;-)

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    Forum Member Tele-Bob's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Aw shucks. She retired? Ya mean we don't get anymore shrill, underwound Strat p'ups that sound like they came out of a Squier Affinity? Aw geez. I'm so disappointed. LOL! Honestly, I have never played one of those supposed AY p'ups that sounded worth a shit. Oh well.
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    Forum Member Marcondo's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??



    There are the ones I had. My dealer is cool and let me try all the Fender pickups as long as I didnt cut the leads. SO when I had my JV Strat I tried the 69's 54's Fat 50's 57/62 and decided the stock Tex mex pickups sounded best in THAT guitar.

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    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Quote Originally Posted by grOOvadelic

    She's been winding pickups since 1956.
    She's probably wound Jimi's, Stevies, Ritchie's, Eric's, and Jeff's to name a few.....When Abby gets in spools of wire, she winds a pickup with them. Spools vary. Sometimes, the spool is abnormally "Hot" . Abby marks the spools, and stores them for "special" pickups, or she will use a certain spool to wind bridge pickups or neck pickups. It is a trip!

    So, you guys be real careful when you come on here and start saying it's "hype" or "go figure".
    Well, it's pretty well established that Abigail wound a lot of pickups for Fender. Something tells me that there were a lot of other folks winding them too, but she's the only production person left from those days, so they need to make the most of it.



    If Abby really was the person winding the majority of Fender's pickups, did Leo really let her sort through spools of wire to wind the best pickups? What did she do with the bad rolls, sell them to Gibson? Do you think Leo let her throw them out? Fender employees under Leo and Forrest White were paid for piecework, not "tonal qualities."



    Did Abby also wind those imfamous CBS Fender pickups made from "odds and ends" surplus spools of wire? How about those crappy microphonic unpotted Telecaster pickups they made for a while? Maybe she wound the POS pickup on my old Bronco, too, as well as those X-1 pickups on The Strat, and the Stratocaster Elite.

    I think I'll spend my mojo money elsewhere.
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    Forum Member Dr Fene's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Quote Originally Posted by Marcondo


    There are the ones I had. My dealer is cool and let me try all the Fender pickups as long as I didnt cut the leads. SO when I had my JV Strat I tried the 69's 54's Fat 50's 57/62 and decided the stock Tex mex pickups sounded best in THAT guitar.
    Take a look at those initials-every one different Where's my pen...

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    Forum Member Constellation80's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    i doubt leo would ever throw anything away especailly wire. The guy was allways extremly frugal. And like everything it's all marketing hype. Thats like saying to pay an extra 200 bucks on a hand cut body. Instead of a CNC machined one. Would the difference be noticeble ? Theres alot of pickup manufatures that hand wire pickups to your specs. probley for alot cheaper too

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    Forum Member Tele-Bob's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr Fene
    Take a look at those initials-every one different Where's my pen...
    The dating is very consistent. The person who signed and dated those p'ups is the same person. The variable being that writing on a raised surface such as a one inch tall p'up backplate, will often produce inconsistencies in ones penmanship.
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Gotta hand it to Fender ; they know how to market their products!

    Next thing you know, they'll state that a limited batch of custom SRV Strats were built with trees that had their roots wrapped around SRV's casket. *sigh*

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Well I pulled apart my new '66 relic today and sure enough it has AY wound pups in it dated 3-21-05 and 3-23-05. So if she retired it was not very long ago.

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Quote Originally Posted by Strat-Mangler
    Anyway, the CS '69 pickups ... are done by machine and all have the same number of turns, so you'll most likely get the same tone from one set to another.
    I don't know how true that is. I have two Custom 69's in my hands right now. The resistance of the first is 5.71K and the second 5.87K. If these were precision wound to the exact same number of turns by a machine, I would think that the pickup's resistance would be a lot closer.

    Furthermore, I don't think they sound exactly alike. (i.e. I prefer the 5.71K.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Strat-Mangler
    Guys like Fralin voice their pickups unlike Fender's. Completely different voice. They might have a vintage vibe, but they definitely sound different than Fender's offerings and it's done on purpose.
    I disagree, I can get a lot of vintage sounds out of my strat with my set up Vintage Hots. IMO, they absolutely nail Gilmour's tone on Floyd's Meddle album, then turn around and do an eye opening Dick Dale tone. I've heard a recording of a guy nail Hendrix's Machine Gun tone with them also. They are great pickups, and the most versatile I've tried.
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Different ears, different opinions.

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Maybe Seymour Duncan should have consulted some of you guys before consulting Abby when putting together his Esquire series. Or maybe Cesar Diaz shouldn't have wasted his time visiting Abby at Fender to tell her that he figured out how Fender was winding their pickups back in the pre-cbs days.

    Maybe Stevie Ray Vaughan shouldn't have asked Diaz to figure out how Hendrix was getting his tone since, apparently, Abby and the gang produced garbage and got lucky once in a while, with those surplus "odd" spools of wire that Leo wouldn't let anyone throw out because he's so frugal. Oh is that how it worked... someone call George Gruhn and the Vintage Guitar Guy cfh@provide.net .

    I also guess Jason Lollar needs to stop basing his tweed or blackface handwound pickups off of what Fender was doing back in the day and also stop producing that bogus book of his that's on virtually every boutique winders shelf. Someone email Dan Erlewine and tell him that Stewmac needs to throw out Lindy's instructional video on how to hand-wind pickups because someone guys from thefenderforum enlightened all of us on how to save money and have great tone. I'll call Dan Torres the next time I get my amp serviced that the guys over at thefenderforum are really on to something...

    Can anyone get a hold of Eric Clapton and John Mayer and tell them their pickups that are personally wound for them are a shrill pieces of garbage. I'll pass the message on to my dealer who'll write the sequel to his article in ToneQuest about how Abby is a fraud and that the guys at thefenderforum wouldn't be caught dead playing anything she winds.

    That comment about CNC machines v. hand carved guitars... wonderful analogy. Gee, if only we could all have such wisdom, Lindy would be in real estate and Eric Johnson would be playing a one of those "gift of guitars" by Esteban.

    Alright who wants to talk tubes? Have fun chatting boys.

    Peace.

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??


  25. #25
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    :zzz
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Wow. What an arrogant post. I guess if you happen to disagree with King grOOvadelic, you don't deserve to live in his narrow-minded world. Sheesh!

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    Forum Member NeoFauve's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    My watch says it's five 'til four, EST. :blbros


    (Holy ironic post of the day!!! )
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??


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    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    That was such a slavishly drooling post that it might have even gotten yanked from The Other Place

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    It would be easier to list the amount of things that would *not* get yanked, Kap'n. :lol

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Quote Originally Posted by NeoFauve
    (Holy ironic post of the day!!! )
    You're killing me.:hee

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Quote Originally Posted by fezz parka
    You're killing me.:hee
    I can't say for sure, but you may not even know the half of it.
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    So... did she, or did she not retire?


    The math-magicians may be can work this one out - how consistent were the diameters of the coil wires? How pure was the copper? I mean, standard deviation and all that. Given the same number of turns, how much variance are we likely to get?
    Blah blah blah.... :zzz

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    Well, like I said in an earlier post (before it got sucked up in the rambling). I have a set of pups with her initials marked march 21 and 23rd of 2005. So I would say she is still at it or very recently retired.

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    Forum Member Plugger's Avatar
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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    I think you'll find the March 2005 pups were wound by a certain Arnie Yatzblatter, a new Fender employee who, as far as anyone can tell, had no prior experience with pup winding per se, but did bring to the job a particularly desirable set of initials. :)

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    Re: Did Abigail Ybarra retire? When??

    I just ordered another Masterbuild Strat from the Custom Shop and according to the MB who makes my guitar she is not retired. I have MB Strat which has handwound Abby's installed, great sounding Strat but I think it's more the some of the parts.

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