Fender Texas Specials

single coil.... Love walks on the beach, laughing etc, etc

American Standard Strat. All three positions.
Wanted more mid-range for slide .

Definitely more power than standard pickups. Have got rid of that annoying high end shreik (yeah I know, that does sounds got at times....)
At seven and below, sweet fender clean, above seven, really pushes the amp- Easy to control.
Warmth at all volumes.
Using it primarily with Fender Hotrod Deluxe through Ibanez Compressor II, TS-9 (standard)(for the blues), occasional vibe/ chorus/ delay (for the african stuff).
Lots of warmth (worth repeating....) The mid and lower end are great for slide, and with plenty of prescence, the high end screams as much as I am interested in.

I'd definitely buy them again. If I ever get around to buying another guitar (haven't bought one since I got the strat in 1990) Texas Specials will be the first thing I do.
The mid-range punch from these is great.

Single coil passive pickup.

Highway One Stratocaster
All three pickups
OEM '06 (upgraded) Highway One pickups
None
SRV, Knopfler, many others
Looking for a classic Strat tone that is best crafted for old-school blues. The '06 (upgraded) Highway One pickups were good with high gain, when they could be glassy, but lacked overall classic vintage Strat tone, possibly because they use Alnico III instead of Alnico V magnets. The Highways could have a metallic sound unless more gain was dumped into the amp, but fattened up well with gain. Also Highways will be recycled into a Squire guitar that needs help.

As set up, the output level is slightly lower than the Highway Ones, which are hot pickups for a single coil. The Custom Shop Texas Specials have just a little more output than pure vintage Custom Shop 54s. The Texas Specials are supposed to be modeled on SRV's aged 1950s pickups in his number one guitar, which I've heard in the varying quality of the 1950s Fenders were overwound quite a bit from most vintage 1950s pickups.

This guitar runs to a Blues Junior valve amp.

The tone is balanced compared to the Highway Ones. With the Highway One pickups, I had to roll back the treble and the tone knobs on the guitar to avoid a metallic sound and brittle highs. The Texas Specials are absolutely balanced with crystal clear clean tone ala Knoppfler with the eq for the amp at 777 for bass, mid and treble. Played clean, chords ring out beautifully with crystal clarity. When you up the gain, the neck and neck/mid develop a wicked, supernatural vibe similar to Hendrix. If you roll back on the tone knobs on the guitar, the pickups develop a very tough sound that is extremely excellent, again can sound like some Knopfler. With my low setup in the body, .10 strings, amp, and style, these pickups may be what SRV played, but there's no ghost of SRV in the sound. The tone is a balanced vintage or classic Strat tone, with no overweighting of mids, but also without the overly trebly piercing highs. They're classic single coils and don't expect a humbucker sound. Listen to SRV live and it's clearly a Strat.

Primarily I play the blues, which imho includes blues rock such as Clapton. For example, Clapton's classic Cocaine is the Blues in "E" folks; that's what it is. Understanding that and having a blues background from old school players like BB King helps to understand what Clapton and others are doing. That type of music is heavy on blues solos and barre chords. I also play clean worship-style music heavy on open chords like C, G, D and D minor, arpeggios, and single-note riffs within the chord progression. I read guitar music (tab hybrid). These pickups are excellent for all of it. For blues type music, these pickups excell. Up the gain and just enjoy it. They clean up into classic Strat clarity: acoustic wishes it sounded so sweet. The low notes in particular are much improved from the Highway Ones and the chords ring out supernaturally.

Whatever you've heard about mud, mid whatever is probably due to a set-up problem. Me and the guitar guy who put them in knew we had to get them away from the strings to shine, and did set them low in the body. The guitar guru at Wild West guitars really knows what he's doing and so he worked for a while on it to get the tone, and the even volume from pickup to pickup, the quack in positions 2 and 3, and the clarity of notes and chords. He's also a jazz-influenced musician and has the ear to hear whether the pickups are right or not. Apparently, a good set up is crucial with these from the complaints of some here. Well, all I can say is in my experience they have irreplaceable classic Strat single-coil tone that you cannot find with any noiseless. The hum is unnoticeable except with tone of gain, and then you'll want to start in positions 2 or 4, where the hum cancelling works, and then switch to the single pickup right away when you get going playing and nobody will notice.

If destroyed or stolen, I definitely would buy again.

I've been playing 25 years or so off and on, and about 9 years with more focus. I own a Squier Strat, a Taylor big baby acoustic (mainly my wife's guitar) a solid-state small amp and a Blues Junior tube amp. I've gone through a few guitars over the year including a Yamaha acoustic that was really beat up and surprisingly good but had a high action.

I love the tone and versatility of these pickups, and the different voices from each one. I also really love the hum cancelling feature in positions 2 and 4. Of course, like anyone I hate 60 hz hum and someday I hope they can make these totally humless in all positions. Tube amps also generate hum depending on the particular room. I tried many noiseless - including Dimarzio and SCN - and found none that truly had the classic Strat sweet, complex and biting tone that I have found in the Texas Specials.

With these pickups, I've absolutely found the sound I was looking for with my Strat. This is the classic, vintage Strat sound, with plenty of high e, but not an overly high tone. There's no comparison between these and the bland tone of every noiseless stacked humbucker that tries to be a single coil. Humbuckers are nowhere near as musical as these pickups. If you play blues and clean musical music, you will not be disappointed with these (if set up right). If you play metal or want the ZZ Top or Slash sound, you need a humbucker and probably a Les Paul.

High output single coils

These came stock in my SRV Strat.

These pickups were in my SRV Strat for 10 years. For clean toners, they have a nice big midrange, but no chimey highs and no big lows. Sound quite good through my '68 Bassman, but horrible through my VHT. Add any gain and they have a weird, hollow midrange. Replaced them with Fralins, which have better cleans and usable mid-high gain tones.

As I stated, I replaced them. There are simply too many pickups out there now that do better cleans, blues tones, and mid gain tones for the same price. When I was using a Fender amp exclusively I thought they were pretty good. Then one day I brought a friend's cheapo Squier Strat home for a setup. The cheap singles in his Squier sounded chimier and had bigger low end. I knew it was time to try something else, but I waited. Last year I got a VHT amp for better distorted tones. The Texas Specials really sounded bad with this amp. And, yes, I tried every conceivable pickup height. I started replacing them one at a time with Fralins. Will never use the Texas Specials again...

Single coil not going to repeat the other specs

Fitted to a '73 maple neck strat in all positions

If you want a hot strat then these pick ups do it very well - compared to my '57 alnico pick ups they appear a little less tuneful but they kick out a much higher output so if this is what you want - go for them

For Texas Hot Blues this is the standard. They're not cheap but they are good

Pickup features: Single Coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 1994 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: SRV, and a list of others who will remain nameless
You musical style(s): From Robert Cray-tone to deathmetal
Reason for pickup change: Gratuous pickup upgrade from the American Standard S.C.s in the guitar

Perceived output level: These definitely are HOTTER than the stock, but not Seymour Duncan SH-6 hunbucker hot. If you want hotter than the 57/62s and NOT get into the humbucker zone, this is the pickup for you.
Tone: Bassy and middy, not so tinny and trebely as the stock. The definitely sound different than the stock pickups.
Sonic evaluation: I am using these PUPs with a Laney AOR 50 with Sovtek EL34s, EH 12AX7s, and a Mullard 12AT7 phase inverter. The tone is awsome. These pickups are definitely an upgrade to the stock pickups standard to the USA American Standard Strat.
I REALLY loved the sound the stock PUPs had, and upgraded to the Texas specials after carefull consideration. The upgrade was a success (DO READ HOW AND WHY BELOW!). If you are sitting on the fence on weather to buy them to replace the stock PUPs, rest assured that you are not radically changing the tone and sound of the guitar (like if you used a S.D. hotrail).
The thing I noticed is that the attack was a little more pronounced, with the 'correct' amount of compression on attack (if that makes sence). The belltone is there, and the 'stratty' sound is retained.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Wimp rock to deathmetal. These pickups can do it all. My native style is Satrianni/Malmsteen/Eric Johnson. If your trip is the Pantera sound, stick to a Seymour Duncan-type Humbucker. These PUPs will sound too hollow for you.

Comments: I normally dont give 10s, but these PUPs deserve it. If you want a vintage tone on your strat, except hotter, these are the PUPs. You get hotter at the cost of middy-ier and bass-ier, but you do get to loose some of the nasaly weakness Strats are known for (when amplified loud and live). This PUP is not quite in the humbucker zone, but unlike weak PUPs (like those on the YJM Strat), these sound great just plugged in with NO PEDAL.
The KEY IS THE PUP HEIGHT. I have found that a full 5 milimeters is required to reduce the mudding instead of using the 3/32 inch typical PUP string height. A milimeter DOES make a major difference, and these PUPs will mud for you if you have them too close to the strings. I went from muddy crapola to magic-tone-of-the-gods by playing with the PUP height. PUP HEIGHT REALLY DOES MATTER.
My best advice is to put the PUPs at the 'normal' 3/32 and increase the height while plugged into your rig and back it out a little at a time with lots of testing. I was one of those who would just set PUP height at the manufacturers spec and bitch about the tone: you gotta mess with the height to dial in the sound for your strings and current setup.
These pickups are a fantastic deal, and I put the 25 years I have been playing on the line to back that up. Im no expert, but its the best 130.00 bucks you can put into a strat if you want to be SAFE where you wont turn it into an Ibenez by humbucking it, but still get some testicles in the sound.
AND, these are CUSTOM SHOP pickups...

Pickup features: Passive single coil.
Impedence or other specs: Mid level single coils.

Model of guitar or bass: Stew-Mac sunburst body with a Squire neck.
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: None ,just put it on my home assembled Strat.
Other pickups on guitar: Just my Texas Specials.
Artists using this pickup: ???????????
You musical style(s): Neo-Classical/Metal, Metal, Blues,Hard Rock,Classic Rock and Fusion.
Reason for pickup change: I wanted to capture the Stevie Ray Vaughn sound and these pick ups did it.

Perceived output level: These are great Blues pick ups , but can be used for Funk or Country.
Tone: Balanced Traditional Blues pick ups with extra punch
Sonic evaluation: From the guitar to (effect board)S.D. Pick up Booster,VHT Valvulator,RP-12,Hush pedal,RP-1,DBX 563X,VHT Valvulator,J.Dunlop vol-Boost pedal to(rack#1)ETA power conditioner,BBE 462,Hush 2CX,2 DOD 32 band EQ's,Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro,Hush 2CX,BBE 462 to (rack#2)Monster Cable Power conditioner,Hush/Rocktron Super C,BBE 362 to the front and effects loop of my(1986) Carvin X-100 B amp.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is a great pick up for Blues guitar tones but not for Metal, but you can use one of the pick up between 2 powerful humbuckers for a blend.

Comments: I would get another set of these pick ups, I love those tones!.

Pickup features: Passive Single coil.
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender original 1969 and home made strats.
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Replace old pick ups for being broken(wires broke in side the bobbin in the old '69'),on home mades to get Stevie's tone down cold.
Other pickups on guitar: No other just the Texas Specials.
Artists using this pickup: Lots of different people.
You musical style(s): Neo-Classical/Metal,Metal,Blues,Classic Rock,Hard Rock,Fusion.
Reason for pickup change: I wanted to get Stevie's Soulful Strat sound and just wanted to get that classic 'Nasily'Strat sound.

Perceived output level: Mild single coils that soung great even in mean distortion mode.
Tone: Neck has the Hendrix/S.R.V tone...ala 'Little Wing', Middle pick up is reverse wound and fat sounding and the Bridge is very bright.
Sonic evaluation: S.D.Pickup Booster,VHT Valvulator,RP-12,Hush Pedal,RP-1,DBX 563X,VHT Valvulator,J.Dunlop Vol-Boost pedal,to rack(1)ETA POWER CONDITIONER, BBE 462,Hush 2CX,2 DOD 32 Band EQ's,Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro 1124,Hush 2CX,BBE 462 to rack(2)Monster Cable power conditioner,Hush/Rocktron Super C N.R. unit then split the signal into the front of and in the effects loop of my Carvin X-100 B.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I also play blues.This not really a pick up to use in Heavy music, It's could be used in the mid position between 2 powerful humbuckers to get a nice blend. If doing so ,I'd recomend just the neck possition for contrast.

Comments: I love those Texas Specials,it's what a Classic Strat should sound like!.

Pickup features: Single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: mexican strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): blues and rock
Reason for pickup change: wanted an upgrade from the stock pickups that matched my style of play

Perceived output level:
Tone: balanced? for me at least, i like the clarity the pickups emit and that "twang" ... perfect for blues solos
Sonic evaluation: i run my mexican strat through a fender hotrod deville 2x12

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: perfect for blue, expecially playing throught the clean channel

Comments: If it were destroyed or stolen, would you buy it again or get something else? yes, i've been wanting these pickups for a while
How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own? 27 years, mexican strat, american tele, upgraded epiphone les paul, martin DM accoustic, fender hrdeville 2x12 and peavy amps
What do you love about it? What do you hate? i like the tone the pickups emit ... i hate installing pickup (the soldering part always gives me fits)
Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one? i wanted fender pickups on my strat ... i believe fender puts out great products, i've played guitars w/ the tex-specs on them and i knew they were what i was looking for.
Anything you wish it had? n/a
Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for that sound?satisfied at this point
Anything else you'd like to share? i think finding the right tone is such and individual thing ... the SRV tone is great, but it wasn't the reason i bought the pickups ... as a matter of fact, just about every strat i've played can emulate that tone just by playing it through a decent amp in the 2 pickup position.

Pickup features: single coil passive
Impedence or other specs: others have this listed

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Stratocaster 62 reissue
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: i don't know about artists...but i know a few musicians who use them
You musical style(s): i have no style or taste
Reason for pickup change: So I could write a review on Harmony-central.com

Perceived output level: 'bout right
Tone: what you generally expect a strat to sound like
Sonic evaluation: I'm currently running the 62 reissue (as well as other fender guitars) into an ibanez ts9 tube screamer into various other stuff, and ultimately into a line6 POD which is ran into a fender 65' twin reverb and a marshall halfstack. As a rule I feel that modelling is lame but the volume necessary to get the right tube drive just isn't feesable. In the studio I can run strait and crank...man that feels good. For those of you who are wanting to mix and match equipment to find the best vaughan tone...you're working too hard. It's not that difficult folks. Just take a strat and run it into a pod and use the bassman setting or buy one of those little 15w fender tube amps...those things rock. Throw in a ts9 if you want some lead boost. Use the neck pickup alot and play percussively. Either way, you can totally get a convincing srv sound with a 300 dollar strat and a 200 dollar pod. And all of those people who tell you "you can't sound like SRV because you're not him" are full of shit...the guy was human. Its not like Stevie Ray Vaughan had 10 inch gold plated fingers...get real. What one man can do another can do. There are many many people out there making a living sounding and playing like SRV.
Now about the pickups: Hey these things sound pretty good. I'll save you the bullshit adjectives (hot, cool, thin, fat, warm, fuzzy, rounded, brittle, tight, clean, nasty, nasal, smooth, creamy, jagged, harsh, dark, bright) what does all that bullshit mean anyway?...what's the difference between fat and flabby exactly?...who cares? These pickups sound better to some people's ears...including my own.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: these pickups are unsuitable for measuring the rectal temperature of a pot bellied pig

Comments: They won't make you rich and famous but they'll improve the tone of your strat...about as much as putting new pickups in your guitar can.
People complain about not being able to play metal with them...wtf are they doing playing metal with single coils anyway?...Go buy something with humbuckers in it yngwie.
Alot of people complain about the balancing aspects...I can see that somewhat. If you aren't hearing enough E and B then you havn't got them set right. As a rule try using some compression too, you should have been anyway. If you're wanting to install these yourself...don't. Get a pro to do it because you'll probly need to change some pots and the like inside your guitar as I did. I don't care if you've got a soldering iron for a DICK. Get your guitar tech or the guy at the guit-fiddle shop to install these for you...provided he or she is at least half competant. If you're wanting to sound like SRV these pickups won't really bring you that much closer than you allready are. SRV's tone (despite all these assheads arguing what kind of amps, pickups and shit he used) never stayed the same for any long period of time. Hell...his tone never sounded the same 2 NIGHTS in a row let alone 2 albums in a row. This is the nature of tube amps, room acoustics, volume and eq settings etc. Playing your guitar in a different room of your house or twisting a bit on the eq knobs of your amp will most likely improve your tone more than these pickups...but they're still better than stock.

Pickup features: Single Coil
Impedence or other specs: 6.2, 6.2, 6.5

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Standard Stratocaster 1 peice alder Body, Maple Neck
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Delta Tones
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Stevie did use these on the Voughn Brothers Album Jimmy voughn uses them frequently, Bonie Raitt and many others.
You musical style(s): Blues
Reason for pickup change: To many bad reviews about theese pickups but its usually from lack of knowledg.

Perceived output level: These Pickups are not Hot, they are over wound Strat pickups voice for texas blues, I call them hot vintage
Tone: lowend is deep mids are tight treble screams if set up right. The reason so many people get a mudd sound out of these is because they dont know anything about setting there guitar up or pickups. You need to know your guitar what sounds good in your guitar. These pickups were ment for Swamp Ash or Or solid alder bodys anything else will make it sound muddy and life less
Sonic evaluation: i play out of A fender Bass Man or a 1959 marshall super plexi lead
these sound fantastic why im going to explain. When useing 250k pots in ur volume and tone position these pickups will not shine. also i see way to many people putting them to close to the strings. OVERWOUND the lower the pickup the more tone, put middle flush almost with the pickguard and neck a bit higher to achive good sound out of fender pickups. Now dont expect to get the srv sound exactly out of any pickup i dont care if its a rio grande fralin or duncan or what ever else. Stevie used an orginal 1959 set which were custom wound at van zandt pickups. they were 7.3k neck and 6,5 middle and id say close to 8 in the bridge. U can argu this as much as you want but thats the set up in the number 1 no hum cancling. why everybody wants his sound i dont know. I have most of my pickups made custom shop in the same config but they sound the way i want them to and are voiced for my guitars. if anybody would like more advice to acheive the stevie sound please please email me because there are several cost effective ways of doing it.
NOW the finnal problem people dont get is the volume pot use a 1 MEG for texas specials or 500k in volume 500k in both tones dont mix a 1 meg wiht two 500k tone pots unless using 1.uf capacitors. this makes the texas specials scream and yes mr vouhgn definatly used a 1 meg pot in all volumes on all his guitars hah hope this helps u tone gurus a bit.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These are made for texas blues but can stretch out from rock to country, its more of a personal prefrence, keep in mind texas specials= Texas blues no metal

Comments: These Pickups are good i give them an 8 because thats the quality and sound you can achive. anything at 9 or 10 is going to cost close to 1000 or more no matter what people say. oh yes and i do recomend van zandt rock series for u srv enthusists that have the blues and not money.