Fender (8)

Last updated December , 2023.

(Shown above, this Fender Model FP-12 attachable pickup was produced for their 12-string flat-top round-hole Shenandoah and Wildwood guitars. Note the two edgewise black plastic knobs beyond the pickup’s metal frame. This pickup was designed to clamp onto the circular steel bar which runs within the guitar body, from the guitar’s heel to the end-pin (A0163).

In 1965, the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation introduced a range of hollow-bodied electric guitars and basses. These instruments were fitted with pickups by Rowe Industries. The Coronado I guitar had one pickup, one volume control and one tone control. The Coronado II guitar had two pickups, two volume controls, two tone controls and one three-way switch. The Coronado XII twelve-string guitar had the same electronics as the Coronado II guitar.

Two types of pickup were produced for the guitars – one in an all-chrome finish and another with a ‘Black Tee’ insert in the top of the pickup.

All of the Coronado Basses were fitted with one type of pickup – very similar in appearance to the guitar pickup with a ‘Black Tee’ insert in the top.

Both types of guitar pickup and Bass pickup were produced in two different heights for Bridge and Neck mounting.

The neck version is 3/8″ (9 mm.) in height and the bridge version is 1/2” (13 mm.) for both guitar and bass. Each pickup is seated on a black soft plastic base. This material acts as an efficient transition piece between the flat underside of the pickup and the instrument’s contoured body.

A set of Coronado Guitar pickups with black T-shaped inserts. This pickup’s adjustable poles are individual pin-shaped magnets, each with a bonded threaded sleeve which extends into the guitar’s cavity below. This particular version requires an opening in the guitar’s top to accommodate the coil former and pole-pieces.

A set of all-chrome Coronado Guitar pickups. These pickups’ poles are slotted setscrews. These all-chrome guitar pickups do not require a recess in the instrument.

A set of Black Tee Coronado Bass pickups.

Bridge and neck versions of Fender’s Coronado Bass pickups. Unlike the ‘Black Tee’ Guitar versions, these pickups did not extend into the bodywork as they are a variation on the company’s rubber magnet type bar pickup. The metal enclosure is the same size as for the guitar Black Tee inserts.

DeArmond manufactured some prototype ‘All-chrome’ bass pickups but these were never put into production and are shown in the section.

The underside of the Bass pickup reveals it to be one of the bases for a bar pickup, with the two rivet holes in the centre and the coil’s ‘Ground’ connection on the right. (photos copyright Ric’s Vintage guitars)

Model FP-12 Attachable pickup, with outer V and T controls, was marketed separately by Fender, for their range of flat-top roundhole guitars fitted with a central supporting rod. Note the edgewise Tone and Volume thumb wheels are located outside the pickups’ chrome top.

This Model FP-6 was produced for Fender’s 6-string flat-top roundhole guitars fitted with a central supporting rod. The only difference between the FP-6 and the FP-12 is visual, in that the edgewise tone and volume controllers project through two slots in the FP-6’s chrome top, similar to DeArmond’s RH series pickups.

DeArmond usually sold pickups to musical instrument manufacturers as fully wired complete harnesses as shown here. These all-chrome pickups are, according to the packaging, for the Coronado II, ‘Old Style’. This implies that the Black Tee version as shown in the top two photos above, are the ‘New Style’. The date stamps on individual instruments show there was an overlap period in the supply of both types of pickup.

Fender Instruments shown below:

1967 Fender Coronado I Bass with one pickup,

1967/1968 Fender Coronado Wildwood IV guitar, with two Black Tee pickups,

B0256 Fender-1966 Fender Coronado 1 Guitar in Lake Placid Blue finish with one all-chrome pickup,

1969 Fender Coronado Bass II Antigua finish with two pickups,

B0164 Fender Coronado XII 12-string guitar with two Black Tee pickups.