Hello all,
After a bit of advice from the more knowledgable in the world of pick ups.
I have 2010 CS deluxe strat. It is by far and away my number 1 and a working guitar, not just for indoors noodling.
After an intial honeymoon period, im finding the CS69 pups far to bright for my taste. I have the tone on my guitar backed off to around 4. I wont put the volume at 10 because it just sounds to thin, and i have the master tone control on my amp also backed right off. Gutted really because when i first got the guitar i could not fault it. But im forever backing the treble off to get somewhere near what i want.
The physical side of the guitar is perfect for me in every way so im considering swapping out the pick ups. Now the dilemmas. 1. I dont feel quite right about altering a custom shop guitar. Silly i know. Is it ok? 2. If i were to swap the pups im strongly considering texas specials. I know they are hotter than the 69s but are they as bright tone wise. 90% of what i play is blues. I would prefer to keep the replacements from the Fender stable as they will be going into CS. Thas just me being OCD ish. Any other options to the Texas specials? And just to ad. Current amp is a Laney VC, but thats soon to be a blues deluxe or Hrd III. Mainly looking for a good rich, warm blues tone pup. I play alot of SRV, Freddie King and the like.
Please help.

Cheers in advance.

Hi dc01,

Have you tried adjusting the pickup height? You can raise the bass side to add low end, and/or lower the treble side for less highs. It is common to have one side of the pickup higher than the other side, depending on the response that is desired. The Tex Spcls will be warmer than the '69s overall, but will have plenty of brightness if setup correctly, not quite as "sparkly" as the '69s.

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Its understandable having such a nice guitar youd want to keep fender pups in it but i have to ask why?
Kinda limits your choice for no real reason. I had texas specials in my no 1 guitar and used a Laney vc15 which packed up.
Had to swap out the pots and selector switch due to them being faulty (well 1 tone pot and the switch) so i started thinking of a pup swap.
Eventually got Bare knuckle apaches along with a new capacitor . . . . WOW This inspired me to fix the vc15.
Blimey its like a different amp. There may be alternative pups but the apaches are summat else and there British, made in Falmouth no less.

Just a thought.

I find the Tex-Mex pups in my Jimmie Vaughn to have just the right blend of brightness and mellowness.The '62 pups are a very close approximation of the pups in the L series Strats and have a beautiful fullness to their tone.

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Hi shimmilou.
Yes i ve tried various adjustments on the pick up heights. counting 1/2 and 1/4 turns to make sure i have a starting point. Cant take the treble end to far away from the strings cos i get a noticable volume drop on the e and B strings. Now the honeymoon period is over its quite fustrating. I ve ended up using a Boss EQ pedal as a volume boost and to boost the mids and cut the treble even futher. I dont think there is anything faulty. But the volume on 10 is still a no go for me even with the EQ pedal as its just to bright for my taste. Tried it through various amps. On a blues deluxe i spent an hour with at my local shop i only felt happy using the 2nd input which i believe cuts some of the highs. Not untill i had my EQ pedal and TS9 infront of the amp i could see the potential. But i believe your primary sound should be guitar and amp and pedals used to enhance it. Also set fire to a brand new out of the box HRDIII. Not a good day !:D

I agree that it limits my choice and have heard many great alternatives be it Bare knuckles,Seymors etc. But i feel wrong about altering a Custom Shop guitar as it is. Let alone with alternative make gear. Not that theres anything wrong with them, its just one of my personality quirks

You might try adding a Fralin base plate to your bridge pickup.

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

Forgot to mention. Sounds to thin to me on all pups.
Excuse my ingorance but what would changing the base plate do.?

Attached the bottom of the pickup bobbin, the base plate adds some ferrite mass to the magnets thus fattening the tone.

But if all three of your pickups are less-than-pleasing it sounds like they're not the set for you. You might give some thought to Fender's Fat 50's set. Still plenty spanky on top, they bring a skosh more beef to the table through the mids and bass frequencies.

Arjay

_________________
"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

Cheers Arjay.

How do the fat 50s compare to the Texas specials.

Less brittle, more balanced.

BTW, what type of amp rig are you playing your guitar through?

Arjay

_________________
"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

Guitar into VC15 = Nothing pleasing now
or
Guitar, Tuner, TS9, T rex tone bug reverb, hush modded Boss GE7, Amp = Something close to mediocre.

For instance as im sitting hear now i have just guitar and amp.
Neck pup. tone on 4. Guitar volume on 5. More vol = thinner tone
Amp settings are
Vol 8
Bass 5
Mid 6
Tre 2-3
Mas tone 2.

This probably means nothing to you But with these setting it still sounds thin
Also these 69s are very quiet compared to my other strats, One of which is a squier with ceramics.

Have you played the guitar through other amps?

How did it sound?

Arjay

_________________
"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

Sorry to say ,but...If you want to fix the tone you must change the pups.OR deal with it...

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Yes, the amp might make a difference, you mentioned the "...soon to be a blues deluxe or Hrd III...." and either might give a better tone than the Laney.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.