A method and system for fabricating a magnetic transducer are described. The magnetic transducer includes a pole and a nonmagnetic intermediate layer adjacent to the pole. The pole has a paddle and a pole tip including a plurality of sidewalls. The pole includes a first magnetic pole layer, at least one antiferromagnetic coupling (AFC) structure on the first magnetic pole layer, and a second magnetic pole layer on the AFC structure(s). At least a portion of the first magnetic pole layer resides on the sidewalls of the pole tip. The paddle has a paddle width in a track width direction. The pole tip has a pole tip width in a track width direction that is less than the paddle width.