Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

[75lespaul]

Got a 76 Washburn strat body with a 91 Fender Stratocaster neck and stock Fender tremelo bridge, pots etc... with an EMG tortoise shell pickguard and active pickups. This guitar smokes but because of the hot pickups it just doesn't give off that strat vibe as far as the sound. sounds more like a metal guitar.

I was thinking of getting a Grimlin custom harness with the Lindy Fralin Woodstock pickups. Any thoughts? The Fralins are designed with the Hendrix sound in mind. Although it's painfully obvious, I never thought about how the pickups in his guitar are "backwards" because he strung it up lefty, therefore helping to get his sound. I'm not trying to copy Hendrix' sound but I like the idea of starting with a tone like his and seeing what my hands can do with it. :smoker: :cool3: :saeek: :wall: :fest7: :stooges: :feedback: :scared: :smokin: :jester: :beerchug: :beerchug:

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

If you want to go with the custom harness, someone put out one that replicated
David Gilmore's set up. That would be cool. Otherwise, go with the Antiquity II's. They're supposed to be patterned after the Hendrix thing. Ask Lew about it. He uses them I think.

Jeff

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

I'd go with regular Fralin Vintage Hots or Antiquity Surfers for the Hendrix tone. And I'd go with my "Modern Strat Wiring kit" which includes 3: CTS pots: master volume, master tone and Fralin Blender Pot to mix the bridge and neck pickups. I'd connect the tone cap after the volume control to help retain highs when the volume control is turned down.
I'd use a Sprague .02 tone cap running from the middle terminal of the volume control to the middle terminal of the tone control...like 50's Les Paul. If that's to bright and bubbley (excellant for Hendrix tones) than solder the tone cap to the #1 (input) terminal of the volume control instead...but try both methods and see what you prefer.

The Duncan Antiquity Surfers and Fralin Vintage Hots get STELLAR alnico 5 Hendrix tones.

Lew

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

Hi Lew--

Ever hear the Woodstocks? They looked interesting. :smoker: :saeek:

:beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug:

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

Hi Lew--

Ever hear the Woodstocks? They looked interesting. :smoker: :saeek:

:beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug:

No. I thought those CBS Fenders were awful guitars...just because that's the only new Fender Strat Hendrix could buy at the time doesn't make them great guitars. I thought those guitars sounded awful and to pay extra money to get an accurate reproduction of a guitar pickup made during Fender's worst and sloppiest period just doesn't make any sense to me.

If Hendrix was still alive and still playing Strats, I think he'd love the Antiquity Surfers or Fralin Vintage Hots more than the junky pickups in his CBS Strat.

Lew

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

His strat(s) were CBS? I just thought he had an older one and the Fralins were recreating some great pre cbs pickups, but the sound of the "woodstock" era, you know?

Growing up I didn't pay any attention to the whole CBS, pre CBS thing but over the last few years--wow, have I been enlightened. I had a 1976 strat that was garbage. The neck even shifted around in the body! The original pickups didn't sound that hot either. Very tinny. I played a 62 strat in the eighties and thought it played and sounded great, but hey, it was a strat, right? Little did I know.

I just picked up a 66 Duo-Sonic and while I can tell the quality isn't as high as the older Fenders, this thing still sounds amazing and plays really well. The craftsmanship is very good and it's a solid guitar. Maybe I got lucky and got one of the last good ones made with pre CBS parts or something. I have a 64 Mustang coming I just got off eBAY and I can't wait to play and hear that one.

Well, I got some things to think about. Will be awhile before I have the cash outlay but I'm definitely going to take out the EMG's. I'm getting tired of changing the battery also! :smoker:

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

His strat(s) were CBS? I just thought he had an older one and the Fralins were recreating some great pre cbs pickups, but the sound of the "woodstock" era, you know?

CBS bought Fender around '65 or '66. All of the Strats Hendrix performed with were CBS era Strats...maybe not from the absolute worst period of the Fender/CBS era, but close! Lew

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

What a shame such a great company was just ruined. Here's a paragraph from an article on the history of Fender. From the limited experience I have with guitars from all of these eras, it's uncanny how accurate it is!

For most collectors, pre-CBS (pre-1966) Fender vintage guitars and amps are the desirable ones. Although CBS purchased Fender (officially) on January 3rd 1965, it took some time till the guitars changed (though by mid 1964, six months before CBS bought Fender, things were already "on the way down"). By the end of 1965, the general look and feel of the Fender guitars had changed significantly. All collectors feel the quality of their instruments and amps suffered as CBS employed more "mass production" manufacturing processes to the Fender guitars. The "large peghead" (starting in late 1965) as used on the Fender Stratocaster was one example of the (bad) changes to come. The "custom contoured" bodies Fender was famous for no longer were as sculped and sleek. Newer (and less attractive) plastics were used for the pickguards. Pearl fingerboard inlays replaced the original "clay" dots. Indian rosewood replaced the beautifully figured Brazilian rosewood on the fingerboards. And by 1968, polyurathane replaced the original nitrocellulose lacquer clearcoat that was used from Fender's conception. By early 1971 the party was truely over. Fender now employed the infamous "3 bolt neck" and one piece die cast bridge on the Strat, ruining it's tone and feel. Many other models suffered the same miserable fate of being over mass-produced and cheapened by corporate zellots. :smack:

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

bump

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

:beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :jester: :jester: :jester: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug:

 

[Armotron]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

Id order sufers from Lew, I actually did, and they are PERFECT for Hendrix/SRV tones.

 

[brinton]

Re: Stratocaster pickups thoughts.

I have to disagree, I love hendrix's tones, I've got tons of recordings, and I love his later day stuff ~'70. Woodstock was crappy for sure, but Berkeley and Filmore East (Band of Gypsys) are some of the best strat tones around. Listen to "Who Knows" the first 2 minutes or so is what I find to be awesome straight-up strat tone.

I'm not too much to discriminate against any group of guitars, I pick up each one individually and see if I like it. I played one of those 1979 25th anniversary strats and I didn't care for it, then I played a 1970 strat (natural ash w/ 4bolts) and it was awesome, then neck shape was built for my hands, the pickups sound knocky/hollow with the quick bubblefull character I like, and it weight like 3 lbs.