72 Thinline Telecaster - Fender MIM v Fender Vintera 'wide-range' pickups

Voxman

Hi guys, had a bit of a yearning for an Ash body 72 Thinline Telecaster with the two 'wide range'* humbuckers (*I know that originals are rare & cost a fortune!).  Sorry if this has come up before but I was just wondering if there's any difference as between a MIM and Vintera version - as far as I'm aware Vintera are also made in Mexico. Is this purely a branding change or is there any difference whatsoever in build and/or components type/quality?  It's just that I've been watching new prices for a while & whilst the specs appear to be the same (albeit more colour options with Vintera) the new Vintera prices seem to be noticeably more expensive than the previous new MIM prices.  The Vintera spiel says "Re-voiced pickups - We recreated the pair of Wide Range humbucking pickups to sound more like the ‘70s originals."  But are these genuinely different to the MIM version?

mike257

I had a '72 Deluxe from the MIM Classic series. The pickups were basically standard humbuckers in a Wide Range casing, but it was an excellent guitar with one of the best necks I've ever played and on a par quality-wise with my USA Standard Tele. Sold it to pay for van repairs and it's still a source of great regret that I parted with it. Very good guitars - can't comment on the Vintera stuff, but the MIM Classic series models I've played have all been great. 

thermionic

Short answer - yes.

Edit - Probably no. I think I got the Vintera confused with the revamped Wide Range humbuckers found in certain USA models. The Vintera are probably like the MIM Classics, i.e. ordinary humbuckers under a larger cover.

chris78

The vintera are a rebrand. The so called wide range humbuckers are normal humbuckers in fender casing made to look like the originals. Makers like the creamery can get these closer to the original.
Fender have rereleased cunife wide range humbuckers in the American vintage 70s telecaster and custom shop models. These are miles closer to the originals

Lebarque

I can't compare, but have played the Vintera wide range buckers. Liked the bridge, but the neck was a bit too dark for me. Maybe true of all WRHs.

longjaw

I have a Thinline II I built myself with 2 GFS widerange humbuckers - probably normal pickups in a bigger casing but they sound great. Reasonably cheap too, even taking Import Tax etc into account.

Voxman

chris78 said:

The vintera are a rebrand. The so called wide range humbuckers are normal humbuckers in fender casing made to look like the originals. Makers like the creamery can get these closer to the original.
Fender have rereleased cunife wide range humbuckers in the American vintage 70s telecaster and custom shop models. These are miles closer to the originals

Thanks,  I appreciate that it's a rebrand. I'm just wondering though if the pickups in the Vintera are genuinely different to and better than those in the MIM version?

chris78

Lebarque said:

I can't compare, but have played the Vintera wide range buckers. Liked the bridge, but the neck was a bit too dark for me. Maybe true of all WRHs.

Quite the reverse. The originals are really bright, like singlecoils, but they were also matched with 1meg pots. I had a 73 deluxe and the bridge was unusable past about 7 on the tone and I like bright pickups

chris78

Voxman said:

chris78 said:

The vintera are a rebrand. The so called wide range humbuckers are normal humbuckers in fender casing made to look like the originals. Makers like the creamery can get these closer to the original.
Fender have rereleased cunife wide range humbuckers in the American vintage 70s telecaster and custom shop models. These are miles closer to the originals

Thanks,  I appreciate that it's a rebrand. I'm just wondering though if the pickups in the Vintera are genuinely different to and better than those in the MIM version?

I’m not sure if they’ve upgraded them, but I have played a vintera when I went on a guitar shopping day in London with a mate. They sound like humbuckers, not like wide range humbuckers. From memory, fender revoiced them in around 2013. The Pre 2013 were seriously muddy, the new ones slightly brighter but still pretty awful, in my view.