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Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:58 pm
by NY Chief
Such a thing? I would think only in the case of staggered pole pieces MAYBE?

I have one of those MF '60's Reverse headstock Strat specials. The bridge is angled 180 out as if it were a lefty axe turned righty (mirroring Jimi). One pup crapped out and I'm thinking of replacing with a CS69's or '57/62 set. Question is should I mount them 180 out where the wires would route towards the headstock rather than the bridge? Is there a diff? Haven't had the original pups out yet but I heard there is a "LH" marked on the bottom of them.

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:01 am
by 908ssp
The only worry is the staggered pole pieces and to be correct to Jimi they would have to be backward. I put the bridge pickup in my custom Parker Fly ala Jimi but it is a none stagger pole pickup Area 51. Actually not the pickups in the pictures that was an earlier experiment with a quarter pounder in the bridge.
Image

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:54 pm
by JimiJames
Aye I remember when you picked that up but, I can't remember if it had a 3 or 5 pu selector.
None-the-less as long as the N/S - S/N poles are orientated you should be good to go but, the way you describe it Chief, it is possible with a "swiming pool" cavity. NO WAY on traditional cavities... the pup base only goes one way...
I think the LH indicates bobin & polepiece orientation. In other words you can use this LH set in a RH setup as long as you have a swimming pool cavity and don't give a shit about pole pieces.
(The sunken "B" pole is now your sunken "A" pole.)
So, which pickup went kaput ? Hopefully it's not the Middle (reverse wound).

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:29 pm
by big_teee
Hello:
I make pickups, and I am Left handed.
I test right hand Strat pickups in my lefty by turning them around like you said.
The Exception to that, is the neck pickup.
There is not enough room to turn the neck P/U around, it will hit the body.
If your pickup is a conventional Alnico Rod type with fiber flatwork It could be rewound.
I can, and a lot of other pickup makers can.
I have a good friend near L.A. That could repair it for you.
Drop me a PM if you want to.
Good Luck,
Terry

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:59 pm
by NY Chief
JimiJames wrote:Aye I remember when you picked that up but, I can't remember if it had a 3 or 5 pu selector..
me, either..... :oops: :D

Haven't had the guard off yet so I don't know how it's routed. Wild ass guess? Swimming pool just for ease of manufacture.
I got a set of CS 69's from a friend to try out and I ordered a pickguard with the left hand bridge cutout from warmoth to replace the single ply hokey looking one that came on it. Maybe this weekend. It's the neck pup that went dead.

Don't know what pickups are in there now. There's not much info available on it. Some thread discussions say there are CS69's but I can't see that for how much MF was blowing them out for. Will have a better idea when I crack it open.

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:11 pm
by db_inst_amp
I actually have a set of 68 RI Lefties from a Voodoo strat. They did this to emulate Jimi's setup in a right handed guitar. You used to could buy them but they are discontinued. Mojo does rewinds fo $50 now.

more info

http://areyouexperienced.net/fender_hen ... ickups.htm

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 3:05 am
by MacGaden
NY Chief wrote:
JimiJames wrote:Aye I remember when you picked that up but, I can't remember if it had a 3 or 5 pu selector..
me, either..... :oops: :D

Haven't had the guard off yet so I don't know how it's routed. Wild ass guess? Swimming pool just for ease of manufacture.
I got a set of CS 69's from a friend to try out and I ordered a pickguard with the left hand bridge cutout from warmoth to replace the single ply hokey looking one that came on it. Maybe this weekend. It's the neck pup that went dead.

Don't know what pickups are in there now. There's not much info available on it. Some thread discussions say there are CS69's but I can't see that for how much MF was blowing them out for. Will have a better idea when I crack it open.
A friend has a set of Fralin Woodstocks in his Strat. They are reverse stagger, and they sound great, but more like the ones in my ´64 than late sixties pickups to my ears. But you can hear the reverse stagger, the top strings sound beefier.
I have a set of CS ´69´s in guitar, and they sound great for Jimi tones, good clarity, not very high output, but good push behind the tone... Let´s hear how it goes.

Re: Left Handed pickups?

Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:00 am
by Xplorer
yes, got some lefty custom made slider's 69 for this purpose, more accurate i think, than the current fender CS69. Reversing the pickups as the others explained, will make the pickup to hit the body, and well this isn't the way to do it.

But as R mayer explained, the body has this cavity for the pots that is reversed when played by jimi, and the lower strings and higher strings have a different resonance, as well as a different lenght from the nut to the tuners. There's also the choice of the strings.

This is four points you have to see if you really want to make things 100 % the hendrix way on your strat. + some more, with the choice of the neck and the body, the way to tune the bridge , + maybe some electronic simple variations.