Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials

Passive single coil pickups. Fender custom shop, texas specials. I didn't know much about them, except that they are supposed to be the ultimate that fender make for getting the chunky blues sound.

I installed them in my made in China squier strat. Yes I know, lots of people advise against it, but the pickups that were in there were so weak I could never hear what I was playing when jamming with my mates.

I also swapped the 500k alpha pots, jack and switch and rewired everything. Also shielded the whole cavity with copper tape.

The guitar itself has an agathis body, maple neck and fingerboard and 2 point trem. I blocked the trem by adding 2 springs to the 5 already present and screwing the claw all the way in. It gets much better sustain that way.

I know what people think about squiers, but this one is great, sounds very good unplugged and has loads of sustain. Body is quite heavy though, so not sure if it really is agathis as that is supposed to be quite light.
Anyway, my thinking is that the pickups can only enhance it and I can always take the electronics with me if and when I upgrade to a fender.

I'm giving these a 9 because they're awesome, but I am sure that other pickups are too. In fact my Schecter blackjack had awesome pickups too, but they were buckers, so gave a different sound and vibe.

Basically, the first time I shielded the guitar and put the pickups in, I found that the scratchplate was drilled for alpha pots and the cts I had bought wouldn't fit. I also found that the existing pots were 500k ones. I know, 500k with single coils in stock wiring? I think they were put in to make the stock pickups sound a bit brighter, because they were REALLY weak.

With 500k pots the pickups sounded ok... I was quite disappointed actually. Too much high end, quite piercing and no presence in the bass.

Reading one of the posts on here talking about getting the right pots, I bit the bullet, took everything apart again and filed out the holes in the scratchplate to make the 250k cts pots fit and rewired everything up. I took the opportunity to put the 2nd tone pot on the bridge pickup, I'd recommend that mod to anyone. I also installed a treble bleed system on the volume.

Now this guitar sounds amazing!
First of all it has about 10 times as much power as it did before. Plus the sound is so rich, I can't believe I can get so much sound out of it. And it's just a squier as well.
Well, I am still amazed at how good it sounds now!

I read in some reviews that they are noisy, but I have to say that I haven't noticed that. They are not noisier than the stock pickups and they were a lot weaker. I did shield the instrument fully using copper tape though...

If it were stolen... I would buy the pickups again. Not sure about the guitar ;o)
But I might try to get some lace sensors to get the Buddy Guy sound. In any case, either Lace sensors or Texas specials. And I don't regret one bit buying them and taking the time to redo the electronics.

Passive single coil.Neck 6.2,middle 6.5 and bridge 6.7.Hot output

Fender Texas Special stratocaster.Stock pickups

Stock they were muddy with lot of mid-range,tight bass and without traditional strat spark.I tried recommended height-treble side 2.4mm(6/64inch) and bass side 3.6mm(8/64inch).That is on Fender sight.OK 6/64 is 2.4mm but 8/64 is not 3.6mm but 3.2mm for all of you operate in mm.After I set them up sound was balanced but still muddy.I tried to lower them ended flat with pickguard.They became clear but without color.Custom shop pickups used by famous artists?I didn't want to give up.I started to experiment with different pot values.First I tried with three 500k pots.That was much better in term of clarity but sound was to bright and thin.I ended with two 250k pots one for master volume and one for master tone and third pot became blender(no load pot-out of circuit).Booom!THE BEST blues machine I ever heard.Spark,quack,balance,vintage tones everything was there.Now I know why put them in signature strats.

If it was destroyed or stolen I would buy it again for sure.I have been playing for 29 years. I also own Gibson Les Paul std.,Hoyer Les Paul which I love very much,and Fender Baja Telecaster.Fender Texas Special pickups are great although I spent few months to set them to my taste.Fender should help customers with more information on how pots and fingerboard material effects sound.I have maple neck on my strat and I finally found pot formula which sounds good to me.I suppose rosewood would be another story.

Three pickups in a matched set with reversed middle pickup.

Installed in a 1974 Fender Stratocaster.
Replacing the original mic's. They were to bright and edgy.
I believe i've read that the mics were designed f??r SRV??s Fender custom guitar.

The output is stronger than the original pu's.
The tone is well balanced with more mid than the originals and a very beautiful treble.
I play blues and blues rock.
I use a Marshall 1970's 50w amp and a custom 4x12" speaker.

This is my main pickups. I love the sound. I bought them in 92' or 93' and I have been using then since then. But they're not noisless... They pick up hum from lightning equipment and dirty current.

In my opinion these are the greatest strat pickups available. I also have a Fender original strat 60's treble pickup, one pickup set from my Fender strat 73 and one from my Tender strat 74. I have had Fender Custom 69's set, Lundgren fifties set, EMG SA set, Fender Noiseless set and many others. None of these is competable with the Texas Specials.

The only brand that has an equal sound quality (that I know of) is Suhr. I have tried some Suhr guitars, and their strat pickups are great sounding.

single coil overwound

american series strat
all positions

replaced stock pickups

output increased noticeably middle And neck

fender hot rod deluxe

mid tones affected, much better balance over stock pups-all positions, better overall "vintage" tone, bridge alone is not as affected, particular improvements in 2 and 4 positions

blues/rock

would definately buy again
I'm 43 and have been only playing for three years, but have been told I have a good ear for tone and EQ(part time sound tech also). These were bought to make the Amer. series sound fuller and more "vintage"- they do. I also have a j.v. strat, loved the "tex-mex" pups,but these are much more balanced with more of a traditional tone. Have a good tech install with special attention to pup height. these aren,t humbuckers, so don't expect that sound(classic rock and blues are the purpose). You cannot make single coils sound like a les paul(who would want to?!) These are worth the money, I've never been more happy with my guitars sound. I highly recomend them as long as they suit your style of music. Ignore the bad reviews and focus on what sound you are after.

Single Coil Passive

2006 MIM 60th Anniversary Strat

Neck/Mid/Bridge All Replaced

Standard MIM 60th Anniversary Pickups (Regular Standard MIM PUPS)

Had a Dimarzio HS-2 thrown in to test drive (unauthentic lifeless sound)

SRV!!!

Standard Strat did an OK job, but these are for the bigger boy pants! You can't get much done on mid range low-tech pups for long.

The overall output is good. I say this because there is no such thing as the perfect pickup no matter what. It's got power and presence, but noisy!

I'm currently using a Zoom 505II (don't see these used much anymore), a Danelectro Sitar Swami, Boss Volume Pedal, Digitech RP-6 (seldomly), and my favorite Hughes & Kettner Edition Blu 60-R Combo Amp!

Tone is overall greatly balanced in all 5 selections. I'm looking to install a Neck on Toggle that will allow for some more pickup selections to test the waters there (if interested google it).

I play any type of rock. I play by ear and have for over 10 years. I range from Jimi to SRV to Wylde (the wylde sound not really happening with these PUPS unfortunately)

These pickups are suitable in all slots, but I'm not terribly impressed with the Neck PUP, but that's my least favorite spot to begin with.

If this was destroyed or stolen god have mercy on the soul responsible. Yes I would but I may swap the Neck out for a Vintage 57/62 for fun.

I wish these pickups dialed in a little less noise, and a little more tunable punch.

I am satisfied but on a never ending quest for something undefinable

Buy these pups if you want to be as proud of your strat as I am.

Single coil, passive matched set

98' MIM Standard Strat
In all positions
Replacing stock CRAP
no other pups
I don' know of too many people using these, other than SRV towards the end
I picked up a MiM strat from a friend for $70 and thought what a great project guitar, first thing I did was buy these. I picked these over the vintage noisless because I heard bad things about them, "vintage lifeless" pups, I wanted something a tad hotter anyway

The output is no screamer, but a real hot vintage.
Right now I'm trying to get a hold of a fender blues jr. that's been modded using BillM specs, but for now I'm using a crate half stack from 7 years ago, from back in my addolecent metal days.
The tone is amazing! Articulate, bright, clear, and well balanced
I'm playing Classic rock, blues and a very little bit of modern rock these days, and these pups suit perfectly.
The neck has a great jazz tone, the middle and neck a great blues tone, the middle a GREAT clean tone, and the bridge was surprisingly better and hotter than I expected. I don't generally like the the tone out of a strat bridge, but this one has balls!

For the deal I got on the guitar alone, it would take a while to replace, But I've alway wanted to build a custom strat.
Been playing 9 years, gave up electric a long time ago becase I outgrew my gear. I have a charvel fusion, which I haven't played in years, a Takimine 12 string which I love, a Digitec RP-7 from years ago, Boss EQ, Morley Bad Horsie, which I hate, and an Alveraz dreadnot, which is the best accoutic for the money you can get.
I have come to love my little project very quickly, I've always wanted to do this. The neck pickup isn't quite what I wanted it to be, but the middle and bridge are more than I expected, I'm not getting SRV tone yet, but I still have quite a few adjustments to make, Tube screamer, tube amp, lowering pups, bujt overall, I LOVE THESE PICKUPS!

Single coil, matched set of 3

Replaced the 3 standard pups on a MIM Fender Powerhouse Strat, 12 db boost kit, delta no-load tone pot.
Other artist include SRV, and I'm sure quite a few others, big & small, good and bad.....
Just a note on the no-load tone pot. This was one of the mods SRV had made to his #1. There is an indent at 10 that allows the tone pot to be by-passed, and you get the natural sound of the pick up.
It's great to have when you really want to dig in to get his tone. EZ to instal, and cost less than $7.00.

What a surprise!
Output is good, not over the top, balance of tone is good, but what is awesome is the clarity of the sound.
I have vintage noisless pups on my other start, complete 25db Clapton kit, which are also great, yet not as clear, more mids then highs ..... but these are not sharp by any means.
Key for sure in both cases of these 2 pups, set the height low, 1/16th above the pick guard at best.
Opens up the sound of the pick ups... to high will cause them to loose their sparkle.

I was very surprised by the tone. I've been playing for 40+ off and on, last 3 years full Blues Band, gigging every weekend.
We do alot of SRV, Clapton, Buddy Guy, etc. and I wanted to add a different tone, so I bought another Powerhouse Strat, love the neck, and yes I know some will snub the MIM bit, but I will trade licks with the best, and I bet I'll hold my own just fine!
I just love how these pups sound.
They let you play with clarity if you want, and overdrive well.
Pedal board looks like this: tuner, keeley comp,2-Keeley Modded TS9's, 1 for slight OD, 1 for lead boost, Marshall Roto-Vibe, and then an Ibanez delay.
Amps include a modified Tweed Blues Jr with a Webber 12" ceramic and beam blockers, a Fender Tweed 40 watt Blues Deluxe reissue with a Webber 12" Alnico and beam blockers, and a 69 Fender Dual Showman 100 watt with 2 Webber 12" Alnicos along with the beam blockers in a custom Tweed Twin Reverb Cab made by JD Newell, also reviewed under Guitar amps.
We play alot of different venues, and I'm loaded for all.
Last but not least, both guitars have their places, but the Custon Shop Texas Specials have moved into to first place, and I doubt if they will be looking back! Have a great day ...

Vintage style Strat singles,alnico 5,factory wax potted,cloth leads. 6.3 k neck,6.5k mid,6.8k bridge.

80's MIJ "Profile" Strat copy.

All pick-ups replaced.

Original stockers,4k ceramic, they really sucked!

Dont know or care who uses these, got them because i thought they would do what i wanted.

Slightly warmer than stock.

Use them with my quality tube amps, from modern high gain weapons to vintage sparkly clean p2p beasts.I only use low rated alnico equiped speaker cabs. Effects are for people with $#!t amps.

Slight increase in bass and mids and small decrease in treble when compared to standard strat pick-ups, also slightly less noise.

I play about every style of music other than the uber high gain stuff,i mostly use the guitar these pick-ups are in for clean and slightly overdriven playing, they really excell at that.Read country , blues, light rock.

Neck sounds fantastic clean,when i got the gain up i normally use position 4, bridge+mid.Deep purple eat your heart out.this is the best sounding single coil i have ever heard in the bridge.Im not a fan of the neck pick-up overdriven and distorted but thats more personal prefferance.I have never heard these pick-ups sound bad, except when they are set to high.

I would buy these again without hesitation.

Only been playing about a year,my other main guitar is a custom mustang,it has vintage noisless in neck and mid, for clean playing the Texas specials own them.

I love the clean tone,bit unhappy with the noise factor, they are not as noisy as the ones i replaced, and do have more output,as far as singles go they arent noisy, but dont expect silence (except on position 2 and 4 offcourse).The covers fit very poorly.

Other than stock MIA and MIJ Fender,Profile and Squier singles i dint compare these to any other normal single coils.

I wanted to keep my strat very close to vanilla, but just improve on it, these pick-ups do that very well.

Overall if you want that vintage strat tone and dont mind a little hum when you crank the gain, go for these.As others have mentioned, they are very sensitive to height,i dont follow a standard for any pick-up anyway, just use what works best, these do seem to like being on the low side, to high and they just muddy up.I did spend a lot of time shielding and ensuring the guitar was well earthed,i use a CRL 5way, 250k CTS pots and .022 Orange drop, all cloth wire.I imagine with an unshielded guitar the noise would become intrusive, do shield your guitars properly peeps.

The covers really do irk me, if they fitted better they would be a 9, and nothings a 10.......

Pickup features: Single Coil/Overwound and Calibrated/RWRP Middle
Impedence or other specs: What they others said

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Jimmy Vaughn Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Tex/Mex's
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup: Me/Other wise not sure who famous uses them
You musical style(s): Blues
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a little more punch and midrange. SRV tone etc.

Perceived output level: Slightly hotter then normal/Very punchy/Nice clarity and base response
Tone: I think well balanced but we will talk about that.
Sonic evaluation: I am using a very nice Jimmy Vaughan strat with alder body and maple neck. Changed the cheap 1 ply guard to a three ply tortoise. Very nice on the Olympic white. Amp is a classic 50/410 with a Boss compressor and an Ibanez TS9.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great in all positions for blues. Very nice tone

Comments: Now we get into it. I read all the reviews and rancor about these pups before I bought them. Never have I seen so many mixed reviews on a product. The key to these pups is putting them into a guitar that is completely shielded and grounded. Secondly these pups CANNOT be mounted to regular pup specs. The lower to the guard the better. Slightly raised in the neck. Even to the guard in the middle. Slightly raised a smidgeon more then the neck in the bridge. A TBX tone control is a must. (My opinion) I would wager to bet those that bitch about these pups have them in a crappy guitar and they are way to close to the strings. These pups were designed for a certain sound and they do it well but I get very warm tones from these as well. SRV's sound had way more to do with his unigue attack and phrasing, donkey dick strings and string height then it did his guitar and pups. That man would sound like himself playing a squire. If you buy these pups and think you will sound like SRV your wasting your money unless you have mastered his style and few have. So be honest with yourself before you buy these. They will NOT magically turn you into SRV. I get zero hum from these but that is because I took the time to properly shield and ground my guitar. These are very nice pups for the money and can deliver a wide range of tone if you set them up and use them properly. Remeber also you have tone controls on your guitar and an EQ on your amp. USE them.

Pickup features: Texas Specials single coil passive pups.
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 2002 Fender Fat Strat Deluxe with Alder body and maple/rosewood neck.
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Fender MIMs (THEY STINK)!!!!
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: SRV, Jeff Beck
You musical style(s): Blues Gospel and some jazz.
Reason for pickup change: Stock Fender MIMs PUPS sounded like "dog-meat."

Perceived output level: Hot, but with a warm undertone particularly in the neck position. Its all in the adjustment preferences.
Tone: Balanced and easily recharged to meet the need of the song, gig, etc.
Sonic evaluation: I play through a Crate DFX and a Fender Ultimate Chorus. The power of the Crate helps for large gigs but the Fender Chorus sounds super also. Its a matter of style and type of playing environment.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Blues/Gospel. Works well after adjustment in any position. Depends on desired tone.

Comments: I have been playing for nearly 30 years. I have owned Washburn, Gibson, Hagstrum, and I like the fender best of all. Compared to the stock MIMs these pups rock! Great tone and sustain with that SRV, Cray, Beck sound. The Fender guitar I own is a mim Delux Fat Strat which I adjusted with the Texas Specials and Americn pots and switch.. What a superb pick! This axe will stand up against any guitar on the market for playability and sound. Build your own, I did!