Touted as the next Abigail Ybarra – affectionately referred to as the Queen of Tone for her role in winding Fender’s original 1950’s Stratocaster and Telecaster pickups – Josefina Campos is renowned as the Fender Custom Shop’s Master Pickup Winder, essentially making her the best in the business. The quality of her work can easily be heard in demonstrations of Fender’s new Josefina hand-wound Tomatillo pickups, which are based on the design of previous Custom Shop money makers such as the El Diablo and Fat ’50s pickups.
Simulating an aged Alnico pickup from the ’50s, the Fender Custom Shop Tomatillo pickups are made using Alnico 2 magnets, resulting in a mellowed vintage Strat sound reminiscent of the likes of those favoured by John Frusciante and Mike McCready. The Tomatillo pickups also feature Formvar magnet wire and cloth wire and are Shellac dipped for longevity.
Hear what they sound like below, and suss all the specs here – also, try not to look too shocked at the asking price for these bad boys. We’re confident that they’re totally worth it.
Head to Fender Music Australia for more details.
