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Post subject: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:07 pm
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I'm getting into country/rock and was thinking about swapping out the pickups in my 90s American Standard Tele for Custom Shop Texas Specials to add a little more "twang." Anybody have any experience with these? I like how the CS Texas Special neck pickup on Strats sound.


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:55 am
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I modded my 2012 MIM standard with T/S and IMO got less twang. Thats what I was looking for. I play mostly rock and like to drive my Blackstar HT-60 in the OD2 channel. Nice distortion but not muddy. The T/S are hot pickups and they are a bit noisy even with paint shielded cavities and good grounding. The ceramic PUPS that were original and less hot gave me more of the twang.


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:06 pm
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I would agree with lsjruvolo 100%. I installed these in my 94 MIM Tele a decade ago for the same reason, to get more twang but I got something else instead, thick full tone that has a lot more body than average for a single coil. That said, I fell in love with the sound, and use a strat for "twang" instead. There is no way I would part with them now. The guitar definitely has more bottom end but it is clear with no mud, perfect for country rock, blues and even classic rock. Not exactly "bell" or crisp, something with more character and less 2 dimensional. They are slightly louder than the stock pickups as well.

For me, the neck pickup has a very jazzy sound, super clean with exceptional bottom end. The bridge pickup is also fuller and not overly bright in the least. Pushing the gain way up also sounds very nice, nicer than any other single coils I've heard. The neck pickup also sounds very nice when running low to mid amounts of overdrive.

The middle position depends on how you wire it, and I forget which option I chose, but I get a humbucking tone that has a good wide range on it. It is slightly louder than the single pickups in tone and very nice for arpeggios, with a more "acoustic" sound overall. Like the neck, it does very well with low and mid amounts of distortion. The neck or middle position sound ok with heavy gain, but that isn't their strength, particularly the middle selection which can get a little muddy with major distortion. Overall, the harmonics are insane, and the volume and tone knobs are very useful with these pickups. I can set the gain on medium, select the bridge, and roll back the volume and it sounds clean, then roll it up and it gets dirty. But at least for me in my guitar, they aren't twangy.

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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:44 am
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sunshy wrote:
I'm getting into country/rock and was thinking about swapping out the pickups in my 90s American Standard Tele for Custom Shop Texas Specials to add a little more "twang." Anybody have any experience with these? I like how the CS Texas Special neck pickup on Strats sound.


Tried them but didn't give the same 'twang' as the Twang King in my go-to Tele now. Excellent Tele tone. You cant find a better neck pup, IMO.
I also like the SD Broadcaster bridge pup.

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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:18 pm
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Tele twang and Strat quack are both diminished by high output pickups. That's not something most people will admit to since everybody seems to be on the hunt for hotter and hotter pickups these days. Texas Specials are not extremely hot but they are fairly hot. Persons wishing to find that "Holy Grail" Tele tone or Strat tone should be looking at vintage outputs rather than modern high outputs.

My 2¢

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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:07 pm
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I had an American Special Tele w/ the TS pickups and my experience was also that it had less twang. One of my favorite pickups for twang is the Seymour Duncan Nashville 5/2's. Twnagy w/o being thin.


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Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Texas Specials for more twang?
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 2:43 am
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I just ordered a Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue bridge pickup after listening to a lot of youtube videos with it. Had a real Buck Owens thing going on, which is what I'm going for. Supposed to be majorly twangy and still moderately hot. It was between that and Duncan's vintage pickups, but this had higher output and seemed to have more twang somehow, so the volume will be balanced with the other pups. Got a good deal at 65 on ebay with the "make an offer" feature. Will install in a week or so in my MIM Nashville (Tex Mex pups) and see.

Here is one of the demos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFzoVqhA458

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