Metropoulos Forum

Hi to you all !

In 2002, Mike Eldred of the Fender Custom Shop produced 4 exact replicas of the white Fender Stratocaster played by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. The original is on permanent display at the EMP museum in Seattle. Of the 4, one went to Jimi's family, one to the EMP, one to the Fender Museum and one will be auctioned off in February 2003 by Cooper Owen in London.
These 4 Stratocasters were said to be exact clones of the original guitar, replicating every original scratch and mark as well as, more impotantly, the electronics. The original instrument's pickups were thoroughly measured and 4 clones were fitted the most faithfull replicas of the pickups.

I'd like to have the exact same kind of pickups in my '97 Jimi Hendrix Tribute Stratocaster.

Anyone knows where I can find reliable information on this ?

Thanks for your help !

Eric

if the EMP displayed a clone of the white strat, saying it is the original, this might explain the missing notch on the frett, unseen and causing troubles to the sceptics.

i remember an interview from mike eldred, saying how sorry he was ( what a shame ) to have cut the original strings on jimi's white strat, putting them to trash, just like if it was a standard strat coming for a little maintenance ... he realized only later. what a crime !

i couldn't find this interview, which had a lot of infos.

you'll need a west coast modded amp to appreciate the specs and quality of any pickups you'll choose for your strat, i think, if you're after this tone. same for a univibe, a fuzz .. because all sounds different through this amp, to me.

the slider's 69 replica would be very good as clones of the fender 69 pickups. But for the sound, i don't know .. i prefer to play an old fender jeff beck set of gold lace sensors, they're really not bad.

Eric will soon have a West Coast style amp

Alright !! he'll love it !

by the way, i find it funny how someone, we, everyone, i guess, named this mod : "The West Coast mod", or "Dave's mod"
i find it very cool

Xplorer wrote: i remember an interview from mike eldred, saying how sorry he was ( what a shame ) to have cut the original strings on jimi's white strat, putting them to trash, just like if it was a standard strat coming for a little maintenance ... he realized only later. what a crime !

i couldn't find this interview, which had a lot of infos.

It was not Mike Eldred's interview, it was Neville Marten's : http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... rat-178118[/quote]

Xplorer wrote:you'll need a west coast modded amp to appreciate the specs and quality of any pickups you'll choose for your strat, i think, if you're after this tone. same for a univibe, a fuzz .. because all sounds different through this amp, to me.

Bill Bokey of Castle Made of Sounds will take care of the West Coast modded amp for me.
As for the effects, I'm in the same kind of quest. Step by step and as money allows...

Xplorer wrote:the slider's 69 replica would be very good as clones of the fender 69 pickups. But for the sound, i don't know .. i prefer to play an old fender jeff beck set of gold lace sensors, they're really not bad.

Thank you for the hint. I'll contact them.

Eric

Don't know about exact replicas (is it even possible?) but after trying out a few sets over the years I really like klea3031 pickups. You can find it in ebay. Great quality, honest tone and affordable price to boot!

here's what he says about the CS69, i couldn't find another post where some original 69's were shown, explaining how there was nothing special about the construction.

https://www.facebook.com/sliders.pickup ... 5046109043

and here is a set of pictures, telling a lot about how accurate his work is. original wire , vintage caps reproductions etc ..

https://www.facebook.com/sliders.pickups/photos_all

the set i have plays great but honestly, just try different pickups and see what sounds best to you.

anyway, clips of these reproductions :


https://soundcloud.com/krok/little-wing-studio-tone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLamuUGEvfo

I read the story from Mike Eldred now gone from Fender. He said that when the original 1968 white Stratocaster was taken apart he could see the dried sweat in the neck pocket and thought Hendrix DNA!
Here are some shots of the replica from a Fender trade show display:






yngwie308

Xplorer wrote:if the EMP displayed a clone of the white strat, saying it is the original, this might explain the missing notch on the frett, unseen and causing troubles to the sceptics.

i remember an interview from mike eldred, saying how sorry he was ( what a shame ) to have cut the original strings on jimi's white strat, putting them to trash, just like if it was a standard strat coming for a little maintenance ... he realized only later. what a crime !

i couldn't find this interview, which had a lot of infos.

you'll need a west coast modded amp to appreciate the specs and quality of any pickups you'll choose for your strat, i think, if you're after this tone. same for a univibe, a fuzz .. because all sounds different through this amp, to me.

the slider's 69 replica would be very good as clones of the fender 69 pickups. But for the sound, i don't know .. i prefer to play an old fender jeff beck set of gold lace sensors, they're really not bad.

I have seen and taken pictures of the original in the EMP museum and posted them here. It is owned by the co founder of Microsoft Paul Allen. I dont thing they would flat out lie and have a plaque by it saying it was the original that was bought from Mitch Mitchell. They did take it out of the museum briefly last year and let Kenny Wayne Shepherd play it on the Experience music tour and on The tonight show, There is no notch on the fret. The article specifically says the original is on permanent display. The article bellow has a breakdown of the guitar and nowhere is it mentioned about notches in the fret. You can also look at the woodstock DVD not the youtube as its not HD like the DVD and see many spots where you can see the neck closely and there are NO notches. If there were notches the guitar would frett out. I dont believe half the stuff here its just getting to deep. Hendrix tried this and that but its unknown till now where does it ever end.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... rat-178118

Bellow are pictures i took of it in 2008 at the EMP musium in Seattle

i know, i saw this strat and took pictures myself, it didn't look like a replica but potentialy it's possible to build a perfect replica, like for master's paintings ... mona lisa ...

anyway, it's pure free conjecture, just to talk, and the explanation may simply not appear to us, and anyway i don't mind very much about this aspect.

Hey guys what do you think of the replica pictures..they are very rare?
yngwie308

I don't think the notched fret issue will be resolved until somebody finds a picture of one of Jimi's old axes which actually shows them. I know they were there because we cut them, and that goes for the West Coast staff as well, but the doubters persist and you can't really hold it against them for not believing.
Others who lived in the Los Angeles basin in those days, and have written in to the forum, also remember the notches.
The issue will get a resolution someday, whether or not the notches are on the Strat neck Paul Allen owns.

What I find amazing about the Woodstock strat at EMP is that it hasn't yellowed very much at all! My own 1968 Olympic White maple neck strat was probably exposed to more cigarette smoke and it yellowed quite a bit more. The Woodstock strat looks almost brand new! I've seen other 68-70 strats in Olympic White and they are all yellow...more like Yngwie's 70s strat.

garbeaj wrote:What I find amazing about the Woodstock strat at EMP is that it hasn't yellowed very much at all! My own 1968 Olympic White maple neck strat was probably exposed to more cigarette smoke and it yellowed quite a bit more. The Woodstock strat looks almost brand new! I've seen other 68-70 strats in Olympic White and they are all yellow...more like Yngwie's 70s strat.

That strat sat in a case for decades

daveweyer wrote:I don't think the notched fret issue will be resolved until somebody finds a picture of one of Jimi's old axes which actually shows them. I know they were there because we cut them, and that goes for the West Coast staff as well, but the doubters persist and you can't really hold it against them for not believing.
Others who lived in the Los Angeles basin in those days, and have written in to the forum, also remember the notches.
The issue will get a resolution someday, whether or not the notches are on the Strat neck Paul Allen owns.

Again you can look at the Woodstock DVD not youtube as it is HD and there are many close up shots of the neck down in the notch area and there is no notches. Pause it and look close. There are NONE. I have disproved the notch thing with video links in another topic but it keeps coming back even when proving wrong. Shocking how gullible people can be