Did anybody ever see the Lone Star Strat? That thing is a beauty, especially in white!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IC ... d_i=507846

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1995 Fender Mustang

I owned this '90s one for a few months... regret selling it, but it was superseded firmly...



A fine instrument, the original MIA one. Texas Specials are incredible, the SD not as hot as you expect.

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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."

Agreed - these originals (and the first replacement - the "American Series Texas Special Fat Strat" - same pickups with the other American Series updates) were about the only HSS Strats I've ever been able to get a good sound out of; I should have bought one back then but never got around to it; the later HSS American Series/American Standards never sounded as good to me.

The SD pickup might be called a "Pearly Gates Plus" but to me it certainly doesn't have more output than a "regular" SD Pearly Gates pickup; it may well be a lower output pickup than the "regular' one. It was really wound for Fender to balance with the Texas Special single coils. The only other pickup sets that I've tried out that come close to this kind of balance would be a Fralin "Unbucker" combined with Fralin's hot '60s single coils or the all gold-logo Lace Sensor set on the original Jeff Beck Signatures.

Dead right, dude. They changed back to the 'standard' pickups and the godawful Atomic/Diamondback humbuckers. The beauty of the Texas Specials was that they had that little bit more bite to them, so they were better matched with the humbucker. I also agree with the PG+ not being very +! However, a beautiful, smooth, creamy sound that I could only get out of my PRS #6 pickups.

Hope Fender recapture the magic of these old dinosaurs. Something utterly wonderful about the hot-rodded, raw feel of this old range.

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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."

The new ones have Texas Specials and a SD Pearly gates in the bridge. I prefer the Pearly Gates neck position humbucker than the bridge. The Texas Specials are a bit too tinny even when backing down the treble on the tone knobs.

I do like they way the Lone Star looks, especially the white. But you could probably get away with a Standard model and modding it with whatever pickups you like, and put the tortoise shell pick guard on it and be happier with it.

As always this is just my opinion.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Did you ever try lowering the Texas Specials? When I had my Lone Star, I pretty much hated the thing until I adjusted the height of the pickups. I was on the verge of trading or selling it, but once the pickups were set right, I was thrilled with the sound I was getting from them. I would say that they had a tone that was quite similar to the Fat 50's. Man, I miss that guitar

I had an American Special with Texas Specials. I owned it for about a year. It sounded great at the store, but I had tone issues when I got it home. Tried raising and lowering them all up and down. My neck pickup was beautiful, just the middle and bridge too tinny.

Funny you should mention the Fat 50's, I just installed them in my Highway 1, those are the best sounding single coil pickups I have ever played with. To me they do not sound anything like those Texas Specials did. Just goes to show that people perceive tone differently.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head