The Fender Custom Shop '69 Stratocaster Pickup Set is our best selling set of aftermarket pickups. Why? Jimi Hendrix, that's why! These pickups NAIL the sound of the late 1960s perfectly. In fact, they are exact reproductions of the pickups that defined the sound of an era, from the magnets to the wires, to the bobbins, and period-correct push-back cloth, these pickups might as well have been wound in 1969!
The 69 Single Coil Pickups have been offered in 2 varieties: their Custom Shop machine wound version and a Hand-Wound version, made prior to 2013 by Abigail Ybarra and since then by Josefina Campos. The Custom Shop has Masterbuilders, well, these two ladies are Master Winders! One can't help but wonder how many songs we all love feature pickups wound by just these two women. Pretty cool!
Josefina and Abigail
The Platform of the '69 Strat Pickups is the same, regardless of how they were wound. All Pickups measure in at 5.8k and 2.2 henries. The Middle Pickup is Reverse Wound Reverse Polarity for noiseless operation in positions 2 and 4. Alnico V Magnets offer a clear, articulate sound, that rings with brilliance and a sweet top end. Other mentionable include Staggered Unbevelled Pole Pieces, Enamel Coated Wires, 2 Wire Conductor, Period Correct Cloth, and Gray Fiber Bobbins.
However, when the Fender Custom Shop offers limited-run Hand-Wound pickup sets from Josefina, we try to snag as many as we can! With the machine wound 69s being one of their most popular sets, one can only imagine that these will be installed in somebody's new favorite guitar sooner than later! Handwinding seems to increase dynamic capabilities and response. Volume and tone controls seem to have exponentially more sweet spots, allowing for far more control over your tone. Everything that's good about a machine wound becomes great when wound by hand!
Josefina Campos is the heir to the pickup winding throne at the Fender Custom Shop. With Abigail Ybarra retiring, she passed the torch on to Josefina whose pickups rightfully sit amongst the best ever wound by the company. This Limited Edition Handwound 69' Stratocaster pickup set showcases her ability to wind a wonderfully dynamic, sweet, chimey, bell-like pickup that nails the sound of an era.
From Fender. com...
"The Hand-Wound Fender Custom Shop '69 Stratocaster pickups produce one of the most revered guitar sounds in popular music history, the full, punchy late-'60s blues-rock tone that ruled the era from Monterey on the West Coast to Woodstock on the East Coast. Because of the clarity and transparency created by the unique coil wind and magnet structure, the '69 pickup design works especially well with pedals allowing the low end to thump and the high end to soar."
- Fender Custom Shop
- Limited Edition
- 69 Stratocaster Pickup Set
- Hand Wound by Josefina Campos
- or machine wound at Fender Custom Shop
- Aged White Covers
- All Pickups: 5.8k - 2.2 henries
- Middle Pickup Reverse Wound Reverse Polarity
- Alnico V Magnets
- Staggered, unbevelled Pole Pieces
- Enamel Coated Wires
- 2 Wire Conductor
- Period Correct Cloth
- Gray Fiber Bobbins
- Signed Certificate of Authenticity
- MPN 0992286000
- UPC 717669510466
Take a listen to the Fender Custom Shop 1969 Stratocaster Pickup Set
Dear musicgalleryinc.com webmaster, Thanks for the detailed post!
Hello Robin,
Fender specs are incomplete. They resume.
Look here ; https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/fender-cs-69-analysis-and-review.401765/
Sound wise, they make you think “Hendrix”, but then again they’re named for the same year as Woodstock, so maybe we’re been primed to make that association.
Unlike most other single coils, these have red “enamel-coated” magnet wire. The pole pieces are mostly fully charged AlNiCo 5, around 1100 – 1200 gauss, though I see a few that read 900 gauss, or 15% under, not too significant.
Pickup #1 (black plot)
DC R: 5.36K
L: 2.174H
Peak: 8.90 kHz
Calculated C: 127pF (147-20)
Coil width: 0.515"
Pickup #2 (red plot)
DC R: 5.36K
L: 2.171H
Peak: 8.65 kHz
Calculated C: 136pF (156-20)
Coil width: 0.505"
Pickup #3 (green plot)
DC R: 5.41K
L: 2.149H
Peak: 8.55 kHz
Calculated C: 141pF (161-20)
Coil width: 0.50"
This is the second “low output” set I’ve tested in addition to the GFS Boston Blues. This set differs in a few ways:
- 0.05" thinner coils
- inductance is about 200 mH higher
- capacitance is 30 to 40 pF higher, and consequently
- the no-load resonant peak is about 2kHz lower, the loaded peaks are a lot lower also.
The GFS Boston Blues should be all around brighter, lower output pickups, all other things being equal, due to the combination of a lower L and C.
Interestingly, the resonant peak comes closer to the SSL-1 , because even though the inductance is lower, the capacitance is a lot higher. Both the CS 69 and SSL-1 have Q factors or 1.82 with the dummy load. The resonant frequency will move depending on the length of the guitar cable, but the higher inductance of the SSL-1 means they should be a bit louder in any event.
How do you tell which is the mid reverse wound?
How do you tell which is bridge mid neck?
The spec seems same for each one so all 3 pickupslook the same to me.
Maybe each is the same? – Its just that I read mid is reverse wound.