Best Neck Pickup for Jimi

[wjamflan]

Hey all.

Although I've lurked here for awhile, this is my first post in the Jimi section of the Metro Forums, so please be patient with me. I did a search and could not find what I was looking for, so i thought I'd just ask.

Specifically, I'm building an ash body Strat and want to get the best Hendrix "Little Wing" etc. tone from it that I can. I've read some of the posts I could find relevant info in (like the Woodstock Strat topic) but I'm still not sure with what to go with.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the best neck pickup for Jimi? Will I be able to get a decent JH tone out of ash? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Bill

[toner]

I don't know if it's the absolute best for Hendrix but I absolutely love the Rio Grande Vintage Tallboys in my strat. They are very warm and clear without the stock pickup piercing brightness. They still have the strat sound but with a little more mids and a little less treble. They're great for SRV tones too. The output is close to stock/vintage. They aren't a "hot strat" sound. Lindy Frahlin makes pretty good strat pups too but there's something about the Rio Grande's that I really like.

*** Be aware that Rio Grande hasn't been reliable to contact lately. I was recently going to get their Tele pickups and neither I or a local authorized dealer could get any reply from them at all. No one answers the phone, returns messages or emails. I finally said "enough of this" and bought another brand.

[Ydna]

I've heard lots of good things about the custom shop 69s. Here is a thread where I asked about them, and not one bad thing was said.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=31592" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I still haven't put them in my strat, but I will soon.

[Roe]

my favorite is the h/srv specials but I havent tried everything so there may be something better out there (e.g. don mare)

[Brandon]

I've had a lot of personal luck with the Lindy Fralin woodstock pickups (the neck pickup is my fav on those).

As far as an ash body, i've played on an ash body Strat for many years and have ALWAYS been dissatisfied with it as far as hendrix goes. It's a very "hard" sound, very bright and harsh IMHO (ie lots of high and low end with almost no mids).

That I know of, I don't know if he played any ash body (I would be very surprised if he did), but I DO know that he played a lot of alder, especially his live performances.

I just got a Warmoth 2 piece alder body, and INSTANT hendrix tones, way better, quality mids, which is very important to hendrix tones IMHO.

I'm not really too familiar with earlier hendrix, but I bet that little wing was recorded with a rosewood fretboard (probably alder body but don't quote me on that), and of course with the middle and neck pickup both on. I think he also played on a Leslie amp?

[Spitfire]

I have an upside down Seymour Duncan antiquity 2 in the neck.

[Spitfire]

Jimi in the neck and Ed in the bridge

[wjamflan]

Thank you to all for your replies. They are greatly appreciated.

Toner - Do you like the Rio Grandes better than the Lindy Fralin's b/c of the extra mids? Are they slighty overwound?

Ydna - Did you end up getting the Custom Shop '69's? If so, what body did you put them in? I know you were jonesin' for alder, but do you think they would sound good in ash?

Roe - Are those the Callaham H/SRV's? I just ordered my bridge setup from them and didn't see it on the site. I didn't know if they were still making them. Do you think the cryogenic process helps that much? How much are they?

Brandon - Your points are well taken. Would you recommend going with something slightly overwound to get more mids to compensate for the ash body? Would the Fralin Woodstocks do it for me?

Thanks again to all and please keep the recommendations coming b/c I want to order soon.

Regards,

Bill

[wjamflan]

Jimi in the neck and Ed in the bridge

Yep. That is the idea for now until I have enough dough to build a bunch different guitars out of different woods etc.

[wjamflan]

I have an upside down Seymour Duncan antiquity 2 in the neck.

What do you think of the Duncan antiquity?

In fact, what does everyone think of he Duncan pickups available?

SSL-1?

SSL-2?

SSL-5?

The rep at Seymour Duncan said the SSL-5 would be most like a Fender Texas Special, like what's in the SRV Strat. What do you guys think? What about the Texas Specials? Would that give me the extra mids without being too overwound?

[Ydna]

Any lower output vintage style pickup will improve your tone. Ofcourse alder is part of the tone. An alder strat is in my things to buy. Which is a very long list, but a metro tops it, and a alder strat is in 2nd. Any pickup will improve your tone, now it is just your preference.

[wjamflan]

Anyone heard of these? http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/mercha ... at-pickups" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This guy uses them in his Stevie clips and they sound pretty good to me. http://www.steviesnacks.com/my-gear/sta ... model.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BTW, basswood body with a zebra wood top?!?!

Anyone here with actual experience with the Lollars?

[Brandon]

Brandon - Your points are well taken. Would you recommend going with something slightly overwound to get more mids to compensate for the ash body? Would the Fralin Woodstocks do it for me?

I think warmer pups may help the ash body, but from my experience, to TRULY capture a tone, everything has to be in it's proper place.

IMO you need alder if you really want to get it, and you also need a good neck, because the neck has a profound influence on the tone too. Trust me, I've tried to shortcut it many times! But the longer I'm into guitar, the more I understand that if I want a certain tone, shortcuts really don't help!

For instance, the warmness that you get from pickups will not be the same type of warmness that you get from the body. The warmness from the body can't be replicated by pickups... the body adds dimensions and dynamics to the tone that that pickups don't really touch.

It's that combo of warm body with the brittle and bright sounding pickups that gets the Jimi tone IHMO (aside from amps). Those pickups, the Fralins, the CS 69's and probably those lollars too are very bright and brittle sounding, so you're putting harsh pups in to a harsh guitar, which takes you far away from hendrix. But I will say it will take you a good ways in an ash body for the NECK position, but I think you'll find that the middle and especially the treble pickup, you'll hear the ash's unforgiving harshness.

Warm body with brighter pickups is the way to go imo.

Perhaps a rio grande in the bridge would help, but I've never tried those pups so don't quote me on that Might be interesting tho, where as jimi has harsher pups with a warmer body, if you do that you'll have a harsher body with warmer pickups!

[toner]

Toner - Do you like the Rio Grandes better than the Lindy Fralin's b/c of the extra mids? Are they slighty overwound?

I haven't A/B'd Rio Grande and Fralin's in the same guitar but I do think the Rio's have a little more mids and the highs are a little smoother and less brittle. Not that Fralin's are brittle, but they are a little brighter, if I remember correctly. I think the Fralin's I tried were 2% overwound.

The Rio's are probably a little overwound. Their site says they are 7.2k. As you know, resistance is only one part of the total specs for any pickup. It can be misleading by itself.

As for Seymour Duncan, the only single coil I've used is the Alnico II pro (APS-1), which I wouldn't recommend for Jimi. Alnico II magnets always sound a little mushy and too mellow to me. They might work if your guitar is REALLY bright but it wouldn't be my first recommendation. I like Alnico 5 for single coils.

I DO NOT like the Fender Texas Specials. They are too muddy and "un-clear" for me.

I think this is a great way to look at it if your guitar is bright acoustically:

where as jimi has harsher pups with a warmer body, if you do that you'll have a harsher body with warmer pickups!

[Spitfire]

Most of the tone is form the hands I'd say, for example, thumb over the top vs thumb behind the neck, sounds different.
Do an in depth study of he's recorded video's and watch both hands closely, there's a trick to it.
Spitfire whispers to Brandon (the angle of the pick, mate)

I mean he also played a Gibson flying V and it still sounded like him.

You would have to specify which Hendrix tones you are referring to, Axis Bold as love rosewood neck strat, little wing maple neck strat, wind cries mary 65 strat maple, dolly dagger gibson flying V, midnight lightning maple neck strat black.
South Saturn Delta Upside down black Les Paul with P90's From twin reverbs to Dual Showmans, JTM 100's, to JMP 100's.
More important than the quitar, is the speakers, greenbacks.
But yeah, early CBS pickups will remind you of he's tone, especially when they are upsidedown. Also with ernie ball regular 10"



My SD antiquity is 6.29k, if you're going for a Bridge humbucker, its well worth getting the custom hot bridge SD antiquity, which is hotter, I'd like to get three of those. Antiquities, handwound by a Legend, the best, money can buy imo.