Fender Hendrix model pickup specs?

[lexluthier72]

Hey there,
Anybody have specs for the above pickup? Number of turns/wire type? etc...?
-Erin

[Spence]

There are many Hendrix models out there, but they are all classed as vintage spec.

[Possum]

I think someone posted the specs here for their '69 strat sets that were about 6K, which is another example of Fender reissue stuff being totally and completely made wrong like all their vintage stuff is. Ebay is a good place to keep an eye out for vintage specs on stuff. I found some '69 stuff and it was all 5.7-5.8K and all the pickups were basically the same wind on all 3. Don't forget Hendrix used a big tone cap on his guitar commonly called a COIL CORD, which SRV also relied on to tame treble.....

[lexluthier72]

Thanks.
-E.

[GlennW]

I don't think there was anything special about Jimi's guitars, pretty much stock from the music store. He'd custom bend the whammy bar and that was about it.

I've seen one early picture in '67 where he was playing a white Strat with 3 mini toggle switches, but that's the only one I know of.

[Sam Lee Guy]

Herro! Hendrix use all sorts of guitars. Danerectro, Jazzmaster, Duo-Sonic, Les Paul Custom, SG Custom, Frying V, Les Paul Special, ES-175, Stratocaster, etc... etc... He often buy new guitar especially for performance, and in late 60's, new Strat could be pre CBS or CBS. At Fender, new machines from 60's that wind many pickups at same time have counters that count 1 for 50 turns, so not velly exact, so pickups in original Hendrix guitar could be anything. Modern Fender Hendrix pickup have 8000 turns 42 PE and left hand stagger A5. Cheaper to buy from Musicians Friend than rewind.

[GlennW]

Sam, do you know of any recording he did with the LP Special? I've wondered how he'd sound with P-90s. I read somewhere that the "Red House" on the Polydor Are You Experienced was played on a Hofner with the pickups taped on it, I'd guess he used the same guitar on the Reprise Smash Hits version because they sound like they were done at the same time.

[lexluthier72]

Thanks for all the info guys...I am specifically referring to the custom shop hendrix tribute model strat. The pole stagger is reverse that of a normal stagger pole pickup, ie upside down.
-E.

Oh yeah, and the mid pickup is NOT RW/RP....I think you see where I am headed...

[Possum]

the reverse middle pickup thing only came in about the late 70s if I remember right, before that guitar players were real MEN who were fearless in the face of hum, nowdays they think their something wrong if a guitar hums.......wussies.....

[Sam Lee Guy]

Ah yes! Hofner Club 40. I heard many rumours of what Hendrix used for what song, but memories not always reliable, so no, don't know for sure. Maybe there some film footage of him playing his 1956 Les Paul Custom which has P-90 in bridge position and was used for many live performances?

[Possum]

I am betting that was a strat, that tune is one of the best solos I've ever heard, its just flawless. It just screams strat strat strat. I wonder what Jimi would be doing today if he was still around. We have a day long blues show on PBS station here in Portland area I listen to every friday, this friday a long jam version of Red House came and I was listening thinking damn, this guy is really good and uses alot of Hendrix-isms, of course it was Jimi....when he was good he was very good :-) When I was a kid I actually touched his guitar and me and my buddy very nearly stole it from the gear room at the gig. We met Jimi for a few short seconds and talked to him; every guitar player in town was at the show, there were maybe 70 people there at most, Jimi stunned everyone of us players beyond belief. There is a book by Curtis Knight called Jimi Hendrix, Starchild that has some mind blowing information about Jimi. He pretty much told told Curtis he knew when he was going to die five years before he did, then there's the UFO close encounter they had when he was in Curtis's band that saved their lives in a blizzard when they made wrong turn and would have frozen to death in blizzard. He was definitely from some place else and I always believed that then and now....

[Spence]

Originally Posted by Sam Lee Guy

Ah yes! Hofner Club 40. I heard many rumours of what Hendrix used for what song, but memories not always reliable, so no, don't know for sure. Maybe there some film footage of him playing his 1956 Les Paul Custom which has P-90 in bridge position and was used for many live performances?

Sam Lee Guy say Hofner Club 40. I say he used a Hofner 176 for Red House if I remember rightly. That may account for people thinking it was a Strat.

[Possum]

I still think it was a strat. The Animal's girlfriend, was it Chas? Gave Jimi a strat I think shortly before he went to the UK. There are alot of new images coming out and videos now of Jimi playing at alot of clubs in London to get people aware of his presence and in all of them he is playing a strat. I've never heard this rumor before, does anyone have some reliable references for this one?

Also, I found a link with a picture of that guitar and some others, man I had no idea they made such beautiful guitars, I always thought that Beatle bass was one ugly piece of wood, still do

[Sam Lee Guy]

Originally Posted by Spence

Sam Lee Guy say Hofner Club 40. I say he used a Hofner 176 for Red House if I remember rightly. That may account for people thinking it was a Strat.

Hendrix owned a late 50's Hofner Club with one of the small pickups but later had one with 2 pickups - maybe an added bridge pickup, or maybe a different guitar. Nobody was interested enough to take much notice and he borrowed and swapped guitars all the time. The Hofner 176 is news to me. Very interesting Spence. It wouldn't be the first time a Hofner was mistaken for a Fender. (Just ask Cliff Richard).Maybe it easier to say which guitars he didn't try.

[Spence]

Cliff Richard? never heard of him. Are you confusing him with Criff Lichard AKA Hally Webb ?

[NightWinder]

Originally Posted by Possum

I am betting that was a strat, that tune is one of the best solos I've ever heard, its just flawless. It just screams strat strat strat. I wonder what Jimi would be doing today if he was still around. We have a day long blues show on PBS station here in Portland area I listen to every friday, this friday a long jam version of Red House came and I was listening thinking damn, this guy is really good and uses alot of Hendrix-isms, of course it was Jimi....when he was good he was very good :-) When I was a kid I actually touched his guitar and me and my buddy very nearly stole it from the gear room at the gig. We met Jimi for a few short seconds and talked to him; every guitar player in town was at the show, there were maybe 70 people there at most, Jimi stunned everyone of us players beyond belief. There is a book by Curtis Knight called Jimi Hendrix, Starchild that has some mind blowing information about Jimi. He pretty much told told Curtis he knew when he was going to die five years before he did, then there's the UFO close encounter they had when he was in Curtis's band that saved their lives in a blizzard when they made wrong turn and would have frozen to death in blizzard. He was definitely from some place else and I always believed that then and now....

Damn Dave! You should have swiped that guitar and broke like a coon comming out of a trashcan bro! I do believe he always used a spirl cable though- Safe to assume that was part of "his" Tone?

[jonson]

I remember him smacking that strat into the ceiling and buggering the machine heads up at a student gig the night they went into the studio to tape Purple Haze and recorded that with Noel Readings Tele.

[David Schwab]

Originally Posted by Possum

the reverse middle pickup thing only came in about the late 70s if I remember right, before that guitar players were real MEN who were fearless in the face of hum, nowdays they think their something wrong if a guitar hums.......wussies.....

Yeah.. and no one had five way switches, so what difference would it have made!

[David Schwab]

Originally Posted by Spence

Cliff Richard? never heard of him.

Really?

How's these pictures of Jimi with non Fenders? The last one is one of his Hofners being auctioned off.

[jonson]

Odd one that Hofner David. It's a 63/65 Colorama with the more "dare i say it"
popular vinyl covering instead of the usuall red paint but the pups are wrong as they should be Hofners diamond logo jobs. That guitar finished production in 65 and Iv'e got a pair of 62s but both in painted finish but not seen one of these before.

[Spence]

They look like framus pickups to me.

framus pickups.jpg

[GlennW]

They look a lot like these Klira (also German) bass pickups.

[David Schwab]

Originally Posted by GlennW

They look a lot like these Klira (also German) bass pickups.

That's cool! I used to have a Norma violin bass... which I think is a Teisco?

I love those old odd guitars and basses.

My first bass was a Kawai Concert (also a Teisco) ... circa 1968. Looked like this back guitar... mine was black also. Wish I still had it. After that I had the Norma that looked like this guitar. Mine was the same cream-sicle color.

[GlennW]

Those old MIJ guitars are popular on ebay, they have style.

There's a lot of cool stuff here.
http://www.fetishguitars.com/

And here's another. Do you think they could have put the bridge pickup a little closer to the bridge?
http://cgi.ebay.com/LOOK-CORAL-FIREF...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a Bartolini bass from the Fetish link. I like the fretboard.

[lexluthier72]

wow...talk about off track...hehe...great info guys. I got the basic numbers I needed.
-E.

[Sportbernd]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Those old MIJ guitars are popular on ebay, they have style.

There's a lot of cool stuff here.
http://www.fetishguitars.com/

And here's another. Do you think they could have put the bridge pickup a little closer to the bridge?
http://cgi.ebay.com/LOOK-CORAL-FIREF...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a Bartolini bass from the Fetish link. I like the fretboard.

Hello.
I´m not new to this board, but more of a reader than writer. I´m located in Germany and at the moment trying to set up a buisness in pickup-winding-and pickup-parts.
The place to start about this Höfner-pu´s should be Bill Lawrence aka Bill Lorento aka-
wouldn´t find a end. I hope my english isn´t to bad.

Greetings

Bernd-Axel

[Possum]

Well its a good thing my buddy and I didn't grab that case and run out the door, because the door open to the outside went to the front street, so we left that way, the only way out and run into........Jimi. Woulda kinda been sorta embarassing huh? Then my memory would probably be more like, I remember the time Hendrix kicked my ass stealing his guitar. Besides there were a couple cop cars there, not good. Hey at least I touched that guitar, got the mojo you know?

[jonson]

No they are not Framus, Klira or a few others but 50s Hofners in the 518 range. Hofner had a habit of presenting guitars such as the Macartney bass and the Bert Weedon Golden Hofner but they were usually different from the production line guitar. Ive got some of these and they have the same pole pieces and air coils that were mentioned in the Dallas Tuxedo thread as made by Rogers as well. I'll take some picks If I pull one apart tonight and get some readings and just for the hell of it I'll post them.

[Possum]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nayar...eature=related

Was that a Hofner violin and how many turns of wire on it?

[GlennW]

"Trumpets and violins I can hear in the distance..."

[DrStrangelove]

Originally Posted by Possum

[re: Hendrix' guitar] Hey at least I touched that guitar, got the mojo you know?

You wuz raised Catholic, weren'tcha?

That "secondary relic" meme didn't come from nowheres.

-drh

[jonson]

Yeah this thread is done and the information got and gone off track but its Hendrix and it's retro which some of you guys love so here is those pickups.
Brass covers and backplates. steel inner container. usuall Hofner cross slotted pole pieces with 5 small ceramic slugs in between each pole on a steel keeper. Air coils that look like 44awg but i'm not gonna measure it as they are working. Readings are 5.2k and 5.6k so that could be the reason for using these as most diamond logo pups iv'e come across have come in at the 4+k range.

[Spence]

Originally Posted by jonson

Yeah this thread is done and the information got and gone off track but its Hendrix and it's retro which some of you guys love so here is those pickups.
Brass covers and backplates. steel inner container. usuall Hofner cross slotted pole pieces with 5 small ceramic slugs in between each pole on a steel keeper. Air coils that look like 44awg but i'm not gonna measure it as they are working. Readings are 5.2k and 5.6k so that could be the reason for using these as most diamond logo pups iv'e come across have come in at the 4+k range.

Jonson, I bow to your knowledge of the quirky Euro pickup. But I think that wire's closer to 45 AWG. I'm sure it was something like 0.045mm by design.

[GlennW]

That's the stuff that made the studio "Red House" sound? Thanks for the pictures and numbers.

[Possum]

I have a German customer who read the forum posts and sent me this:
David Schwab writes: "The last one is one of his Hofners being auctioned off."
http://music-electronics-forum.com//...3&d=1200260310

No Dave, it is a Framus guitar. Ugly. The electronic was never made by Höfner that way. Have a look at a similar Framus guitar:
one for the controls
http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules...tID=4626&cl=DE
one for the pickup:
http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules...tID=4626&cl=DE