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Post subject: Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials or Fat 50s?
Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:36 pm
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Hi all,

I want to upgrade my new MIJ strat pickups and would like something from Fender. They are a good price these days and Ive seen lots of positive reviews.

I want some pickups that will go will with the basewood body, and also handle some distortion well.

Out of the Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials and Fat 50s, which would you recommend?

Thanks!


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials or Fat 50s?
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:25 am
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TobiJ wrote:
Out of the Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials and Fat 50s, which would you recommend?


The CS 69's are bright, chimey, and very articulate -- great with a Fuzz Face and a Marshall or straight into Super Reverb for mega-clean funk.

Texas Specials deliver some serious grit for that smokey saloon vibe -- with a tweed Bassman re-issue they put a capital "B" in the blues.

Fat '50s put some serious punch into a Strat, especially those with a maple fretboard -- very ballsy with a Fulltone OCD in front of a Vibrolux Reverb.

Another Fender set worthy of mention is the 57/62 as used in the AVRI's -- these produce the prototypical Strat tone IMO and sound great with virtually any amp-and-pedalboard rig.

HTH

Arjay

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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:37 am
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I've always liked the Texas Specials myself. It looks like Retroverbial pretty much covered all the bases with his descriptions of each set, and I'd say your best bet would be to try and find some sound clips of each one online and try and hear for yourself the differences. Might make it easier to choose. Or it could make it harder considering that they all sound great. Good luck with the decision, let us know what you choose once the time comes.

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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:09 am
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ACME Guitar Works has tons of sound clips of all three of those pickups.

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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:23 am
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have the 69ers in my HW1. very nice tone. i did take the bridge pup out
and installed a JB jr in the bridge.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:19 pm
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well, good luck with your decision. aside from the 57/62's, you're considering the cream of the crop. i've got 69's in one of my strats right now, and am about to pull the trigger on some texas specials sometime before christmas for my other strat. but, i'm also planning to mod the crap out of a strat in the future-we'll call it my dream guitar-and i have every intention of loading it with fat 50's. so, safe to say, at least in my opinion, you can't go wrong at this point! :D


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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:04 pm
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way cool jr wrote:
have the 69ers in my HW1. very nice tone. i did take the bridge pup out
and installed a JB jr in the bridge.


Hey WayCool...I see you ended up going with the JBjr...how you like it?

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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:24 pm
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Why not combine them. My CS strat has 69s neck and middle, with a texas special in the bridge. With the delta tone wiring i can really thicken the bridge up without it getting to muddy. Sounds superb, and what with the spank of the 69s i can pretty much get all the sounds i need with the volume and tone knobs and use the dynamics of the picks ups.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:16 pm
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TimDrakeMusic wrote:
way cool jr wrote:
have the 69ers in my HW1. very nice tone. i did take the bridge pup out
and installed a JB jr in the bridge.


Hey WayCool...I see you ended up going with the JBjr...how you like it?



i love it. its totally changed that guitar from a blues guitar to a
rock n roll monster. i cant even play that guitar through my blues jr any more. it just doesnt sound right lol. it needs a amp with a bit more gain.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:31 pm
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Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks like all these pickups are very well liked.

Im leaning towards the Fat 50s... I read the 69s dont handle distortion as well and can be a bit ice picky in the bridge. The Texas Specials might be too mid rangey for me.

I looked at the 57/62 briefly, but I think I need something a bit overwound and warmer, to handle my level of distortion (I love distortion with single coils, the dynamic response is so much better than with humbuckers to me).

Still havent decided though :?

Tobi

P.S. Hard, random question, but does anyone know which set would give the best ska tone with the mid and neck pups on? I mean that slightly out of phase, compressed (?) sound.


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials or Fat 50s?
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:35 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
TobiJ wrote:
Out of the Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials and Fat 50s, which would you recommend?


The CS 69's are bright, chimey, and very articulate -- great with a Fuzz Face and a Marshall or straight into Super Reverb for mega-clean funk.

Texas Specials deliver some serious grit for that smokey saloon vibe -- with a tweed Bassman re-issue they put a capital "B" in the blues.

Fat '50s put some serious punch into a Strat, especially those with a maple fretboard -- very ballsy with a Fulltone OCD in front of a Vibrolux Reverb.

Another Fender set worthy of mention is the 57/62 as used in the AVRI's -- these produce the prototypical Strat tone IMO and sound great with virtually any amp-and-pedalboard rig.

HTH

Arjay


Thanks for the info Arjay, they all sound so good by these descriptions!

Im not familiar with the sound of the Fulltone, which one do you think would take the most gain well? Fat 50s?

Tobi


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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:47 pm
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Probably the CS 69 set.

The Fat 50's are voiced for more mid-range than you may prefer and they are wound relatively "mild" compared to the Texas Specials.

I've owned them all at one time or another though I currently have no Strats with the TS's (they're really not my cup of tea).

HTH

Arjay

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:09 pm
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I just ordered a set of 57/62, Arjay recommended them, was also considering 69's. I listened to a few samples on youtube to compare a few other pups, these two vids and the price helped me decide, can't beat $109 shipped! 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HInVS-vc8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agH9tBY4YMw


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials or Fat 50s?
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:24 pm
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Was lurking and decided to add my .02.

Bought a American Special which come with the TS. I liked them at first because they have a lotta balls to em, so playing blues was fun. I found them to work well with my fuzzface and megavibe but not so much with my delay, RMVO. I have to say that in my opinion these pick ups are very one dimensional. If I wasn't playing blues I didn't like what they were doing to the tone of the instrument. The neck pick up was the only pick up I truly liked. The middle has a serious buzz and is way too hot. As the for the bridge I had to bring the tone way down to get a sound that I even remotely wanted. Also playing rhythm chords with these pick ups was a nightmare to be honest. They are just too hot for my taste. I had fun ripping blues with them but overall I decided to go with the CS 69's for a more versatile tone. Grabbed em off ebay brand new for 130 with free shipping, pretty much the same price as the TS. Strats in the shop right now and I have a feeling I will be very happy with the tone when it's out. TS for me personally were a disappointment and it never truly sounded like a classic strat tone to me.

Do yourself a favor and do some research watch some demos before you make a decision. I would also check out the 57/62's. I really wanna try those out maybe throw them on my next strat.

If you want beef and a HOT set of pups then the TS could be for you. If you're looking for a clean bell tone with versatility go with the 69's.

Good luck! Hope you find what you're looking for.


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop 69, Texas Specials or Fat 50s?
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:21 pm
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I've got strats setup with 69's Fat 50's and 57/62's. Really they all are great, but I think the 57/62's are the most versatile, and take all my pedals very well.

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