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Here is a set of
68 RI American Reverse Strat pickups or Hendrix
Tribute Strat, formerly called the Voodoo Strat, with a serial # of
TN7xxxx. These pickups were designed to allow right hand guitar
players to get the same vibe as Jimi Hendrix by having the same type
purple plain enamel wire which was used in the mid to late 60s and
what would have been in Jimi's 2 favorite 68 white and black Strats.
Fender introduced the Custom Shop '69 Strat pickups to emulate the
same but those are designed for right handed players so you really
don't get the same or similar tone to Jimi's since the pole pieces
are opposite what Jimi's were.
Sound: They really do have a
unique sound. Typically, the pole pieces are taller on the 6th bass
string and almost flat to the pickup surface on the high E. With the
reverse pickups, the E-B-G poles are tall which gives the B string
in particular a much smoother sound especially when bending it back
and forth between the B & G poles. What Jimi did to compensate upon
examining videos and pictures is he raised up the bass side close to
spec of 7/64s height from bottom of the 6th bass string and he
lowered the treble side to make the poles be similar to Fender 5/64s
height specifications. So the main difference in tone is the B and
the A string gets a bit more of a treble response, Another benefit
is the high E string seems to be more powerful and last longer
without needing changed, without sounding dead as happens on the
vintage stagger pickups.
Here are some sound clips of these
pickups here though they are not this exact set pictured, they are
the same pickups. Click here to
listen There are pics of the other set used in the sound
clips here
Material:
The material used is the black fiber bobbins with Alnico 5 magnets
with reversed pole heights to left hand Strat specifications but the
bobbins are made to fit right handed Strats. Plain enamel wire is
used which is the dark purple looking stuff used in the mid to late
60s. While it is true that the CS 69s and period used the grey fiber
bobbins, I've spoken to several pickup winders who said that the
bobbin has absolutely no effect on the sound of the pickup
whatsoever, even though Fender touts it as being partly responsible
for it's thumping low end, they all said it is pure marketing. If it
did have any effect on tone, I believe Fender would have used the
grey bobbins especially on a Hendrix Voodoo Strat or Tribute Strat
which are the 2 closest Strats to Jimi's they've ever made available
to the public. Currently, a Voodoo Strat has been fetching upwards
of $2500-$3000 on eBay if you can find one, so these are special
pickups indeed.
Note:
These pickups were also sold for a while at
musiciansfriend as singles but no longer so don't bother looking.
:-) Interesting thing is that the ones sold with the Fender Voodoo
Strat had a red marker score at the edge of the black fiber bobbin
on all 3 pickups while the ones sold at musiciansfriend did not. On
Fender's calibrated sets, they will typically mark one in blue or
red or put a yellow lead on a reverse wound middle but on these,
just a red score. I will most likely reverse the polarity of the
middle pickup when I install these into my next project Strat.
Measurements:
6.29k neck 6.11k middle 6.17k bridge
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