Jimi Hendrix Signiture Stratocaster

I took delivery of this beast at the beginning of the week (a 50th Birthday present to myself).
First basic specs.
Olympic White right handed body with a reverse 70s style large headstock in maple (slightly roasted)
Vintage style tuners (but with a hole in the post so you don't have to string up via the notch)
Vintage style pressed steel trem (6 screw)
Fender custom 62 pickups with the bridge and on opposite angle to normal so treble is a little less bright but bass a bit brighter
5 position switch and classic tone control layout (no tone on the bridge)
Made in Mexico
Came with a padded gig bag (which was a surprise as Mexican made Fenders do not normally come with gig bags)

In order to afford this I had to part exchange my 1996 American standard so will be comparing to that. I do also have warmoth bling super strat, but that is an entirely different beast (BK Mule in the Bridge and texas specials middle and neck)

Immediately it sounds like a spanky strat, unlike my old American which sounded quite generic. A lot more treble without taking your head off and higher output. The neck (thicker C profile compared to the Standard) plays like a dream.
Out of the box I had to tighten the trus rod a tad and set the intonation which was not that far out. Other than that nothing else.

The negatives, the cheapest string tree you can get and it did not come with the little spring to put into the trem arm hole (so there is a bit of play), and needs a bit of a fret dress as the fret ends are a little sharp, but no fret sprout.

What would/will I change. The string tree obviously, the strap buttons to locking buttons (I already have a spare set). (Will change)

Some vintage locking tuners (but can only seem to find them for right handed headstock, not reverse headstock). I do have a set of Gotas but they would look wrong. And finally a twin pivot modern style bridge. (I do however have a six screw wilkinson trem in my box of bits) (May change)

Would certainly recommend. Especially as you can't seem to get a 60s strat with a Maple neck, these days.

Well worth the money at £769 from Andertons. A mexican built strat today is far better than a 90s American as I spent a fortune trying different pickups (Now have a set of BK Apaches for my bitsa strat build), constant tinkering with the trem, locking tuners, etc for a guitar that just sounded dull and not how I imagine a strat to sound.

And a shout out to Andertons for great service as usual, even with Covid going on.

Also do Andertons sell their second hand gear elsewhere? I sold them my old strat, An Epi dot Studio (god it was shit) and a V-Twin, but have not seen them for sale on their site.

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Comments

  • Update now I've lived with it for a month. Boy does it stay in tune. Far better than a guitar with twin point trem and locking tuners.
    The pickups do not like to see a bright digital amp sim. You get a lot of horrid high end fizz, dial in a mid-range heavy amp and it just sounds heavenly.
    Need to work on a decent Fender Amp Sound with out the fizz.
    For a glossy finish neck there is no stickyness (yet).
    And my son keeps nicking it, replacing it with his Champman ML1
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  • JamieLFJamieLF Frets: 50
    A little late with my posting here but I just wanted to reply to share my love for my Jimi strat too - I've had mine for about 6 months now and it's an absolute delight! Very comfortable neck, well put together (apart a couple of sharp fret edges which you mentioned and I also experienced), great range of vintage tones, and a perfect compliment to the more modern, more "pre-mixed" tones that my American Professional offers.

    I took mine to @FelineGuitars a few months back to get that extra 5% out of it and they did a lovely job as always - frets were given a tidy up, the angle on the trem was reduced so it wasn't floating quite as much, and they gave it an overall setup. Most exciting though was that they also added a neck on switch mod giving another 2 pickup switching options for more versatility.

    Interestingly, Jon mentioned that the pickup routing had been done in such a way that any new pickups added would have to be fitted upside down to fit. This is of course how the stock pickups are fitted already in order to help replicate Jimi's own setup. Not sure how much of a tonal difference it makes in the real world but it's a nice little quirk!

    Anyway - mine is a forever keeper!
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  • What colour did you get yours in?
    Interesting about the routing (not had a look yet).
    Given it's a Mexican strat I would have thought they would have just done a boat route so any pickup configuration could be stuck in the same body. My old American standard was built like this.
    What the other switching option other than neck + Bridge?
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  • What colour did you get yours in?
    Interesting about the routing (not had a look yet).
    Given it's a Mexican strat I would have thought they would have just done a boat route so any pickup configuration could be stuck in the same body. My old American standard was built like this.
    What the other switching option other than neck + Bridge?
    Sorry, just saw this! It's Olympic white. Looks lovely, though I do quite fancy the purple finish too!
    So it's neck + bridge in position 1 as you've probably figured, and all 3 pickups in position 2. Gives it a nice acoustic-ish chime in that setting. I don't use it very much to be honest, but it's nice to have it there! 
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