Fender Texas Special Pickups

[dhuber]

I don't know if anyone hear has experience with Texas Special Pickups or the actual Texas Special American Standard Stratocaster model that was offered from 2000 - 2003.  10 to 12 years ago I bought a Fender Strat SN Z2****** off of eBay just thinking it was an American Standard.  After some research I figured out it was a Texas Special Strat.  Unfortunately the only picture I have left of the underside of the pickguard is the picture when I put the second tone pot back in before I sold the guitar.  From what I can tell all wiring was stock.  The changes you see in the picture was because I took one tone pot out when I used the guitar.  The tone was bright, extremely compressed, nasally and ballsy even when played clean.  For me it was kind of a one trick pony that I like to use when playing a funk type rhythm with chord shapes further down the neck.  There was very little pick attack and the sound of chords played down the neck were really smooth and sweet unlike any other Strat configuration I'd played in the past. The pickups measured approximately 6.34, 6.45, 7.66 K Ohm N/M/B.  I've owned a lot of Strat's and played a lot of pickup configurations.  I sold this guitar thinking I'll just buy another set of Texas Specials and put them in another guitar.

I purchased a set of Custom Shop Texas Special Pickups 099-211-000 and put them in my 07 Strat.  This configuration does not sound anything like guitar described above.  These pickups sound very round with predominate mid range and no where near the compression or brightness of those listed above.  The package DC resistance shows 6.2/6.5/6.7 N/M/B. So a slight change on resistance readings. The pickups in Z2****** had a dimple on the back side in the center of one of the middle pickup magnets, which I’m assuming to mark the middle pickup. The Texas Special Pickups 099-211-000 are currently in my 07 Stratocaster but if I recall they have a red mark on one of the bridge Pickup magnets and a blue dot on one of the neck pickup magnets.

For all around playing I like the American Standard pickups with the plastic bobbins and even the set of Texas Specials I described in the second paragraph aren't bad.  However being I own a lot of  Strat's I'd like to have that tone back in one of my Strat's.  Had I known it would be this hard to get that tone back I would have swapped out the pickups before I sold the guitar.  I'm just curious what others have experienced with Texas Special pickups.  I'm also wondering if the pickup specs in the 2000 - 2003 Texas Special guitars was not closer to the Tex-Mex pickup which I've not played yet.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeff R]

I haven't noticed any difference in older versus newer Texas Specials in basic test-drives (I have a lot of TS-equipped guitars come through) but I've never A/B'ed two guitars with them to gauge apparent differences. My opinion on TSes are they aren't bad and if I had a guitar I liked that already had them, great, but they aren't anything I'd particularly seek out or go buy if I was investing in an upgrade project. There are a lot of stratty things out there I like much better. Duncan Antiquity Texas Hots remind me of TSes, only better for my tastes, and that's just one quick example off the top of my head that's readily available and affordable.

If you're looking to upgrade with a Fender single coil, I just installed an Eric Johnson sig set in a guy's American Standard and those pickups were STELLAR for my ears and hands - light years better than TSes for classic strat sounds and the best modern Fender pickups I've ever heard IMHO. They actually caught me off guard they were so tasty. And that was a direct drop fit into the existing AS circuit - no pot upgrades, cap upgrade, etc.

[Caddie]

A few twists in my story vs yours, so for what its worth.... 

I assembled a Warmoth Tele Thinline in '99(?) and put in Fender Tele Texas Specials also had Graphtech GHOST piezo bridge saddles with onboard preamp.  I have no complaints with the TX Specials or the Graphtech piezo system. The TX Specials sounded great, a little beefier than ordinary Fender Tele pups. The graphtech acoustic sounded great too.   Its no miked Martin Dreadnought but it works great for the Weekend Warrior intro to "Can't ya See".

Just by user forgetfulness on my part I usually ended up having the piezo acoustic on at all times. So even the distorted electric tunes had acoustic buried somewhere in the sound.  No complaints from anyone including from our usual binge drinker fans, both of 'em.   During rehearsal we tried it both ways, piezo on, piezo off (hmmmm....maybe I shoulda used a clapper!  Clap on, Clap off, the Piezo Clapper.)  We decided to leave the piezos on at all times.  We considered putting a teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy time delay on the acoustic signal.  But nobody had a delay stomp and after in-depth financial analysis I decided "screw it,  who wants to go to Buona Beef for an italian beef samich?"

For my money you can go out and spend large $$$ for some "boutique" pups and you'll still wind up being fully satisfied with the Fender TX Specials. However, for what its worth I was also quite satisfied with the SD '59 & JB in Hamer Specials & Studios & Artists...so what do i know.  My philosophy always was before throwing more money at your rig, first try twisting all the knobs on your guitar and your amp.  You might just find that your tone was right here all along!  The only pup swapping I recall was pulling Seth Lovers out of my Newport Pro Custom and installing SD Phat Cats.  Phat Cats & Newports were made for each other, IMHO.

But if you really feel the need to sniff up the fumes of melting solder and burning flux while soldering up new pups to feel good about your tone quest please do mi amigo!  Saludos!!!

caddie

 

[The Shark]

Rocketfire pickups are the best I"ve ever tried. 

[dhuber]

I think the mystery is solved.  I bought a set of TS pickups off of eBay that came out of a 2008 or 2009 Deluxe Road House Strat.  The minute I opened the box and saw the same  modern stagger my 2001 had I had a feeling I was on to something.  I put them in and they are real close to what I remember.  My 01 had a fuzzier high end but the middle pickup on that set read 350 ohms higher than the middle out of the Road House.  The Custom Shop Texas Special Pickups I purchased that I did not like are vintage staggered and they are about 1.2 K ohm less in the bridge.  My 01 Texas Special Strat and these 07 Road House Strat pickups are definitely modern staggered.  The Custom Shop Texas Specials have more mids, but there are no highs and they sound dark.  These 08 Road House Texas Specials have the compressed bass, boosted mids, and boosted highs to my ears.  I'm not saying I want this tone all the time but it's a fun tone to noodle around.  I also own 3 Strat's so I'll keep these in the one Strat.

Thanks for pickup advise.  I've tried a lot of Single Coils and I like experimenting so if I come across a good deal on the Rocketfire or Duncan Antiquity Texas Hots I'll give them a try.