Just got the pride of the fleet... an Olympic White Strat Roadhouse, MIM. I've been scoping and wanting this guitar for a while, and it did not dissapoint. By the serial number, made in 07 (though I bought it new two days ago at the guitar center... been unsold for a while I suppose). Those Texas Specials can wail! I have a little bit of a problem though... they're terribly bright. I'm playing through a Digitech RP80, Fender 65R and have moved to .10s. Even on the neck pickup if the tone is not around 1 or 2, the sound is very bright. Forget playing through the middle or bridge... it's ear piercing. I did notice that the amp was bright to begin with, as ever since I bought it I've had to put the treble down almost the whole way. Figured I'd ask the wisdom of the board... any suggestions appreciated. Finally in the Fender community!

Lower the pick ups into the pick guard a bit more. I keep the bass pole pieces higher than the treble side to give just a wee bit more low end punch. Give it a shot, worked for me!

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

I've got the exact same guitar and it the same situation, bought new last fall but it was dated from '07. Anyway, the brightness is the pickup height. Lower them a tad and you'll find they'll quiet down a little. Texas Specials have special height requirements, different from any other single coil. Give that a shot. Also, I scoop out the mid's on my amp and use an equalizer as well.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Ok, I'll try that... I've been using the setup straight from the store, not much tinkering just yet. Though I think I might get the neck shimmied to raise it a little. Detroit, glad to see someone else with such a quality guitar, thanks for the feedback. What exactly does it mean to "scoop out" the mids... is that higher or lower?. I have it set fairly high currently, but in all honesty I'm pretty much a novice as far as tone definition. I've been experimenting with EQ settings lately, but hadn't done a whole lot of that before. I've see the values of the height the pickups are supposed to be... should I go by that or lower them further? Thanks for the feedback!

I had mine wired with the neck and middle pickup in one tone pot, and the bridge pickup on the other. I can roll off on the tone a bit and that does wonders to knock the high frequencies off the bridge pickup. I don't even think I'd ever be able to use the bridge pickup if not for that mod.

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scooping out the mids means remove them. If you have a bass, mid, and treble tone controls on the amp and RP, set the MID to zero or one. Keep the Bass around half way and the treble slightly past halfway. Cleans up the tone nicely. Most RP multi-effects have equalizer in them. Check out Steviesnacks.com. He explains a lot of that stuff.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Thanks Detroit... I'll give that a try. That's how I set up my home audio, "scooping" the mids but I hadn't tried on the guitar yet. I tried lowering the pickups (actually, I set them up per fender suggestion, realizing they were completely out of whack from the store. bass side was way close, treble way lower) and it did wonders for the sound. I ended up lowering them an extra half turn all the way around to make them a little muddier, and they sound great. Texas, that sounds like a good idea... I really like the tone of the middle and bridge together, so that'd be useful. I'll wait on that mod though, I've only had this thing three days!

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2007 Fender Stratocaster Roadhouse - Olympic White
2005 Ibanez GRX20Z - Jewel Blue
Fender Frontman 65R Amp
Fender Frontman 15w
Digitech RP50, RP80

"If the house is rockin', don't bother knockin'... come on in."

-Stevie Ray Vaughn

Are you talking about the guitar's tone control being at 1 or 2?

If you can dial down the tone on the amp and get a good sound, what's the problem? So what if the Amp's treble is at 0 ... ??



Has lowering the pickups helped?


One trick you might try, turn the amp towards the wall. Or run it through a sealed 4 x 12 cabinet ...

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Lowering the pickups helped a lot, though the bridge is still way bright... from what I've read the 65R is kind of a bright amp anyways. I've started to stand off to the side of the amp instead of in front of it, makes loads of difference. Yeah, I pretty much have to keep the bridge tone control in the 1-3 or 4 range. What would running it through a sealed 4x12 do?

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2007 Fender Stratocaster Roadhouse - Olympic White
2005 Ibanez GRX20Z - Jewel Blue
Fender Frontman 65R Amp
Fender Frontman 15w
Digitech RP50, RP80

"If the house is rockin', don't bother knockin'... come on in."

-Stevie Ray Vaughn

Usually a 4x12 cabinet has a much darker tone than an open backed combo amp.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Nice... thanks for all the suggestions. I think I just need to spend some more time with my equipment, I'm starting to approach the sound I want with these suggestions. Thanks, keep them coming!

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2007 Fender Stratocaster Roadhouse - Olympic White
2005 Ibanez GRX20Z - Jewel Blue
Fender Frontman 65R Amp
Fender Frontman 15w
Digitech RP50, RP80

"If the house is rockin', don't bother knockin'... come on in."

-Stevie Ray Vaughn

Awesome, hope it all works out for you. Let us know the final result.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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