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Post subject: Texas Special Pickups
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:12 am
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I have a '99 american std. strat, and I'm thinking of "tweaking" it with a set of texas specials. Are these a good upgrade to get more "umph" out of my strat? Any suggestions are welcome.
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:08 pm
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Have you tried "tweaking" the pickup height with your current pickups?

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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:21 pm
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A better amp will give you more oomph!

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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:54 pm
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I have Texas Specials in my Squier, and they sound absolutely fantastic. They should give you more oomph, especially if you already have a nice amp and some kind of booster or O/D pedal. :)

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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:07 am
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I tried a set of Texas Specials in my Tele and didn't like them, the top end seemed to suffer and lose a bit of bite, they seemed very overly mid range heavy, i was thinking about trying a set of those Joe Barden Pick ups that Danny Gatton used but will probably just leave it as is with the original Fender ones fitted, took the tele back to the tech who installed the pick ups and sold them back to him (Texas specials). :cry:


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Post subject: Re: Texas Special Pickups
Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:23 am
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maverick218 wrote:
I have a '99 american std. strat, and I'm thinking of "tweaking" it with a set of texas specials. Are these a good upgrade to get more "umph" out of my strat? Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks


Welcome!

In a direct answer to your question, yes.

I must warn you though as I see this time and time again: Players, say in your situation, wish their OEM pickups had more balls so they'll go out and buy for example, the Texas Specials. Mission accomplished in the balls department however, the attributes which they DID like from their OEM pickups disappeared. For example, they liked the screaming high end and the quack factor of the OEMs but, and here's the key, in ADDITION to these attributes, they wished the pickups had more balls. Now, with the Texas Specials, the screaming high end is gone and the quack is now a fizzy, farty mess.

The point: When one is contemplating a pickups change, of equal importance to what one is trying to achieve with the change is what one wants RETAINED as well.

I suggest in many cases that after the pickup height adjustments and amp tweakings have failed the owner in his or her quest, a graphic EQ pedal may be the best alternative. It is cheaper than a new installed set of pickups and oftentimes, the EQ can contour in and out the tonality of the OEM pickups to where the owner accomplishes his or her goal AND retains the desirable attributes of the OEMs too. Best of all, the EQ can oftentimes dial in some even more pleasing tonality the owner wasn't even looking for but is elated to come across.

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Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:12 pm
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I have 2 guitars with TS in them.A TS strat and a SRV.They are great pickups if you are looking for that sound.Mind you , they are different than stock.Over time i also bought a American Standard strat and i must say , i really like the chimeyness of them.I am not saying i dislike the TS, but if i had one strat , it would be a stock strat.


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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:42 pm
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I found that when i put the TS's in my Tele the high E string seemed to get over powered by the lower strings and if you were playing some chord melody type thing with the melody on the high string you had to pick it much harder to get it to stand out and there was a general muddiness that i didn't like, one of the posters earlier brought up a great point that i hadn't thought of, if you're going to change pickups think about the part of the sound you've got with your existing pickups that you like and then think will the new ones affect that part of the sound, in my case i liked that high end clack from the original pickups but wanted less noise and a better overdriven sound, suffice to say the sound changed alright but i lost all that high end that i liked on the Tele.
Ah well, you can't have everything i suppose.


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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:04 pm
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pliers wrote:
...Ah well, you can't have everything i suppose.


I have to disagree. There are pickups which retain the properties you lost AND add the muscle of the TSs.

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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:10 pm
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Martian wrote:
pliers wrote:
...Ah well, you can't have everything i suppose.


I have to disagree. There are pickups which retain the properties you lost AND add the muscle of the TSs.


Martian
Do you fancy spilling the beans and ending the nailbiting suspense i'm suffering? :lol:

(I thought i was the only person to ever use a graphic to shape guitar rather than amp sound, ignorant of me.)

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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:33 pm
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nikininja wrote:
Martian wrote:
pliers wrote:
...Ah well, you can't have everything i suppose.


I have to disagree. There are pickups which retain the properties you lost AND add the muscle of the TSs.


Martian
Do you fancy spilling the beans and ending the nailbiting suspense i'm suffering? :lol:

(I thought i was the only person to ever use a graphic to shape guitar rather than amp sound, ignorant of me.)


Do you want for Strat or Tele?

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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:20 pm
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Strat please

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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:39 pm
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nikininja wrote:
Strat please


Non-HB:
- Duncan SSL-5
- Duncan SSL-6
- DiMarzio Red Velvet
- DiMarzio True Velvet (Bridge model only)

HB (stacked):
- Virtual Vintage Area 61
- Virtual Vintage 54 Pro

As always, YMMV.

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