Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

[Moonsorrow]

Vintage Strat tones with an attitude is how i would describe these great pickups. I think i`ve finally found the single coils for me. I know people either love or hate these pups and the ones who hate them always think they`re harsh sounding but thats not my impression at all. Vintage tone all the way imo but with an added edge. Also i really like how these sound with overdrive as well making them pretty much the ultimate in Strat pups for me anyway. :cool2:

 

[ErikH]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

Same here. I love 'em and have a set in my '94 American Standard. I almost yanked them out for some noiseless but then I tried one more thing with the wiring and changed the pots to a 250k volume and 500k tones with a shared .1uf cap like the EJ Strat. No tone on the middle pickup. Sounds incredible now. Much better than before.

 

[metlking]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I like the TS in my Lonestar fat Strats...never understood the occasional hate for these, other than the current prices for them! I bought a set 10 years ago and they were like $129 a set....now they're $229? Something like that.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

$189 at GC for a Strat set. I got mine for $160 a little more than 2 years ago. I wasn't thrilled with the price increase but I got the best deal I could.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I really like Texas Specials. The Tele bridge pickup is a little too raw for my taste but they're still nice. They have to be really dialed in as far as height and amp settings. They also seem to really really like alder bodies with rosewood fretboards.

 

[Moonsorrow]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I got mine in a used Classic 60`s Fender Strat that someone had already upgraded. I didn`t even know it until i took the pickguard off and turned it over. Boy was i pleasantly surprised when i saw the bottom of the pups saying Fender Custom Shop! The guitar was used but in mint condition and no info about the pups being upgraded.(GC must have never even known!) Got it all for $400 out the door which is an amazing deal considering these now go for $900 stock,plus another $189 for the Texas Specials!!

 

[SMark]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

Sort of changed your mind about changing them out, didn't it?

If you ever do get the chance to measure the DC resistance of your bridge pup (I know you don't have a meter) let me know what it is. Fender changed the specs of the Texas Specials a few years ago, and doing so pretty much fixed the only harshness problem that they really had. I have a set of older Texas Specials and the bridge pup has a DC resistance of almost 8k. It is really notchy and hard to dial-in. The current bridge pup spec is in the neighborhood of 6.5k and has a much smoother tone on its own and a much nicer position 2 quack tone as well. Doing this really fixed that problem IMO. So it would be interesting to know what your bridge pickup is anyway.

Now if Fender could just lower that G-string pole a bit we'd really be in business...

 

[Dan-ola]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

So is it best to run the TX Specials with 250K vol and tone controls?

I had heard 500K worked better for them and was thinking of matching them with a Custom 5, which seems to work better with 500K (it sounded brighter and crunchier in my LP - less top-end, more AC-DC in my Strat previously even with no tone control...)

Dano

 

[ErikH]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

So is it best to run the TX Specials with 250K vol and tone controls?

I had heard 500K worked better for them and was thinking of matching them with a Custom 5, which seems to work better with 500K (it sounded brighter and crunchier in my LP - less top-end, more AC-DC in my Strat previously even with no tone control...)

Dano

As stated in my first post, I run my TX Specials with 250k volume and 500k tones now. 500k for the volume was a little too open and 250k choked them back a little too much though it'll depend on the guitar they're in too. With a humbucker in the bridge, 500k would be fine. I've done that before.

FWIW, the bridge pickup in my set is 7.0-7.1k. The neck is slightly over 6.0k and the middle is around 6.5k.

Moonsorrow, are you sure they're TX Specials? What color is the pickup wire? If it's a purple-ish color, they're TX Specials. If not, they could be CS 69's, CS '54 or Fat 50's. The TX Specials are the only ones with the purple-ish colored wire.

 

[SMark]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

Yeah, he's got Texas Specials. And actually, the CS69 also has purple enamel wire, as does the older 57/62. But of course, other features will tell them apart. That 7k bridge pup of yours likely sounds a lot better than mine.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

Yeah, he's got Texas Specials. And actually, the CS69 also has purple enamel wire, as does the older 57/62. But of course, other features will tell them apart. That 7k bridge pup of yours likely sounds a lot better than mine.

How can you be sure he does? All Custom Shop pickups have the sticker. The only way to know for sure is for him to measure the DC resistance of each one.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I have never cared for the TX specials. Although one thing I can say for them is that they hold together pretty well at high volumes. At low volumes I think they lack openness, are dark and stiff. But I imagine that those same qualities at low volume are what make them good at high volume.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I have never cared for the TX specials. Although one thing I can say for them is that they hold together pretty well at high volumes. At low volumes I think they lack openness, are dark and stiff.

I found the same thing to be true. They're like a barrel racing horse that's stuck giving pony rides at the fair. At low volumes, they just don't do anything; but crank up the amp and they really come to life.

 

[B2D]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I've loved Texas Specials in every guitar I've tried them in. When I re-wire up my Strat I think I'll go for a set of those instead of the SCN's I've got in there now.

 

[SMark]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

How can you be sure he does? All Custom Shop pickups have the sticker. The only way to know for sure is for him to measure the DC resistance of each one.

There are other ways to tell them apart. For example, only two of the Fender Custom Shop sets have a reverse wound, reverse polarity middle pickup. So if his set has one of these (it does) then he can only have Texas Specials or Fat 50s. And like you said, Texas Specials have enamel wire and flat poles, and Fat 50s have formvar wire and beveled poles. The CS69 is the only pickup (other than the rare handwound Abby pickups) that has the gray flatwork. The CS54 set will look almost like the Fat 50s, except there is no RWRP middle pickup and no blue dot on the neck pickup because the neck and middle pups have the same spec. And OEM Custom 50s and Custom 60s seldom come with stickers anyway. But if they do, they will always have three identical looking pickups with black fiber bobbins. Only the CS69 set has 3 identical pickups, but they will all have gray flatwork, and typically have Abby's initials on them anyway.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

I found the same thing to be true. They're like a barrel racing horse that's stuck giving pony rides at the fair. At low volumes, they just don't do anything; but crank up the amp and they really come to life.

What I found is that they LOVE non master-volume amps. Use them with a Bassman, Showman or Bandmaster and a tube screamer they are fine. However use them with a master-volume anything and they sound ratty and clanky, unless you use a compressor.

 

[Moonsorrow]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

How can you be sure he does? All Custom Shop pickups have the sticker. The only way to know for sure is for him to measure the DC resistance of each one.

Yes they are Texas Specials. Purple wire,RWRP middle and flat magnets.

OH....and nice to see you over here SMark!

 

[ErikH]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

There are other ways to tell them apart. For example, only two of the Fender Custom Shop sets have a reverse wound, reverse polarity middle pickup. So if his set has one of these (it does) then he can only have Texas Specials or Fat 50s. And like you said, Texas Specials have enamel wire and flat poles, and Fat 50s have formvar wire and beveled poles. The CS69 is the only pickup (other than the rare handwound Abby pickups) that has the gray flatwork. The CS54 set will look almost like the Fat 50s, except there is no RWRP middle pickup and no blue dot on the neck pickup because the neck and middle pups have the same spec. And OEM Custom 50s and Custom 60s seldom come with stickers anyway. But if they do, they will always have three identical looking pickups with black fiber bobbins. Only the CS69 set has 3 identical pickups, but they will all have gray flatwork, and typically have Abby's initials on them anyway.

Gotcha. Lots of little details there I wasn't aware of. Good info.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

What I found is that they LOVE non master-volume amps. Use them with a Bassman, Showman or Bandmaster and a tube screamer they are fine. However use them with a master-volume anything and they sound ratty and clanky, unless you use a compressor.

That's hasn't been the case with me. I run a Vox Valvetronix amp live right now and they sound fantastic. Played it through a buddy's JVM and they sounded great there. Can't wait to hear that Strat through my Marshall when I get it back (900 MkIII).

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Very Impressed with Fender Texas Specials pups

If you like the Texas Specials, you should try their Fat 50's. I thought they were much better than the TS.