One of my Strats has Texas Special pickups and I like the neck and bridge pickups very well. The problem I have is that I dont care for the RWRP middle pickup or the tones I get in the in-between switch positions. Have any of you ever swapped out the middle pickup on the Texas Specials with another Fender middle pickup? I'm wondering what kinds of tones I would get in the in-between positions with something other than the Texas Special middle pickup. If you have made this swap what did you replace it with?

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Randy,

Aside from your not liking a RW/RP middle pickup (which I don't like either), you weren't really specific on what you would prefer tonally from that middle pickup. Having noted that, there are two schools of thought for your inquiry. I shall stay within Fender's offerings as a ready point of reference:

The first school wants lots of "quack" in positions two and four and so, they will go with a trebly pickup such as (but not limited to) a CS 54 or CS 69.

The second school wants a pickup with characteristics of the other two existing pickups but not to their extreme such as (but not limited to) a Fat 50s or a 57/62.

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You dig?

How can you not like the in between sounds with the Texas Specials? I rarely use the middle pickup by itself, but I think it compliments the neck and bridge pickups just fine.

I think I want a vintage quack in the in-between positions. I have another Strat with CS 69's and I dont want the tone to be quite as airy and transparent as those. I have considered trying a middle pickup out of an American Std. just to see what happens, but I'm concerned the hotter Texas Special neck & bridge wont balance well with it. For me the in-between positions on the Texas Specials are too harsh and more like humbuckers when playing clean. I was curious to see if anyone else combined the Texas Special neck & bridge with something else and achieved something that might sound more like a 62 Strat in those positions. Martian you may have hit the nail on the head when you said "not to their extreme"

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Try a Tex Mex in there.

Try to find another Texas Specials neck pickup and put that in your middle position.

The "vintage" Strat set up has three pickups that are all (nominally) the same.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

+1.. a good suggestion right there!

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+2

You might also try the bridge pickup from a Fat 50's set.

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