Pickups for hendrix tone

Get a set of Custom shop 69 strat pickups

 

Which Hendrix era? Are You Experienced has a different sound than Band Of Gypsies, but in general any vintage wind pickups will get you there- 57/62s are a personal favorite, but the choices are endless and ultimately not that important. A germanium Fuzz Face into an early Marshall style amp played on the neck pickup is a much larger component to his live sound.

 

The pickups on the Cp60s Strats always sound pretty vintage to me and right for that era.

 

Basically you want 60s spec. The 69CS set, or any alnico V with 5.5-6 kohm. 250kohm pots .033 tone cap. Hendrix's Strat would have had a 3-way switch but I'd do a 5-way.

 

Believe it a three way with the center pickup on a separate volume control?

 

When you get the guitar ready, tune to Eb, plug in to a tube amp, and drive it like you want it to melt. Your neighbors will love you.

 

I keep my pickups lowered, like LOW; that helps, IMO ...............

 

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Get vintage style pickups, generally lower 5-6kohms.

Here are keys to focus on next:

-Reverse angled bridge pickup slot, it changes the tone
-Low mounted pickups, nearly flush with the pickguard
-Tip the pickups a little higher on the bass side for a little more bass. Alternate some if you do 2/4 Quack.
-Move that volume knob back to the first tone pot hole so you can pick like he did from saddle to neck, watch this video a few times. That's where a variety of tones live. Ever heard about how a Tele is so versatile? That's because a Tele can be played from saddles to neck without bumping into anything. Hendrix used a Tele recording and a Strat performing.



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the fender custom shop twisted tele pup gives me jimi in my thinline

 

Got my 57/62 loaded pickguard from Stratosphere a month ago for $180.

 

Wrong pickups.
You need WIMPY sounding late 60s-70s pickups .
A set of 69s will do the trick.

Of course you will also need 010-038 strings (ABSOLUTELY essential for his tone it's impossible to get his wound string tone with any other set) a fuzz face and a Marshall Plexi 100 with a matching cabinet with Rollas.

 

A few things make what seems really simple at first end up being harder in practice.

One thing is he had a lotta Strats!
Both old and new Strats, not all with the same pickups.
Many think the '69 set is good for Hendrix tones but IMO a bridge pickup under 6k is going to sound shrill to a player who doesn't have several Plexi 100 stacks plugged in.

The angle does help in terms of the shrill tone you'd get from a 5.8k bridge pickup, but you need that Hendrix guard unless you're a lefty playing a righty Strat upside down.

Another thing many of us miss when trying to get Hendrix tone is the use a a germanuim Fuzz Face for clean sounds.
Fuzz is for dirt but the ge FF delivers a particular clean Strat tone with less bass and glassy shimmer that you will never ever get with any Strat pickups into a clean amp.

Then there are other studio clean tones he got with a Strat into a Fender Twin Reverb, but no FF.
Even his Marshalls were far from one amp sound, because every year of his career that Marshall produced a 100w Plexi, Marshall changed the circuit in major ways, so the '66, '67, '68 and '69 100w Marshalls were all different sounding amps.
As well as the speakers in those cabs that also changed during those years, making cabs with different sounds.

As far as the Plexi tone goes, those amps and speakers had less treble so sounded less shrill and more fat with a Strat.
You can buy hemp cone speakers to try to get less treble but it's not a Plexi sound.
You can buy Plexi tone MIAB pedals but they don't make that sound either.

Or looking at it another way, if you play Hendrix signature riffs into any clean amp you will get a Hendrix sound.

Getting one or another of his GEAR sounds right though may be harder, and not come with your first purchase.

If you want only one Strat and one amp to get ALL his sounds, I'd say start with a very weak neck pickup and a much hotter bridge pickup. That's not what he used but he used more than one guitar and amp for different sounds.
A germanium FF would go along way and may be more important than an expensive set of pickups.

You might be fine with less expensive plastic bobbin Strat pickups for now, like a Tex Mex for the bridge and a standard Strat for the neck. Then figure out how you amp and preferred sounds work out with the rest of you gear, the songs you want to nail, and the FF you end up buying.

Many many many buyers spend big money on Strat pickups that add no better tone to the signal chain.
And the amp you choose is of course a big factor.

 

3 way with no tone on the bridge is what I always thought

 

Any decent set of vintage wind pickups should work just fine, but it's not about the pickups. It's the cranked Marshall stack in combination with a vintage output strat pickup, and a few choice pedals, that will get you in the range.

 

Cant go wrong with Fat 50's, especially the neck. I can get Hendrix tones all day with a Fat 50's neck pup, an Axis Fuzz, and a semi dirty plexi like base tone.