Fender Tex-Mex pickups any good? Road worn...

[Axis29]

I sold the CP 50's Strat to buy my CVC Tele. But, I'm kinda jonesing for another Strat with 57/62s though. I am doing a build right now to house some Lawrence Microcoils (they're in my Roadworn right now, but I kinda want my Tex-Mex back in it). Then I'll be saving my pennies for an AVRI 57.

 

[franchelB]

The tele roadworn 50s has tex mex pickups. The guitar is incredible for me in terms of playing, resonance and lightweight. I think a lot of the sound has to do with the bigger neck (but narrower width).

The tex mex pickups in it are real different sounding... they say alnico magnets but sounds like ceramic. The clean tones are okay (no extended highs or lows)... but the rock tones (with dirt) are great (probably because no extended highs or lows).

What do you think of the tele tex mex pickups?

Use 'em or upgrade em?

I like my Tex-Mex neck pickup to where I don't feel the need to upgrade. But IMO, what I say shouldn't matter in your decision. There are just too many pickups available out there that you should be totally satisfied with whatever you decide to buy.

 

[tagruvto]

The tele roadworn 50s has tex mex pickups. The guitar is incredible for me in terms of playing, resonance and lightweight. I think a lot of the sound has to do with the bigger neck (but narrower width).

The tex mex pickups in it are real different sounding... they say alnico magnets but sounds like ceramic. The clean tones are okay (no extended highs or lows)... but the rock tones (with dirt) are great (probably because no extended highs or lows).

What do you think of the tele tex mex pickups?

Use 'em or upgrade em?

Hey Webfoot - I think you are right on target here. The Tex Mex in the RW tele sound great for rock and blues. BUT - I was not able to get that glassy twang that is so nice for certain types of chicken picking.

Instead of swapping out pickups - I scooped up a MIM Std. Tele off of Craigslist and.... PAYDIRT! It has that "Nashville" glassy tone. I plan on keeping and using both guitars.

 

[sjtalon]

Instead of swapping out pickups - I scooped up a MIM Std. Tele off of Craigslist and.... PAYDIRT! It has that "Nashville" glassy tone. I plan on keeping and using both guitars.

That's the ticket !!

Do you know of anyone that has only ONE screwdriver

 

[bluescube]

I think my Natural Ash MIM Standard Tele has Tex-Mex. Not matter what they are they sound great to me.

 

[robt57]

We have Tex-Mex to standard US Glassy being compared, or at least referenced or compared to each other. Totally different animals and probably should not be mentioned in the same thread usless the mention is that the Tex is bluezy hottish semi compressed lacking sparkle as compared to the clear bright country voice of a sparkly Tele tone lower wound pickup. Sorry for that run on sentence....

Every bridge Tele Tex Mex for example, my Multi meter has co-mingled with was 8.3-7k. 8.7 is getting real close to broadcaster territory, no sparkle there IMO, well very little. Twang, yea... sparkle... no so much...

My sparkly/cleaner Tele has a 6.1k bridge and 5.8k Neck PUP. The Tex Mex Tele [base plate added, no use to me without it] has a mini HB neck, Rocky Telboa there. Then there is the Esquire with the 16k Pre-B1, BroadCaster on Steroids. Again, Twang, yea... sparkle... no so much...

See a trend ?

Pick your weapon, but if you box youR weapon into a corner with hot Tele pickups, good luck being happy with you Country and Jazzy covers I'd say.

The way my ear see it, anyway.

Now pull the tone circuit, or a push pull or mini dropping the tone circuit and roll back the volume, probably make for more sparkle even with hotter pups.

 

[' burn 08]

I have tex mex pups in my Nashville. I went back and forth about them for a min and eventually decided I liked them in this guitar. I decided if I want the sparkle I would get another Tele.

I played a 50's road worn strat a week ago. That was a great sounding guitar.

In regards to an earlier post about the jimmie vaughn strat middle pup, it is wired all the way open. Other than that there is no difference between it and a 50's RW

 

[ADK Teleman]

I just got a 50's RW Tele with the Tex-Mex pups in it yesterday and man is it awesome!! I love evrything about this guitar!! An absolutely killer Tele which is fast becoming my number 1!!!

 

[goinpostal]

I bought a set of used RW Tele pickups which got put in my Squier Tele-Love 'em! Took a little playing around with them but I now get a good balance of volume between them. Still have that Tele twang at lower volumes but they get down and dirty when cranked up. Also have a set of Tex-Mex in one of my Strats-the middle and neck sound the best out of the three.

 

[Tele-Champ]

Got Tex-Mex pups in my 60's RW Strat, and I really love the tone of these pickups in this Strat..


image removed

 

[IdahoPicker]

My FSR Natural Tele came with the Tex-Mex pickups. I hated them in that guitar. Then I got a Squier Tele, and Esquired it with the Tex-Mex bridge from the natural tele. It absolutely screams, and twangs better than it did in the original guitar!

I should note, however, that I installed a copper-plated steel baseplate from StewMac.

 

[goinpostal]

Forgot to mention that I too installed a baseplate on the bridge pup-made a world of difference in the tones.

 

[Stratburst]

Not a big fan of the Tex-Mex pickups. They're okay but they're a little too pushed sounding for my taste (I dunno if that makes sense). I got my 50's RW with Dawgtown pickups and they're just fine for my taste; reminds me of the Duncan SSL-1's I used to have in my MiM Strat.

 

[oldteleguy]

Hi,
I just traded a guild acoustic for a 2007 MIM Strat with Tex-mex p/ups-absolutely love it!
haven't touched my teles for a week-go figure-I usually don't like Strats,but this one blows
me away!
Oldteleguy

 

[Staggered Mag]

I've owned a few Road Worn Strat's and Tele's, never had an issue with the pickups. They were fine.

 

[jonny d]

threw a set of tex mex in my CV strat. a set of vintage blues in my CV tele. have a '10 hiway one tele and a '10 hiway one strat. love the sounds of all these guitars. each has it's own personality. now i'm thinking of picking up a squier affinity tele and a set of tex mex. what's a clean sound anyway? bah.

 

[harleysr]

Based on the RW 50s Tele I have, I would say I love the Tele models.

Based on my RW 50s Strat, I would have to say I was moved to replace them. They weren't horrible, I just wanted something else.

The Tele models, though, are wonderful. I will never mod that guitar.