The year is 1956. Dwight D. Eisenhower has just authorized the addition of “under God” to the pledge of allegiance, and swears in his second term. Elvis shakes his hips on television for the first time, making white America blush. Browder v. Gayle deems segregated busses illegal, two years after Brown v. Board of Education has desegregated public schools. White folks are fleeing to the suburbs and popping out children behind picket white fences. Nationalism is fierce and rigid and loud. In San Francisco, City Lights Bookstore is publishing Allen Ginsberg’s HOWL, amplifying beatnik and queer voices across the globe. The Cold War is in its early adolescence. And in a sleepy agricultural town in Southern California, a 16-year-old girl who has just lost her father steps through the doors of a guitar factory looking for work to support her family.
You might not know who Abigail Ybarra is, but you have heard her. From the moment that she stepped into the factory as a determined and grief-fueled child, to her retirement in 2013 at the age of 80, Abigail wound pick-ups at Fender, defining the tone and voice that we have come to know and love on Stratocasters and Telecasters. We’ve heard her on Hendrix solos, Clapton riffs, Stevie Ray Vaughn shredding. For the muggles reading this, a pick-up is a device that captures vibrations produced by the guitar, and converts them into an electrical signal that is amplified, often with an amp. It is THE thing that makes electric instruments sound like… well… electric instruments! It is the unsung hero of rock n’ roll guitar, who’s bends and riffs would accompany America through its awkward and tumultuous 20th century.
Abigail was a young woman who prided herself on a job well done. She soon learned that precision involved in winding pick-ups really excited and inspired her. She apprenticed under another Latina woman, Pilar Lopez, who showed her the ins and outs of the job, giving her an empowered foundation in the craft. In an interview with She Shreds, Ybarra said of her work and the legacy of Latina women who were doing most of Fender’s pick-up winding;
“(We tried to do) perfect work. Really serious about what we were doing, taking pride in what we were doing.”
With a strong understanding of winding, provided by her mentor Pilar Lopez, Abigail would soon begin innovating and developing her own voice as a maker. She explored how she could alter the sounds of her pick-ups by playing with the tension of the wound wire, finding a sound that was completely hers.
Passing On The Tradition
Ybarra continued this dedicated work for decades, retiring eventually in 2013. She is still the longest-working employee Fender has ever had. Before leaving, however, Ybarra was committed to passing on her skills, and trained a young woman named Josefina Campos to carry on the now three-generation-long legacy of Latina women responsible for that delicious fender tone that has become industry standard. On training Campos, Ybarra has said to She Shreds that “I taught her, or tried to teach her, to do the job the way I learned to do it (from Pilar)—even the soldering. I like to do that with a good pickup that’s gonna last for years.”
And last for years they do, as will the legacy of the teenaged girl responsible for the tone of rock n’ roll.
Image of Abigail and Josefina:
Sources and continued reading:
- https://www.guitarplayer.com/know-your-gear/1088/all-about-electric-guitar-pickups/16996
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Blog by Georgia English / a Nashville-based musician, writer, illustrator, and educator.