HENDRIX SOUND-What pickups?

[teleboli]

Looking to nail that Jimi clean and distorted sound. You know the one I mean. Research so far points toward CS 69's . What do you use? What do ya know? Thanks everyone

[Mark Moore]

Tonerider Classic Blues will do it, also I have a set of custom Curtis Novaks that are dead on.

[teleboli]

Looking to nail that Jimi clean and distorted sound. You know the one I mean. Research so far points toward CS 69's . What do you use? What do ya know? Thanks everyone

[woodman]

i don't think pickups alone will get you there ... Jimi used stock Fenders, for whatever that's worth.

[voodoochile]

I don't think Jimi's pickups were as important as the effects he used at the time and the amps. I have a Fender Hwy 1 Strat with Lace Sensors that i put in and it sounds great when i play Hendrix tunes through my Blues Deville. I use a Vox Wah, Bad Monkey, DGTM (Greg Koch's Diabolical Gristle Tone Manipulator), and a Blues Driver. The DGTM is really cool through just about any tube amp!

[chromaken]

I second the ToneRider Classics. they are great paired with the correct amp. I use Custom Shop 69's. They are comparable.

[charlie chitlin]

I've seen several pics of Jimi with his pickups way down level with the pickguard.
I think was part of his beautiful clean tone.
This also allows you to crank your amp a little higher and get it overdriving at lower volume.

[Chris Clemens]

Yes, I think Charlie Chitlin is wright. Pick-ups way down to the pickguard...

Nice to know (that's what came up to me when I read it) is that Mr. Hendrix used 6L6 powerd amps (Fender ;-) for a lot of his studio recordings instead of what he did on stage with 'm Marshalls. And isn't that What Stevie did to? Cranking the Fender's and sweat dealing with the Marshalls?

[Papa Joe]

Dunno how true this but I remember reading [somewhere] that he turned the middle pup uoside down and end to end....PJ....

[teleboli]

I'm going strat into one of the new Princeton RR's. So that would constitute a clean Fender 6V6 amp. I'm pretty sure the Princeton is without checking. Hard to get closer than that. So it's Toneriders you say. You guys are great. I can't decide if tdpri is more fun or more invaluable.Cheers. Thanks

[ahoar12]

I think part of it is that when he flipped the guitar over it reversed the stagger of the pickups. Wouldn't this mean mean a louder A string and a softer B string? Makes sense to me but....I don't know..

[Axis29]

I like the Tex-Mex's in my new Roadworn with a little Germanium fuzz into my Deluxe Reverb! Get's a lot of Jimi tone!

Now, if I could just learn to play more like him....

[Derek Kiernan]

Jimi did use stock Fenders. It's the capacitance of his coiled cables that gave him a lower resonance and less highs, acting as a midrange boost.

"High-capacitance cables shift the resonance towards the lower frequencies which dramatically alters tone. For example, Jimi Hendrix used a coiled cord with 3,000 picofarads (.003 microfarads), shifting the resonance below 2,000 Hertz on his Strats. This was the secret of Jimi's tone. Shifting the resonance frequency at 2,000 Hertz has a similar effect to a midrange boost. However, when he recorded and needed a typical Strat sound for some tracks, Jimi switched to a short, low-capacitance cable."
- From Bill Lawrence's literature regarding his low capacitance cable


The good news for everyone is you can simply use a capacitor of similar value with your tone pot and get the same effect with the pot turned down all the way. Be sure to factor in your cable's capacitance if you want to get close. More useful than the stock cap!

[teleboli]

Axis29. I just spent some time doing wind cries mary on my road worn tele in the middle pos. and it does get pretty close with the tex mex's in it. I would assume that would translate well to my strat. You might have something . Thanks

[JonyB]

Any Stock Fender Stratocaster bought off the rack at Manny's Music store in NY,NY before September,1970 ! ! Fellas..use your head...the pickups in thoses Strats had staggered magnets ...Jimi turned a "right handed" guitar upside down...to balance the output he adjusted the pickups the opposite of what a right handed guitarist would.

[ahoar12]

Originally Posted by ahoar12

I think part of it is that when he flipped the guitar over it reversed the stagger of the pickups. Wouldn't this mean mean a louder A string and a softer B string? Makes sense to me but....I don't know..

Originally Posted by JonyB

Any Stock Fender Stratocaster bought off the rack at Manny's Music store in NY,NY before September,1970 ! ! Fellas..use your head...the pickups in thoses Strats had staggered magnets ...Jimi turned a "right handed" guitar upside down...to balance the output he adjusted the pickups the opposite of what a right handed guitarist would.

I think this is what I was trying to say, makes sense right?

[casterway]

Seems to me you're never going to get it until you
1) reverse the bridge pickup stagger

2) reverse the headstock, giving more tension to the bass strings and less to the treble strings.





Fender produced these a few years back.

[Stan Martin]

low output/stock pickups, no overwound beasts.
also part of the magic was light strings (9's) and loud amps.
turn your amp up and your guitar volume down and work accordingly.

[TG]

Get yourself a left-handed strat and string it up right-handed. Any regular output strat pups set fairly low will do (I really don't think the pickups had a lot to do with it....he sounded much the same with a Flying V).
Run it thru a Univibe and a FuzzFace into a 50w Marshall. Loud.
Play with your thumb over on the bass strings a lot.

[winny pooh]

I played a dead mint 68' strat a while back. The most interesting thing was that the pickups had very little mids. They had pretty pronounced highs (sharp and twinkly) and fat bass, the D & G strings even sounded softer in volume than the others.

Marshalls have much more midrange also because of the resistor values in the preamp. My limited knowledge: You could get a bit closer by getting a mod on your princeton that changes the value of the mid resistor, as most blackface style fenders have the mids going to ground (cancelled out). There are some mid boost kits floating around on the net though I cant advise from experience with them.

[mrmorrison]

Originally Posted by casterway

Seems to me you're never going to get it until you
1) reverse the bridge pickup stagger

2) reverse the headstock, giving more tension to the bass strings and less to the treble strings.





Fender produced these a few years back.

I had one until it was stolen. Now I'm working to try and build it. The price has skyrocketed on eBay for them and all I can do is build one from scratch. I miss my Hendrix so much!

[microphonic squeal]

OK, it has already been mentioned that Hendrix turned stock right handed strats over and restrung for lefty. That puts wound vs unwound strings over the opposite poles than normal, plus the reverse stagger of the bridge pickup, and that makes a discernable difference.

Hendrix used F150's. The relatively light wound strings in comparison to the unwound strings is a key part of the sound.
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