In your guys' opinion, what do you think is the best stratocaster pickups for blues? I don't mind texas specials, but was looking for something else. What do you guys think?

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Guitars: 2001 PRS McCarty, 1976 Hagstrom Jimmy Oval, 2010 Taylor Koa T5 Custom, 2009 Taylor 416 LTD, 2009 Gretsch Brian Setzer 6120, 2010 Taylor SBX-T, 2009 Daneletectro Baritone, 2005 Fender Kingman

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I don,t think theres a bad pickup for blue. I feel it has more to do with how you play. I like the vintage noiseless in my EC strat for blues.

A good starting point would be identifying what it is about texas specials that you want to improve upon.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

It doesn't matter. The Blues come from you, not the pickup. I sound the same regardless of what guitar or pickups I use.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

How many Rockettes can tap-dance on the head of a four-penny nail?



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I play blues in the Buddy Guy/Albert King vein and I found the Jimmie Vaughn Strat with the Tex Mex pickups to be very well suited for my style of playing,they can have a real smooth chime at lower volumes but can out raunch most others when put through an overdriven amp.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

The pickups don't have much to do with playing blues. If you fiddle with the equalizer on your amp or any effect peddles...they dwarf the impact of any pickup.

Pickups, amp types, etc, would be needed to copy some specific sound of a particular artist. But thousands of different musicians play the blues so no one size fits all. It's more of a feel.

Texas Specials are my favourites for blues- as previously suggested, have a look at other parts of your rig. Amplifier & settings, any pedals used, and most importantly, you!

It's all about feeling it. I'd say with blues, it's not about what you play... it's about what you don't play. Sometimes the music is the silence between the notes.

(Or something like that.)

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

I can,t think of any Fender p/u that would be bad for playin blues.

+1...for many years I've played the blues on lots of the basic pickups and custom and boutique pups...all of them got my message through...the amps are what sounded more different than anything.