Anyone else hate the Texas Special pickups?

[raindog13]

I have an American Special Stratocaster with them in it. Sonic Blue, rosewood fretboard, big 70's headstock, just a wonderful guitar. But these pickups... they're the worst, I swear. The bridge pickup is just so nasal and shrill(somehow). The other two are lackluster at best. I'm thinking about getting a set of CS '69 pickups for it, because I do still want it to sound like a Strat, but I'm still not sure. The price isn't bad, and the demos I've heard of them sound good. Anyone ever try those out? I love this guitar, but these pickups gotta go...

[jthomas]

I put a set of these in my MIM 1994 Strat (good player guitar) with clear covers and like them fine. I think that they look kinda cool, too. YMMV.

https://www.guitarfetish.com/KP--Boston ... 22004.html

I think that this video is pretty representative of what my guitar sounds like. (but not my video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGg85xAaHb8

Not sure how representative this video is, sound wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q0IJA3LeQY

[Larry Mal]

I was always pretty sure I would hate them based on the name alone.

"Larry Ray Vaughan"

[raindog13]

I was always pretty sure I would hate them based on the name alone.

"Larry Ray Vaughan"

Ironic thing is, they don't have anything close to that "Stevie" tone everyone is always after, which I don't want, so for me, that should be fine. Except that they're absolute shit. My MIK Squier has better pickups, I swear.

I put a set of these in my MIM 1994 Strat (good player guitar) with clear covers and like them fine. I think that they look kinda cool, too. YMMV.

https://www.guitarfetish.com/KP--Boston ... 22004.html

I think that this video is pretty representative of what my guitar sounds like. (but not my video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGg85xAaHb8

Not sure how representative this video is, sound wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q0IJA3LeQY

I have to admit, these have my attention, albeit a bit hotter than I'm looking for, perhaps. The price is right. How hot are yours? Do you have this Kwikplug setup that they advertise? If so, what's that like? Despite the out of tune, low rent Johnny Thunders, they sound like they handle some crunch fairly well. Either way, thank you for the suggestion!

[Despot]

Not sure if this helps as I'm not much of a Strat guy ... but the best sounding set of non-vintage Strat pickups I've ever heard were the Irish Tour set from Bareknuckle pickups - if you do a youtube search you'll find them. Supposed to be the sound of Rory Gallagher's strat (hence the name of the pickup set) - playing a AVRI Strat that had been upgraded with these was the one and only time I've found myself questioning my lack of love for the Stratocaster.

[jthomas]

I have to admit, these have my attention, albeit a bit hotter than I'm looking for, perhaps. The price is right. How hot are yours? Do you have this Kwikplug setup that they advertise? If so, what's that like? Despite the out of tune, low rent Johnny Thunders, they sound like they handle some crunch fairly well. Either way, thank you for the suggestion!

I have the hot set, but they make the same kind of pup advertised as vintage wound. I dk what those actually sound like. I bought my pups before they began offering the kwickplug connectors.

[Maggieo]

Good god, they are horrendous. They have one timbre and it is "BL@@ZE LAWYER."

I traded a Jimmie Vaughn sig Strat for a Squier CV 50's Strat and the Tonerider PUPs in the CV sounded so much better, I went and upgraded the pots, the switch and the bridge.

[mediocreplayer]

They are the absolute fucking worst. Who plays this shit.

[Con-Tiki!]

i don't care for most strat pickups.
i had a set of the 62/65 (i think those are the dates) which were okay, but a little thin. The '69's I liked better.
Right now, though, the only strat I have that i like, has a mis-matched set of late -70's pickups in it. Two are dated '78, and one is a '79 or '80...
Those pickups are fuller, and i think, more versatile. I can mess with the volume and roll some of the bottom off, if I'm looking for that vintage chimey crap.
just a suggestion, they are not expensive.
you could pick one up for the bridge as an experiment.

[raindog13]

Not sure if this helps as I'm not much of a Strat guy ... but the best sounding set of non-vintage Strat pickups I've ever heard were the Irish Tour set from Bareknuckle pickups - if you do a youtube search you'll find them. Supposed to be the sound of Rory Gallagher's strat (hence the name of the pickup set) - playing a AVRI Strat that had been upgraded with these was the one and only time I've found myself questioning my lack of love for the Stratocaster.

These absolutely have my attention! Thank you for the suggestion!

Good god, they are horrendous. They have one timbre and it is "BL@@ZE LAWYER."

I traded a Jimmie Vaughn sig Strat for a Squier CV 50's Strat and the Tonerider PUPs in the CV sounded so much better, I went and upgraded the pots, the switch and the bridge.

Got dem rich middle aged white guy blues again...

They are the absolute fucking worst. Who plays this shit.

My guess? Rich middle aged dentists and lawyers playing "the bluez" at open mic/bike night at "dive" bars in the burbz...

i don't care for most strat pickups.
i had a set of the 62/65 (i think those are the dates) which were okay, but a little thin. The '69's I liked better.
Right now, though, the only strat I have that i like, has a mis-matched set of late -70's pickups in it. Two are dated '78, and one is a '79 or '80...
Those pickups are fuller, and i think, more versatile. I can mess with the volume and roll some of the bottom off, if I'm looking for that vintage chimey crap.
just a suggestion, they are not expensive.
you could pick one up for the bridge as an experiment.

Those late 70's pickups are flat pole pieces, correct? I tend to really like those.

[Con-Tiki!]

Yep. Flatpoles.

[BarnyardCoral]

I have an American Special Stratocaster with them in it. Sonic Blue, rosewood fretboard, big 70's headstock, just a wonderful guitar. But these pickups... they're the worst, I swear. The bridge pickup is just so nasal and shrill(somehow). The other two are lackluster at best. I'm thinking about getting a set of CS '69 pickups for it, because I do still want it to sound like a Strat, but I'm still not sure. The price isn't bad, and the demos I've heard of them sound good. Anyone ever try those out? I love this guitar, but these pickups gotta go...

Nope. I love em, especially through a DR.

[simonhpieman]

My Strat experience:

I was A/Bing an American Special in seafoam green and a Ltd American Standard in bare oiled ash.

I may have been blinded by my love for seafoam green but I felt like I would have got that Strokes-y rhythm sound out of the Texas Specials.

I plumped for the standard in the end. I am also easily blinded by a handsome bit of natural ash. As someone who's never owned a strat before and had a bit of a vehement hate of them through my teens and 20s (I'm still not sure about the spaghetti logo and small headstock, I swore I'd only ever get a 70s style strat) I find myself playing this strat out the most of all my guitars. Sure it's a touch thin for the heavy stuff when compared with a humbucker but I really rate the custom fat 50s pickups.

Maybe worth a shot?

[DeathJag]

As a surf guitarist, does anyone have any opinions on which pickups are the "surfiest?" Just got an AV '65' and I know lots of folks love those pups, but I'd love to hear someone say there are surfier ones out there. I'm playing through a couple silverface Twins.

One thing that I theorize makes good surfy pickups, is the correct output. I think just 1 or even .5 volts hits the reverb (outboard Surfy Bear) harder and makes more drip. I have an 80s Japanese strat and I have no idea what the output is, but they drip like crazy, whereas the AV '65 jaguar barely makes it...

I asked this on SG101 but no one answered.

From what I read those Texas pickups would not be good for me.

[ohm-men]

I installed a set of these in a strat for a client. I wasn't impressed with how they sounded either.
Nasal bridge, shrill, etc... The overall sound is not my cup of tea. But most guys like 'em with a bit of drive.

As far as Surfy strat pu's go, there are a few nice sets out there. Depending on what you want.
For the classic surf tunes, the '62 set is ok I think. For the more modren stuff you might need something with a bit more output.
I personally like SD Antiquity II for strat a lot. But more expensive, ofcourse... but they are very nicely balanced imho. Good bass response, nice mids and no ear piercing highs...

I find it strange that your Jag doesn't hit the sweet spot on your reverb. I played Jag's for years. Mostly CIJ ones loaded with either AVRI '62 Ri Pu's or Curtis Novak '64 Jag pu's. Drip for ages...
You might wanna have the cap the tone knob checked and use a good non microphonic 12ax7 in the pre amp. I used to have a 90's Fender blonde RI Reverb tank that had the cap mod done and had the correct power tube in it (instead of the 6v6) I still regrett selling that thing...
I got it of the former guitarist of "Los Venturas" and "The Tritones" (Should you have ever heard of them)