The 6S9H - our version of the 'Strat' pickup used from 1968 to 1974
Soundclips  Rhythm Rhythm and Middle Middle Middle and Lead Lead
To return to this page after listening to the soundclips please click on the Back button on your browser


     


The 6S9H is a very special pickup model! It is a faithful rendition of Fender's Stratocaster pickup
originally used in 1969 by one of the greatest musicians of all time, bar none.
Why is this specific pickup so cool? Read on...


  For you 'lefties' and Hendrix fans out there -

    For the most part, Jimi played 'right handed' Stratocasters upside down, and restrung them with the high E string closest to the floor
like a 'regular' guitar would be strung. Due to the usual Stratocaster's 'right handed' magnet staggering pattern and his restringing,
his pickups on his guitars probably looked like this photo of a 'left handed' Angeltone Stratocaster pickup does in a right handed guitar from his playing point of view...
note that the low E and the A string magnets are now the farthest from their strings, and the B and high E string magnets are closer to their strings than before.
This makes a guitar strung like this have much more treble than before, and less bass response too since the magnet staggering heights are now mismatched to their strings.
Now, this was actually a major part of Jimi's sound, because vintage effects like Fuzz Faces and Cry Baby wahs
back then didn't have true bypass on/off switching because it wasn't invented yet.  If you were plugged into these effects,
the way they were originally designed meant they all drained some treble from your signal whether you were using them at the time or not.
This meant that if a right handed Strat player had four or five effects chained together at one time like Jimi did, and used them all at once
like Jimi did, then you usually ended up with a relatively muddy tone. Now, the cool (and totally unintended!) thing about his playing style
was when he played his guitars strung 'upside down' like this, the mismatched magnet staggering gave him a treble boost
and also a slight bass string tone cut. This was enough to help him still cut through the band and give him his tone
no matter how many effects he used at one time. This effect was a major part of Jimi's tone.

  This Angeltone pickup model allows a right handed Strat player to get much closer
to Jimi's signature tone without major modifications to your guitar!

This pickup is made with Fender's 'after 1962 lefty' magnet staggering scheme
with the D string magnet taller than the G string magnet from the right handed player's point of view,
 black top and light gray Forbon bobbin plates, and Alnico V magnets.

    First, we start out with a pair of our own hand machined Forbon (vulcanized fiber) bobbin plates made right in house.
Then we assemble the bobbin with the correct size Alnico V magnets and insulate the bobbin with a coat of nitrocellulose lacquer
 to protect the coil windings. After that, we wind the pickup's coil with period correct 42 gauge plain enamel coil wire to original 1960's specs,
and pot each pickup in a proprietary clear wax bath to solidify and protect the coil and reduce microphonics.
Once the potting wax has cooled, 'modern style' vinyl covered hookup wire is soldered to the pickup, the pickup is tone tested
and the actual electrical specifications are documented for the included data sheet.


This pickup is available in single pickups and in two different sets - with all pickups the same magnetic polarity and coil winding direction
for a 'true'  vintage sound for studio work, or with the center pickup wound in 'RW/RP' (reverse coil winding direction and reverse magnetic polarity)
for players who want a 'humcancelling' effect in the number 2 and 4 switch positions of a Strat's five position selector switch for live shows.
Price $74.95 each