Your Questions, My Answers

Feel Free to ask any Questions at jobejude@miemusic.com or use the contact form. You can also leave any comments or reviews and I will post them in the MIE MUSIC review TAB... Thanks.

For a low cost upgrade of $ 230.00 you can get the Early CBS version of grey bottoms sometimes Nicknamed the Jimi's or 69's as these are the pickups he used for his last 3 live shows. The 65-70's I build are a Hand Wound version instead of the machine wound CBS Fender was using. These models are now considered Vintage and still had the 4 bolt neck before they changed to the 3 bolt in 71. These are also Plain enamel wire which was the first major tonal change in the Fender models. Nice tight bottom end with a wide mid section and not as bright as the formvar version. Great recording pickups, they cut through the mix in all the right spots. Plain enamel wire has almost doubled in price in America so My prices will be going up $20.00 bucks on this model and the AVRI's or any plain enamel pickups or I may just have to drop this model. I have locals begging me to make PAF pickups as I own a set of 58's from a broken headstock 40 years ago. For now looks like that poject will be on hold. Musicians are paying 700-900 plus for PAFS and I personally don't think Gibson has built a great pickup since. Some aftermarket companies  are close but none of them have nailed it.

• Listing Title
• Stratocaster Vintage CBS 65-70 Boutique set of 3 Hand Wound Grey bottom pickups
• Listing State: LIVE
• OHIO
• Brand
• M.I.E. Music Boutique
• Model
• Stratocaster Vintage Pickups
• Year
• 2026
• Finish
• CBS Black Top / Grey Bottom
• Manufacturer's Country
• United States
• Category
• Parts
• Subcategory
• Guitar Pickups
• Handmade?
• Yes

M.I.E. Music “ Music is Everything “                                                    Early CBS 1964/65-1970 Plain Enamel Grey Bottom

Set of 3 Custom Hand/Scatter Wound Vintage Single Coil Early CBS Pickups 1964/65-1970 with a RWRP middle pickup with beveled and staggered magnets. Wound with USA Remington AWG 42-gauge Vintage Plain Enamel wire. These pickups come with a complete Fender PN# 0991368000 Aged White accessory kit which includes Pickup covers, All 3 knobs, 5-way tip, Tremolo arm tip and Tremolo back cover.  Pickup Demo included at the end of the pictures.

The early CBS vintage (Grey Bottom) pickups is hand wound with 42 awg gauge vintage Plain Enamel wire, nicknamed the“ Jimi “ years , which was Jimi’s Favorite Live performance pickups, which has focused presence, Very detailed, and tight low end with creamy highs without being harsh. It takes about 2 weeks to reverse engineer a guitar pickup by taking videos and notes and playing back in super slow motion. I have spent my most time studying the work of my favorite famous winders , Abigal Ybarra, Virgil Arlo, David White and Alan Hamel just to name a few. So i knew I had a very high bar to climb.

These pickups are Hand Wound by me one at a time, in my USA shop. I use the top USA suppliers, using the highest quality parts while still making a low-cost affordable Vintage tone upgrade for your beloved instrument. 

I specialize only in Vintage Stratocaster Pickups and for years now my Hand Wound Vintage tone pickups, magnifies the harmonics, the incidentals, the upper octaves, the fifths and the relationship of the pick to index finger strikes while maintaining strong sustained fundamental tone and real clarity. All of my pickups are BETA tested for 6 months by professional Musicians who work the road and recording studios.

Specs: Averages

Tested at 77 degrees and 42% humidity, +/- 5% on a DER EE LCR DE-5000 meter, this meter has a USB output that you can save your specs on your PC/Mac in Microsoft. This gives me a record of every pickup I have made and sold. My Early CBS pickup sets test at or under 6k ohms .

My Assembly Steps: watch on youtube Mie Music Jobe                          

1- I install the Alnico 5 Rod Magnets into the Flatwork , using a pickup jig on a hand Arbor press.

2- I dip the finished bobbin in Lacquer. This does 2 things; #1 it keeps the coil wire from shorting out directly onto the Rod Magnets. This is where 90% of Vintage Fender Pickups Fail. The Coil Wire rubbing against the magnets. #2 This glues the Flatware to the magnets, eliminating the use of super glue. Dry time varies. 24 hours average.

3- Pickup winding- I use a MojoTone Pickup Winder. Varying my patterns and wire tension and my proprietary way that I developed, coming from years of hand on research and beta testing.4- I install Lead Vintage push back cloth wires directly to the pickups.5- Perform the initial testing: K ohms, Henries, nf capacitance and rp @ 1k6- WAXING- I use 80% Paraffin and 20% Beeswax. Heated to 140-150 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Perfect for response and Clarity. 

7- I wrap the coil with fabric tape for four reasons. # 1 it cuts down the chances of damaging the coil when changing pickup covers. #2 Helps stop high gain feedback. #3 Keeps out moisture, just an added protection and expense of building a long-lasting reliable pickup. #4 some guitarists while recording will sit in the control room with the amp in the ISO room, while others like to sit or stand by their amp. I started to notice that most Gibson guitars did not have that high squeal and after checking those guitars found they had fabric tape on the pickups. So, I put some fabric tape on a few of my Strat’s and was floored how well this worked. Back in the 50’s there was really no need for it because the amps were not as high powered as today’s. Leo was also known as a tight wad and maybe he didn’t want to add to the time and expense.

8- Perform second round of testing, confirming the correct specifications are met.

9- Charging Magnets: I use a Mojo tone N/S Vise charger. I FULLY charge all pickup rod magnets once sold. I test the Gauss on a Tesla meter making sure of a smooth even charge on each magnet. Then I put the lead wires through the Flatware hole. I retest the polarity of the pickups which are North for the Neck and Bridge and South for the RWRP middle pickup with a small handheld tester.

I have been playing Strats for over 50 years and have a pretty good idea of how a Vintage Strat should sound, I am pretty sure many of you also know. Polls show 80% of the Strat players are happy with their tone. I am after that 20% of the very picky players. I would love to have orders from those 80% who may have never heard or played Hand Wound pickups to show them what they are missing and what a low-cost pickup upgrade can do for their guitar and the enjoyment these pickups can bring.

Early CBS Grey bottom bobbin average: Alnico 5 magnets 42 awg gauge Vintage Plain Enamel wiring: Neck:5.70k 2.50h RWRP Middle 5.75k 2.50h Bridge 5.80k 2.60h.... So, they can spec at 5.65k to 5.9k. The American copper wire is 99.95% pure. 

My pickups are made to last and come from a result of listening to my vintage guitar collection and taking apart a bucket full of DEAD Fender pickups, studying them, painstakingly un-winding them, videotaping and taking very detailed notes. This is how I came up with my proprietary way of hand winding my pickups. After BETA testing on every kind of neck and body woods made. Plus tested on tube and solid-state amps, pedals, digital devices, and software in my recording studio Mie Music, that I opened in 1999, with fantastic results.

I have built numerous part casters, and upgraded American and MIM Strat’s and installed my pickups, and they are highly comparable to my Vintage collection. I am receiving great 5 Star reviews and 100% great feedback from all the guitar players currently using my pickups on all 3 of my selling sites. Guitarists like that they can contact the owner/winder with any questions.

 “Enjoy peace of mind with your new gear. “ I sell on my website and ship to the lower 48 as I do also on REVERB. ALL international shipping I do on eBAY only. I accept PayPal on all of my selling sites.

The work has been done, so install, and you will find complete nirvana for recording and playing live.

Thanks for Looking. Jobe Jude Mie Music