The Old Red Strat - Ybarra woz ere!
There’s something special about a guitar that’s been with you for years. For me, it’s my Mexican Fender Red Strat. I bought it when I was 13/14 years old, playing in a classic Rock band called Outcry. I picked it up second hand from Modern Music in Galway for about €250, and believe it or not, I still have the receipt!
At the time, I convinced my mother that I was going to be the best guitarist in the world, but to get there, I needed my own electric guitar, white and a maple neck like Jimi Hendrix because I can play faster then. This was my first electric, and I played it like shite - pubs, clubs, mass, funerals, lost it, found it, left outside on cold nights after gigs, practiced in cow sheds, practiced in old cottages where the smell of fags could kill you, you name it…this poor guitar has seen a lot. As I needed to play more gigs and go into different genres I found myself tending towards the acoustic. The old Red Strat got more rusty. I didn’t need it anymore, I thought about selling it but who wants to get rid of their first of anything?
A Pickup Swap
Fast forward to today, and I’ve recorded my debut album and I’m back practicing and playing my original material with the strat. I love playing my Brother’s Telecaster and I like the warmth out of the neck pickup and when I move to the Strat I always feel it lacks that oomph. I figured I’d swap out the pickups for something with more bite in them. My friend Dave was upgrading his old Strat so he said he’d swap his ones out. Dave is the singer and guitarist of The Rory Gallagher Tribute band DEUCE, a good friend and a guitar nut.
The Big Discovery
We started unscrewing the pickguard, expecting to see basic, stock pickups inside. and straight away Dave noticed on the bottom of the pickups, there were the initials “AY” written in pen and dated “10th June 2009” I had no idea what that meant, but Dave? He couldn’t believe it….
“Jesus, Do you know what you have here?!”
The following ten minutes came a lecture about who AY is and what she did. “AY” stands for Abigail Ybarra, a legendary Fender pickup winder who worked at the company from 1956 to 2013. She was responsible for hand-winding some of the most iconic Stratocaster and Telecaster pickups, shaping Fender’s signature sound. Her pickups were used by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour—you name it. If you find pickups signed 'Abby' in gold lettering, those were hand-wound by her personally. But ones signed 'AY' (like mine) were quality-checked by her, which still makes them pretty cool!
An side story about the Dodgy Guitar Tech guy from Brighton.
Then it hit me—I’d actually taken this guitar in for a setup and clean-up when I was living near Brighton in the UK. At the time, I was auditioning for a Rock and Roll Swing band in London, so I needed it to be in top shape. I handed the repair guy a new pickup I bought off eBay and asked him to swap it into the neck position.
A day later, he gives the guitar back and says, “All good to go.” Switched the pickup and sorted the buzzing!
That prick never swapped the pickup at all. He must have pocketed it and left these ones in, not realizing they were Abigail Ybarra pickups! If he’d known what he was looking at, he would’ve taken them!
So… Do I Like Them Now?
So, what now? I didn’t like these pickups before. But now that I know they’re special, suddenly I’m convincing myself they sound amazing. What does that say about me? Is it just psychological? Yes, definitely and YOU CAN SAY WHAT YOU LIKE ABOUT ME! BUT perhaps it’s the playability that’s affecting the sound. IE My style of playing has changed since the early days and I’m heavy with the right hand from all the bluegrass and Old time music. I need something else done to it.
Upgrading the Rest
So the next step? A proper refret, new tone and volume pots, new pickup switch selector and maybe it’ll suit my style a bit more and I’ll really be able to enjoy these pickups because now, I know they’re MADE BY AN ICON! Shallow, I know.
Final Thoughts
Lessons learned: don’t go back to that guy in Brighton and know that, Dave is definitely not a dickhead. He could have just swapped out the pickups and I would have been none the wiser.
Best,
Hubert.
