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]

RWRP

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]

Red House....

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]

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]

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 ?