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Post subject: Best Blues pups
Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 6:36 pm
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I have Texas Specials that came with my American Special strat and was just wondering if I should try some other pups. I like these just fine though ive only been playing electrics for 4 months mostly been playing acoustic so was just wondering what else i should try to for a good blues sound. I like SRV I know the Texas specials are in that realm. Is there a difference between the Texas Specials and the custom texas specials? Just looking for some good options. Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Best Blues pups
Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:03 pm
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jjkelly84 wrote:
I have Texas Specials that came with my American Special strat and was just wondering if I should try some other pups. I like these just fine though ive only been playing electrics for 4 months mostly been playing acoustic so was just wondering what else i should try to for a good blues sound. I like SRV I know the Texas specials are in that realm. Is there a difference between the Texas Specials and the custom texas specials? Just looking for some good options. Thanks.


"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

You've said it yourself, "I like these just fine". So, when and IF they reach a point where you feel something may be lacking, ask this question again. In the mean time, 'ride the wave' as being completely satisfied with one's pickup set is a beautiful thing.

Except for some cosmetic markings and a sticker, the Texas Specials and the Custom Shop Texas Specials are one and the same.

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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:35 am
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Martian is right... if you like the tone well stick with the tone...

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Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:46 am
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Martin has hit the nail on the head here.

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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:19 am
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Texas Specials are great - a little hotter than "vintage hot"-type pickups, lots of warmth and character. I like them just fine, and it sounds like you do, too, so enjoy! ;)


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Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 7:23 am
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I like the Custom Shop Texas Specials I have in one of my strats.

I also like the Custom Shop Fat 50's in another strat, and I play a lot of blues.

Also, don't forget about "noiseless" single coils. Oh yeah, how could you forget, you get reminded every time you play a single coil that they are noisey.

Because of the irritating noise, I am going to try a set of Hot Fender Noiseless or Seymour Duncan single coil noiseless and see what I think.

Another option is single coil sized dual rail humbuckers like the Seymour Duncan sets of "rails". These will give much more of a full sized humbucker sound, no noise, and after all, some of the great blues legends play or played humbucker guitars - Albert King, Flying V; Gary Moore, LP's; BB King, Lucielle, Derek Trucks, SG, and so on.

To play blues guitar you need a guitar, period. Depending on your place in life, some people can afford better guitars, personally selected pickup upgrades, several different guitar rigs to choose from, etc. Some have only rudimentary, basic rigs. The common fundamental element is that they play blues and manage to get blues sounds out of their rigs. Most of us are always wanting to have different or better rigs, certain tones, new amps, etc. No problem. It's all good. We roll with what we have and when we can we roll into some new gear and upgrade other gear. For a lot of us that is a lot of fun, moding, etc. Collecting. Others are content having one guitar and an amp. It's all good.

I would say consider getting some new pickups if you want to, but to stay away from really cheap ones that don't have a reputation for being great. I wouldn't want to replace Texas Specials with anything but something great.

Additionally, some guys really like the EMG active SA strat noiseless pickups. Guys like Vince Gill. Check out his black strat with the tortoise shell pickguard on the latest Eric Clapton, "Crossroads" DVD of the crossroads blues festival. That strat Vince Gill has has EMG active noiseless pickups with the EMG "fat" boost control in place of one of the tone controls. This lets you get a close to full sized humbucker sound out of the strat. Very interesting pickup arrangement to me. I might try this set up. But I don't care for the sound of EMG full sized humbuckers though - not as warm as good passive humbuckers.

Finally, I think it is great to have a Texas Special single coil strat in my collection. Great pickups capable of some serious wailing.

How about your amp? You might want to consider looking there and considering getting one that might produce even better blues sounds.
Again, there are many amp options for the blues.

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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 7:57 am
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Very interested in everyones thoughts here. I however learned a very valuable lesson this week. A few months ago I picked up a really sweet looking and feeling 2006 US Standard Strat. I could not help but think that the sound was a bit lacking somehow and started out to improve things.
Quite underwhelmed by the Texas Specials, and going HSS by putting a Pearly Gates with them just didn't work for me, so I put it all back to stock and darn if it doesn't sound just great, nearly as good as my Clapton equipped Strat. Maybe there should be a compulsory 'getting to know you' period before we start spending our hard earned chasing that elusive tone.

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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:39 am
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1Duffy1 wrote:
How about your amp? You might want to consider looking there and considering getting one that might produce even better blues sounds.
Again, there are many amp options for the blues.



This is the question I've gotta ask too. Do you have a good tube amp? Let's face it, that's essential to blues music. Plus those pups are great. Thinking about picking up a set myself for an old tinkering strat i just resurrected from the parts pile. I literally built a guitar out of parts I had laying around, and it feels great. Just gotta get those cheapo pups out from under the hood and we'll be cookin'!


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Post subject: Re: Best Blues pups
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 10:12 am
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jjkelly84 wrote:
I have Texas Specials that came with my American Special strat and was just wondering if I should try some other pups. I like these just fine though ive only been playing electrics for 4 months mostly been playing acoustic so was just wondering what else i should try to for a good blues sound. I like SRV I know the Texas specials are in that realm. Is there a difference between the Texas Specials and the custom texas specials? Just looking for some good options. Thanks.


Sounds like you've been reading too many posts in the forum and have come down with "upgrade-itis". Common affliction of all folks who just start playing. I had it too. Bought a guitar and started reading about "this" pickup and that "pickup"..felt I had to upgrade immediately. Fast forward a year and I did upgrade but take your time. If you like them and they sound good to you, then play on. Plenty of time to upgrade in the future when the next "ultimate" pickup is put on the market.

-T

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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 6:32 pm
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So, I'm far from a veteran but I will put my two cents in. I also own an American Special strat with Texas Specials (They are CS Texas Specials). I started reading some mixed reviews about the Texas Specials after I got the guitar and wondered if these were not the right pups for me. I had planned on swapping them out but ended up getting another guitar and changing the pickups in it instead. I am so glad I didn't take the TS's out of the American Special. Every time I pick it back up I am reminded how much I love these pickups. With a Tube Screamer I can easily get an SRV tone out of the guitar.

My advice, keep the Texas Specials for a while. Throw some other pedals in the mix, experiment with your tone settings. These are more versatile than they are given credit for.

For the sake of answering the question :) I would try some of the following if you end up replacing your pups

CS 69's
CS 54's
Klein S-5's (Based off of Fender Big Dippers)
Klein 65's


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Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 1:47 am
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Here Here,

+1

Good advice.


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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:12 am
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Very intereting post.
and thanks for the advice given.

brooklyn locksmith


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Post subject: Re: Best Blues pups
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:17 pm
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Just adding to the above posts, don't overlook your pickup heights, I have Texas Specials in two of my Strats and they both sound very nice to me with those pickups set quite low.

Snowy


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Post subject: Re: Best Blues pups
Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:24 pm
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I had a set of 57/62s that I used for a lot of blues and wish I still had 'em.

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Post subject: Re: Best Blues pups
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:36 pm
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I'm currently using 57/62's and I have to really raise the treble side of them to fatten them up. I'm running Stat-wah-univibe-ts9-ad9-SRRI....settings on the super are:vol,treb,mid and bass on 5, rev on 2....sometimes on the dry out of the ad9 I go into a 1974 Music Man HD130 4x10 combo...I use Ernie Ball 10's, tuned down 1/2 step


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