Fender Trapezoid Pickup

[David Matzenik]

I'm not up on Fender guitars, but we don't seem to see Trapezoids on later models. How do they work, and why did Fender stop making them? Do they compare well with other pickups?

[K Maul]

I think they were made as an improvement over the “boxcar” type with a wider magnet on the bass side to enhance low end. It seems they decided to change that configuration to the two pickup Stringmaster idea with a blend control that could vary the amount of bass response.

[Rick Aiello]

How do they work,

The strings run through the coil (which is wound on a bias) ... magnets on either side of the coil ... yoked together by the cover plate and the bottom plate ...

[David Matzenik]

Wow!!! Very interesting. Thanks guys.

[Glenn Wilde]

They sound great too, my favorite Fender pickup

[Paul Brainard]

Very interesting, so the bass side magnet is bigger but the coil winding is the same (of course, although I suppose it could have fanned out wider) but slanted - which foreshadows the slanted placement of bridge pickups later on.

[Marc Muller]

Here's what they sound like. Enters at 2:30. 1950 through 67 Princeton Reverb. Wonderful tone. https://youtu.be/33EREOA7OBY?t=161

[Joe A. Roberts]

A very interesting old forum post authored by Jody Carver that I saved:

"Leo Fender always told me in later years that
his favorite steel was the Custom, and when I asked him why he changed to the Stringmaster he said,,well sir,,it was time for a change dontcha think?.

I agree that the Stringmaster is Great..I have had many over the years and now I have
my original 4 neck Stringmaster which has a sound to die for,,"BUT" the Custom Trap Pickups have a distinctive solid tone all its
own and Noel Boggs himself told me many times
he preferred the Custom Triple over the Stringmaster.

But when someone like Noel who was a Fender endorser as I was, we were asked to play the latest and greatest, however the latest was not the greatest in this case.

If I had a choice of the two I would take the Dual Pro if I were buying either or.
True many players dont like the trap pickups because they are in the way when they need to
block....

Thank you for saying what I have said for years and since I am no longer a Fender rep
I will always be in my heart. You do Fender proud my friend. You probably know that the Custom and Dual Pro was what put Fender on the map.People would see Noels Custom triple on TV when he was playing with the Cooley band and it was referred to as the "diamond guitar" meaning for the two diamond plates on the front of the Custom. That Custom is what made Leo Fender and Fender what it is today.

I love both the Custom and Stringmaster but I do agree with Chris one more time.
On a 1 to 10 the Stringmaster is a 10 on a 1 to 10 the Custom is a 10 & 3/4...so you see I love them both,but the Custom has a special place for me and has the edge in my opinion as well as the man who designed them both."

edit: I found the thread, it's worth reading:
https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/004850.html

[David Matzenik]

Thanks for all that info, Joe!

[Tim Whitlock]

Having owned both Custom and Stringmaster T8s, I found the biggest difference was that the pickups and controls on the Custom got in the way of my right hand while playing. The Stringmaster solved this problem by moving the controls behind the bridge and the pickups are completely underneath the strings, making it much more playable. Both guitars sound fantastic, but the Custom was also not as stable on its three wobbly legs. I have to think all of these things were taken under consideration when Fender designed the Stringmaster. I eventually let the Custom go, which I now regret.