'72 tele custom style butterscotch/blackguard

Ty · Post by Ty » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:16 am

Noirie. wrote:
Mike wrote:
I'm a huge Hendrix fan, I've never seen one of his strats with the bridge pick up all flipped like that.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:27 am

he didn't have it flipped he just played a right handed guitar strung left handed. which has the same effect as reversing the angle of the pickup.

BobArsecake wrote:It makes more sense to have it like that surely? Based on the same principle of why you angle the height of your pickups. I never understood why Fender have it the other way.

it's not the same principle as angling the height of your pickups though. that simply adjusts the volume. moving it longways on the guitar adjusts the frequency response of the pickup. hence why bridge pickups sound more twangy. reversing the angle adds more top end to the bass strings and takes it away from the high strings. listen to some of dick dale's stuff again, it's a big part of his sound.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:16 pm

silly_rabbit_band wrote:
Noirie. wrote:
Mike wrote:
I'm a huge Hendrix fan, I've never seen one of his strats with the bridge pick up all flipped like that.
That's the Voodoo Strat, a Hendrix-themed guitar that Fender released in the 90s, was later (up until recently) followed by the '68 Reverse Special which was the same idea but more affordable ... the bridge pickup isn't just reverse-angled, it and the other 2 pickups are rotated 180, mounted fully backwards. The idea is that Hendrix's reversed stringpath was recreated on a right-handed instrument, giving the ergonomic benefits of playing a strat the right way up while delivering whatever subtle differences to the sound that flipping one would give you.

luke · Post by **luke** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:23 pm

paul_ wrote:
silly_rabbit_band wrote:
Noirie. wrote: I'm a huge Hendrix fan, I've never seen one of his strats with the bridge pick up all flipped like that.
That's the Voodoo Strat, a Hendrix-themed guitar that Fender released in the 90s, was later (up until recently) followed by the '68 Reverse Special which was the same idea but more affordable ... the idea is that Hendrix's reversed stringpath was recreated on a right-handed instrument, giving the ergonomic benefits of playing a strat the right way up while delivering whatever subtle differences to the sound that flipping one would give you.

Is it on the newer one that they flipped the trem as well? I notice in that one it isn't flipped.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:25 pm

I thought that wasjust an SRV thing, the flipped trem.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:35 pm

I don't think they've ever done the voodoo or '68 Reverse with a flipped trem, as I recently heard Hendrix fans on HC bitch about that. I guess that was part of their ergonomic reconditioning of the flipped set-up, they figured it didn't make big enough of a difference to stick the bar in your way.

I've never been interested in a flipped bridge on a righty body as it requires a backwards route, so you pretty much have to start with a fresh, unrouted body to make it look clean. SRV's #1 was all kinds of wrong down by the bridge if you look close.
Also as the pivot point is at the end of a solid steel baseplate, I doubt it really feels like a completely "different fulcrum" as web-people keep saying (the fulcrum is in the same place, knobend) or changes the feel too much. They say the vibrato action is more pronounced on the bass strings like that, well, that suggests you're twisting the bridgeplate in a slight corkscrew shape. Unlikely.

luke · Post by **luke** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:36 pm

Yeah, I just checked and none of them had this (except the lefty they released as a righty, of course). It's a shame, I think it'd be interesting to try having the bar at the top.

BobArsecake · Post by **BobArsecake** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:23 pm

mage wrote:he didn't have it flipped he just played a right handed guitar strung left handed. which has the same effect as reversing the angle of the pickup.

BobArsecake wrote:It makes more sense to have it like that surely? Based on the same principle of why you angle the height of your pickups. I never understood why Fender have it the other way.
it's not the same principle as angling the height of your pickups though. that simply adjusts the volume. moving it longways on the guitar adjusts the frequency response of the pickup. hence why bridge pickups sound more twangy. reversing the angle adds more top end to the bass strings and takes it away from the high strings. listen to some of dick dale's stuff again, it's a big part of his sound.

But wouldn't there be a volume issue too? As the part of the pickup that's at the bass side is further towards the neck so there's a wider vibration radius (not sure of the specific phrase) so would be louder on the bass. Wouldn't it be more twangy if it was reversed? - as Dick Dale has it. Or is that just what you said?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:35 pm

heheh, yea, that's what I meant. I guess it just depends where you want your twang -- in the bass strings or high strings. fender chose the high strings. I think it helps place the strings in their respective frequency ranges so the they stand out individually more. the top end of the high strings is accentuated in a way the bass strings are not helping to keep shared frequencies of the strings from masking each other. This makes chords sound more clear. I'm not really sure how reversed would work. wouldn't it kind of mush it all together and be really indistinct?

oh but yea, you're right I guess there would be a little bit of a volume issue. so you gotta adjust the pickup height a little to accommodate.