Legendary pickup maker Abigail Ybarra is one of the most iconic individuals to ever be associated with electric guitar pickups, and is widely recognized as something of a “pickup god” for the work she carried out over her 50-plus-year career at Fender.
Indeed, after joining the Fender Custom Shop in 1956, Ybarra began hand-winding and hand-building pickups for the firm two years later.
Soon, her hand-crafted creations were being fashioned into some of Fender’s most popular guitars, and were played by the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan and countless others. It wasn’t long before her pickups became highly sought-after by artists and collectors alike.
So, in other words, she’s a pretty big deal when it comes to the world of guitars and pickups – but Ybarra’s daughter had no idea her mother was such a high-profile name until she got mobbed by fans.
In a new interview with High Voltage Guitars, both Abigail and her daughter Aurora sit down to discuss Ybarra Sr.’s legacy, with Aurora recalling she only realized her mother was such a legend in the game after witnessing the fan hype that surrounded her during a Fender event.
“I never knew that my mother was a legend in the making,” Aurora says. “When I was a young kid, I knew the business. I was familiar with Fender, I was familiar with pickups and what it was that my mother did as a kid, but I did not realize that my mother was a thing until 2006.
“I went to a Fender event with her in Arizona. She had asked me just to help her there at the event,” she continues. “And when we got to work and they allowed the public to come into the exhibit, people were just losing their minds. It kind of scared me, because people were crowding her.
“I remember thinking, ‘Hey, back up, back up. Give her space.’ That's when I realized, ‘Oh, my goodness.’
“And a friend of mine who knows of my mom's reputation – and I didn't even know at the time – he said, ‘Your mom is Abigail Ybarra?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘I thought your mom was just like an employee at Fender.’ I go, ‘She is.’
“He goes, ‘Yeah, but that's like saying my mom's a baker and then finding out that your mom is Betty Crocker!’ I was like… wait a minute, I work with this guy at UPS, which has nothing to do with the business that my mother's in. I just thought that was crazy.”
Abigail Ybarra retired in 2013 after a decorated 50-plus-year career. She came out of retirement earlier this year to help former Fender Master Builder Carloz Lopez create the Castedosa ABI – a guitar named after her – and more recently built the pickups that can be found in John Frusciante’s recently unveiled $20k signature Stratocaster.
