Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

[colz10]

Ii'm interested in buying the jimmie vaughan strat. But i've never heard about the pickups that coms stock. They are:2 Tex-Mex™ Calibrated, Overwound, Single-Coil Strat Pickups (Neck and Middle),
1 Tex-Mex “Hot Bridge” Single-Coil Strat Pickup (Bridge) .
Does anybody know anything about them???

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

They are IMO the best stock pickup Fender has right now, and IMO better that the other aftermarket Fender stuff. I still have the stock set in my JV, but I prefer alnico II pickups and that is THE ONLY reason I am gonna change them, in fact I am gonna keep the stock pickups in a guardplate. the bridge is a little overwound...my set reads like so...

-neck=6.35
-middle=6.79
-bridge=7.58

The are not icepicky to my ears at all, and like I said...if I were into alnico 5 pickuips I would keep them! If there is anything you want to know about the pickups or the guitar please feel free to ask.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

Let me just also say that IMO a JV strat is the best Strat you can get for the money right now!!!

[colz10]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

i'm looking for a bluesy, deep creamy tone on this guitar, a lot like srv and other blues, especially texan blues, players. I will mainly play clean on this guitar, but i would like some really smooth distortion once in a while. will these pickups be good for that, or are there better pickups for that from any other brand?

[colz10]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

my friend quencho092 said it was the best deal tone-for-money.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

a set of Duncans might be an upgrade...Jimmy Vaughan really does use them, and I love Jimmy's tone! Play as many JV's as you can and if you buy used go for the newest one you can find...the early ones have a poplar body and the tone is a tad lacking IMO...I played several before finding mine, and the search was worth it...I compared to a MIA CS 57 reissue, and killer it...the MIA 57 was over 4 times what I paid for the JV, and I like it better! you can dp a search on this forum both Alvin Lee Fan and I play JV strats, and a good friend of Lew has one...I posted a small review, as did Alvin Lee fan (I think!). Let me know if I can help with anything!

[colz10]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

a set of Duncans might be an upgrade...Jimmy Vaughan really does use them, and I love Jimmy's tone! Play as many JV's as you can and if you buy used go for the newest one you can find...the early ones have a poplar body and the tone is a tad lacking IMO...I played several before finding mine, and the search was worth it...I compared to a MIA CS 57 reissue, and killer it...the MIA 57 was over 4 times what I paid for the JV, and I like it better! you can dp a search on this forum both Alvin Lee Fan and I play JV strats, and a good friend of Lew has one...I posted a small review, as did Alvin Lee fan (I think!). Let me know if I can help with anything!

i was reading some of the old threads on this guitar, and i have a couple of questions. They mentioned that the body is made of basswood, alder,or poplar. i knwo poplar is bad, but how do the other two affect the tone, and which is better? also, what's the hot middle pickup like, without the tone control? is it better to put in a tone control for it? finally, is there any special reason for having 21 frets instead of 22?
thanks for all you help

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

i was reading some of the old threads on this guitar, and i have a couple of questions. They mentioned that the body is made of basswood, alder,or poplar. i knwo poplar is bad, but how do the other two affect the tone, and which is better? also, what's the hot middle pickup like, without the tone control? is it better to put in a tone control for it? finally, is there any special reason for having 21 frets instead of 22?
thanks for all you help

Ok...first, there were NO Jimmy Vauighan Strats made from Basswood.
Second, Poplar is not bad, but IMO Alder is better, most of the newer ones are alder, in the early days of the JV they would be either poplar or alder...this changed to all alder in about 2000-2001 (this is what I was told by Fender)...like I said just play as many as you can find, get the one that rings and sounds the betst the pickups, and necks are all pretty much the same, so look for the one with the bnest tone, and get it...
third, the middle pickup ios not really hotter, it just has no tone control...it's cool, Jimmy uses it a lot for his solo's, the biggest plus of having it this way is that the tone control which would normally be on the middle is now on the bridge and this is a HUGE good point...a Strat bridge pup is always kind of thin sounding, having a tone conttrol for the bridge is a great thing...some guys set ot up for a master tone, but to be honest I like having it only on the bridge...the bridge with some of the tone rolled off and the middle pickup full on is a very cool tone! asfor the 21 fret issue...Jimmy like VINTAGE Strats with a few modern upgrades...fatter frets (a vintage Strat has wire frets, the JV has MJ), a flatter radius (vintage is 7.25, the JV is 9.5) and the slightly hotter bridge pickup, as well as the RW/RP middle pickup as well as the non vintage wiring...every thing else is vintage Fender...so, it has 21 frets.

you are very welcome

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Tex-Mex on jimmie Vaughan strat

I have a Jimmie Vaughan Strat. It's the only one that I have touched. I think it feels and plays great, and sounds great. I got it fully intending to change the pickups with Duncan's, but I have been pleasantly suprised by this guitar.
It really sounds good.

This is my first strat, and was a bit hesitant since I had a dual coil Explorer and Hamer previously. This JV was my return to playing after a long time off.

I love it. I love the notch positions at 2 and 4, bridge and neck all give great tones. I don't mind having no tone control on the middle pup since I rarely play it alone since the other 4 positions sound so good. And like The Guy That Invented Fire said, I don't think the Tex Mex pups sound ice picky at all.

I play it through a Reverend HellHound, I can get some really cool sounding Georgia Satellites, Dire Straits, and some really great bluesy tone from this guitar. Tune it down a half step and it gets close to producing some SRV sound. Try it if you don't believe me!

In my case, and best of all it was a gift. How great is that!
Rock You like A Hurricane-Scorpions or Some Heads are Gonna Roll-Judas Priest, just don't sound the same on the JV strat. But that just gives you reason to own 2 guitars.