On March 28, 1968, a young Seymour W. Duncan presented Jimi with a gift: a bag of early 60’s Stratocaster pickups that he rewound with his already considerable knowledge on how to get the most out of a guitar. The Jimi Hendrix Experience were booked to play two shows at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio that night.
Jimi’s tech, the legendary Roger Mayer, installed those pickups in Jimi’s white Stratocaster right then and there, and Jimi used that guitar onstage that very night. In fact, he asked Seymour to carry his Strat up on stage. This day was a pivotal moment in Seymour’s life. As he told Guitar Player magazine, “Jimi gave me several sets of his old strings, pickups, tremolo arms, back plates, springs, and a scarf, and he had the band sign autographs for me. As the show began, he asked me to carry his white Strat on stage, and that’s something I will never forget. I believe Jimi gave me inspiration to make guitar tones, and to help players as he had done with me. I’m proud of the time I spent with Jimi, and proud to be a little part of his history.”
In association with Authentic Hendrix LLC, we’re now making that same psychedelic pickup sound available to you in a special configuration designed to give you unprecedented access to Jimi’s tone. The bridge model has an aggressive attack that cuts through while staying true to his iconic lead tone. The neck pickup sounds thick and full and is great for chord work, bluesy melodies, double-stops and Jimi’s signature hybrid chord/melody style. And in the in-between positions there’s plenty of that classic Strat ‘quack.’ All of the pickups have a reverse magnet stagger because that’s how Jimi played them.
The Jimi Hendrix
Signature Strat Set is available as a pickup set or in two loaded pickguards: Jimi Hendrix Signature Loaded Pickguard – Voodoo Style (with the bridge pickup reversed) and Jimi Hendrix Signature Loaded Pickguard – Standard Style.
