Your Questions, My Answers

M.I.E. Music "Music is Everything"

Custom Hand/Scatter Wound Pickups in a loaded 5-way pickguard with a Mojotone Bridge Blend Knob. All pickups have a RWRP Middle pickup. All are Beveled and Staggered ,These pickups all come with Fender PN# 0991368000 Aged White accessory kit which includes Pickup Covers, All 3 knobs, 5-way tip, Tremolo tip and Tremolo back cover. All electronics are Fender CTS pots, CRL 5-Way switch and 047 Orange drop cap, with Vintage push back wiring includes a new guitar jack. My stock pickguard colors are: White, Black, Mint Green, Red Tortoise and Vintage Tortoise Brown. Demo at the end of photos. Choose any model of pickups I build, Pre-CBS 54-64 or Early CBS 64/65-1970 and AVRI models.

Hand-Wound pickups/Loaded Vintage Single Coil Pickguard with modern upgrades. Including a 5-way switch, with A 5-way with a Blend knob on Tone knob 2, and RWRP middle pickup with Staggered and beveled magnets. Tone knob 1 does all 3 pickups. My Boutique hand/scatter wound pickups are made and assembled in my U.S.A. shop. 7-ways available on Special order.

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. Most of my favorite Vintage Fender pickups have a little bulge in the middle and not the flat sides you see in CNC machined pickups. I added the bulge to replicate my Vintage pickups. 

There are 7 choices of pickups: Pre-CBS Models 1954's-57/62's (5060VF)-1963's or Early CBS 64/65-1970-1969's-1982 AVRI's or 1998 AVRI's.

Featured Top 2 models

# 1- pre-CBS 57- 62 model years. I am replicating a 59 Neck, 62 Rwrp Middle and 61 on the Bridge, First year for the more powerful Alnico 5 Magnets wound in a black bobbin Flatware. Beveled and Staggered, My model # is 5060VF. This is the tone most guitar players know in the Pre-CBS days. PRE CBS Black bobbin-  Alnico 5 magnets Pre CBS 5060VF Vintage 42 awg heavy gauge Formvar wire. Neck:  5.6k  2.30h   RWRP Middle: 5.6K  2.30h  Bridge:  5.7k  2.30h

# 2- Then comes the early CBS 64-70 gray bottom nicknamed " The Jimi Years " his favorites for playing live and first year for CBS with Plain enamel wire and Grey bottom Flatware. Fender went to CNC machine wound and the end of hand wound pickups after a 10 year run. Now you can have my Hand wound version with Alnico 5 and wound with Plain Enamel 42 gauge wire. Gray bottom bobbin, 64-70 Alnico 5 magnets Vintage 42 awg gauge Plain enamel
Neck:  5.7k  2.40h  RWRP Middle:  5.7k  2.40h  Bridge:  5.8k  2.4

Specs:  Averages:

Tested at 77 degrees and 42% humidity, +/- 5% on a DER EE LCR DE-5000 meter and this meter has a USB output that you can save your pickup specs in your PC/Mac in Microsoft software. This gives me a record of every pickup I have made or sold. Most of my pickup sets test below 6k and 3.0 Henries except the 1963 which has a hotter output.

My Assembly Steps:

1-  I install the Alnico 5 or Alnico lll for 54's- Rod Magnets into the flatwork, using a Pickup Jig on an Arbor Press   

2-  I dip the finished bobbin in Lacquer.  This does two things, #-1 It keeps the coil wire from shorting out directly onto the magnet.  This is where 90% of Vintage Fender Pickups fail.  The coil wire rubbing against the magnets. #-2  This glues the flatwork 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 that I've developed,  coming from months 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, and nf capacitance @1k and rp @1k

6-  Waxing- I use 80% Paraffin and 20% Bees Wax. 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 monophonic feedback. # 3- Keeps out moisture, just an added protection and expense of building a long-lasting reliable pickup. # 4- Some guitarist while recording will sit in the control room with the amp in a 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 end squeal and after checking those guitars they had fabric tape on the pickups. So i put some fabric tape on a few of my Strats and was floored that this worked. Back in the 50's there was really no need for it because the amps was not as high powered as todays. Leo was a known tight wad and maybe he didn't want to add the time and expense? Studio tested with No change in tone !!!!

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

9-  Charge magnets.  I use a MoJoTone  N/S Charger.  I  fully  charge all 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 hand tester.

10-  Assemble and solder Pickguard. I have a template made that all i need to do is solder in the pickups you choose. You have 2 Fender Standard-Stock ways to wire your 5-way. Option 1- Tone knob 1 Neck only, Tone knob 2 RWRP Middle and Bridge. Option 2 Tone knob 1 Neck and Middle, Tone Knob 2 Bridge only.

I been playing Strats for over 50 years and have a pretty good idea of how a Vintage Stratocaster should sound. 80% of Strat owners are ok with their tone. I am after the 20% picky players. I would love to have orders from the 80% to show them what they are missing and what a low cost upgrade can do for their guitar and the enjoyment these pickups can bring.

These pickups are made one at a time, by me, in my small USA shop. I use USA Remington wire and have made my pickups as affordable as possible, using the highest quality parts from top USA suppliers. My pickups have that true vintage tone that only fine made hand/scatter wound pickups can bring. All my pickups are vintage spec'd at 6.0k and under except the hotter output 1963 and I also have 1954-56 spec'd pickups, which uses a different magnet.

My pickups are made to last, and come from the result of listening to my vintage guitar collection, and taking apart a bucket full of DEAD Fender pickups, studying them, painstakingly un-winding them, and taking very detailed notes. This is how I came up with my proprietary way of hand winding my pickups. I started BETA testing in 2020 on every kind of neck and body wood made. Plus tested on tube and solid state amps, pedals, digital devices, and software in my recording studio, that I opened in 1999, with fantastic results.

I have built numerous partcasters and upgraded Fender guitars and have installed my pickups, and they are highly comparable to my vintage collection. I am receiving great reviews and feedback from all the guitar players currently using my pickups.

"enjoy peace of mind with your new gear."

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

MIE MUSIC "Music is Everything"

Thank you for supporting a small USA company. jj