texas specials -> rio grande ?

[Bartek]

i'm thinking about changing pickups in my japanese 62RI telecaster. now i have texas specials and i want rios, because they're cheap and easily available here. i thought about muy grande in bridge and a p-90 (forgot what it was called) in the neck position. are rios much of an improvement or similar quality pickups? what change in tone should i expect?

[Aaron Schiff]

I changed my 2002 CIJ Tele to a Muy Grande bridge and a Vintage Tallboy neck. It was amazing. Much more depth, fullness and volume. Somewhere I read a description of the change as being "like I took the cotton out of my ears". I think that is an excellent description. The tech who did the exchange was really impressed also. I think that Rios are a superb value and compete favorably with other after market pickups cost much more.

[Jim Sams]

I havd a Rio Bluesbar P-90 in the bridge od a PRS Soapbar SE. I really do not like it very much. It is too compressed and bassy for me. Sounded like a "Hot" Dimarzio pup....

I might look at the Rio Jazzbar if I were buying a Rio
P-90.

[nic'o'caster]

I just put a Rio Grande set (Muy Grande bridge + Vintage Tallboy neck) on my 69' Thinline RI. Tough decision because I liked the old pups, especially the middle position, but they were buzzing like a fridge and sounded good only at full volume.

I changed the pots for .250k, put a volume kit (I like to tweak my volume and tone knobs) and shielded the more I could. The beast is silent now (I can hardly hear the difference between the humcancelling position with the 2 other ones.

I may have lost the great raw tone of the 69' (what a fool some may thing) but I now have a modern sounding Tele (I mean depth, punch and clarity) with many more sweet spots. I still have to gig with her to know if it's a real keeper tough.