Texas Special Pickups

[Fender_Player90]

Running Texas Special Pickups in my Mexican Player series Telecaster with 250K pots and .022uf Tone Capacitor. Swapped the modern bridge with ashtray and Gotoh Brass Intonatable saddles. Running 11s for strings which I like. First off, love the Texas Special Neck pickup, very sweet sounding. I have Texas Specials in my Strat and love them.

My issue is with the Texas Special Bridge pickup. I dont know how I feel about it. I typically like slightly overwound single coils for slightly fatter sound. I just feel the Bridge pickup is missing the Tele magic and twang and bite and sounds more like a Strat Bridge Pickup. I dont get it because it has a big copper steel baseplate like all other Tele bridge pickups but just lacks bass I feel. Switching to Ashtray Bridge did get me closer to that Country twang. The sound is not bad, just not the sound im looking for.

Is there anything I can do adjustment wise or modification wise? Otherwise, I may keep the TS Neck and swap the TS Bridge with another pickup. Which would you reccomend? Is there another overwound bridge p/u that sound better and has more bottom end?


Thanks

 

[bender66]

I've read the same story regarding TS bridge pickups. I've got a set of the CS TS in a loaded body but still havent decided on a neck so I havent heard them.

I'm more interested in your Les Paul with the TS's. Got a pic?

 

[Fender_Player90]

I dont have a Les Paul with TS's. I got a Stratocaster with them.

The Neck TS is excellent for the Tele. My issue is with the Bridge. Just seems thin and icepicky when you think overwound would be thicker. Kindve wondering about throwing my MIM Player Series stock pickup back in the Bridge, its actually hotter than the TS. The TS Neck however is staying in the guitar. I made the mistake of upgrading and never listened to the stock pickup with my bridge upgrades, etc and immediately changed to the TS.

 

[G.Rotten]

I dont have a Les Paul with TS's. I got a Stratocaster with them.

The Neck TS is excellent for the Tele. My issue is with the Bridge. Just seems thin and icepicky when you think overwound would be thicker. Kindve wondering about throwing my MIM Player Series stock pickup back in the Bridge, its actually hotter than the TS. The TS Neck however is staying in the guitar. I made the mistake of upgrading and never listened to the stock pickup with my bridge upgrades, etc and immediately changed to the TS.

You'll probably want to edit your first post ASAP before the edit feature is locked.

Admittedly I was also curious about a Mexican Player Series Les Paul.

 

[Telecastoff1]

I've been running Texas Specials in my '92 Tele Am.Std. since 1998 (25 years), and am still absolutely loving the fatter, juicy Tele twang out of this guitar and set of pickups. The bridge pickup is where I mostly reside, and I get the same tone and feel no matter what amp I've plugged this guitar into and have had many a player comment on my great tone. So, I don't know what to tell you about what's going on with your rig. But, these TS are in my Tele for life.

 

[Fender_Player90]

I've been running Texas Specials in my '92 Tele Am.Std. since 1998 (25 years), and am still absolutely loving the fatter, juicy Tele twang out of this guitar and set of pickups. The bridge pickup is where I mostly reside, and I get the same tone and feel no matter what amp I've plugged this guitar into and have had many a player comment on my great tone. So, I don't know what to tell you about what's going on with your rig. But, these TS are in my Tele for life.

Yeah Im wondering if I have it adjusted wrong. How high are you running your bridge? Dont know if I got a weaker pickup or just an adjustment issue. Do you know if yours has 500K pots or the cap value your running?

It might just also me the player and playing style. This is my first Tele , I come from Strats . Kindve also thinking Tele players play with a certain pick attack and style to get that "tele" sound and twang.

Could try putting my old player series bridge pickup back in. Didint really give it a chance. Guitar came with loose tolerance pots and a .047uf cap which I changed to .022uf. It was muddy stock. But also didint hear that pickup with the bridge and saddle change.

 

[Wound_Up]

I had that problem with my cheap Wilkinson bridge pickup. Lacking bass response. No twang. Just didn't sound like a Tele.

That all changed when I put the AV 52 Tele bridge pickup in. I didn't have to change pick attack or anything else. So I'd venture to say the way you play has nothing to do with why it doesn't sound like a Tele.

How old are the strings?

 

[tomasz]

If you Look at the datasheets for Texas Specials from Fender, the bridge has much less bass than mids or treble. If rolling in some bass via the tone pot helps you out, you can try to attach the tone pot to the bridge pickup only.

But definitely try first to a work harder with your pick attack and the picking position. I guess that upper midrange for the twang is actually not a bad thing. That said, I get the best twang with my setup actually in the middle or neck position but I generally don't use the pure bridge pickup often - call me weird

 

[bobio]

Not sure the Texas Specials are my favorite, but I have them in more guitars than any other pickups.
I have dabbled quite a bit with cap values, and I always seem to come back to .022 or .033.

Below are my 2018 Fender American Special and Fender Player based partscaster, both with Texas Specials.
I also have them in a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele that I put together from parts.
I love the Texas Specials, in every position. I may not be typical, but I love the bridge.
The two partscasters have 4-way switching, the 3color Burst .033 cap value, the Squier .022 cap value.
The American Special is all stock, 3-way switching and the .022 cap value.

 

[teletimetx]

Have a James Burton Standard MIM - the Texas Specials came with it. Never had a moment of thinking about swapping them out. Might try raising bass side of bridge p/u or lowering treble side - wherever it sounds best to you. I don't play a whole lot of country, though, but when I need to, it's been there.

I don't recall if you mentioned what amp you are playing through.

 

[Dik Ellis]

I have TS pups in my FSR Strat, and I think they really kick.

 

[Fender_Player90]

I have TS pups in my FSR Strat, and I think they really kick.

Love them in my Strat. But this about the Tele version. Its growing on me , might just have to make adjustments. Dont really want to fork out the money for a new bridge pickup. Either want to make this one work by fine tuning it or swapping back my MIM Player series Bridge pickup. Its might be hotter than the Texas Special. Has anybody had both the player series pickups and the Texas Specials?

 

[Telecastoff1]

Yeah Im wondering if I have it adjusted wrong. How high are you running your bridge? Dont know if I got a weaker pickup or just an adjustment issue. Do you know if yours has 500K pots or the cap value your running?

It might just also me the player and playing style. This is my first Tele , I come from Strats . Kindve also thinking Tele players play with a certain pick attack and style to get that "tele" sound and twang.

Could try putting my old player series bridge pickup back in. Didint really give it a chance. Guitar came with loose tolerance pots and a .047uf cap which I changed to .022uf. It was muddy stock. But also didint hear that pickup with the bridge and saddle change.

The pots and 3-way switch are all stock. I have never changed anything out since I bought the Tele. I only changed the pickups because I felt the stock ones were too shrill. That was almost 25 years ago. For years I was using stainless steel strings and then changed to Gibson Brite Wires up until several years ago. I'm now using D'Addario XL 46-10. I did have to move pickup heights a bit to adjust to the string change, but did it only by ear....I didn't measure anything. I used to use Fender Thin picks, but have since moved up to Fender mediums for crisper and quicker string attack. Plus, I have a very detailed idea in my head what I expect my tone to sound and feel like. But, it's all of those components coming together, along with my playing style that makes it all work for me. I am very fortunate that I'm not expected to play everything under the sun, because I think my sound and tone would suffer. I play clean old traditional Country guitar. My settings and components may not work well for you. So, I would hate to tell anyone that my way is the way to get there. Many years ago, I was strictly a Strat player. But I needed that Tele sound. I bought three different Teles and couldn't get "there"....that tone or sound. I knew a much older, very established Tele picker and asked him for help. He told me to just sit down and relax with my Tele....he said "You don't play a Telecaster, IT plays you! That was the advice I needed. It may sound like dumb advice, but in my case, he was right.

 

[sloppychops]

Did you replace the pickups in your Telecaster? You say it has Texas Specials, but per Fender's website they come with "Player Series" pickups.

Also, are you sure they're Texas Specials and not Tex Mex pickups that you put in? Fender's naming is kind of confusing.

I'm only questioning this because I have a RW Tele that came with the Tex Mex pickups and I didn't care for them at all. I also have Texas Specials in another guitar. The bridge pickup wasn't twangy enough for me, so I changed it to a Bootstrap Palo Duro. I love the Texas Special neck pickup, though. Much nicer sounding than the Tex Mex.

EDIT: Looking back at your post, I'm guessing you replaced the stock pickups with Texas Specials. And I agree with your assessment of the bridge pickup.

 

[dreamingtele]

to be honest, Ive never really liked the Texas Specials or the Tex Mex.. in both strats and teles.. they're all too hot and overwound. I'm not saying they sound bad, but I just dont like them.

now, I dont know if they differ from the CS Texas Specials pickups.. so yeah.. but in all the teles/strats I've come across to owning with the Texas Specials as stock (mostly MIJ), I rip them out and replace with something else..

 

[Fender_Player90]

Its a Player series which is made in Mexico. I took out the Player Series pickups and put Custom Shop Texas Specials cause I like the Texas Specials in my Strat. I didint really give the stock pickups much thought. And the stock pickup for the bridge is actually hotter than than the Texas Special Bridge. The Texas Special neck is hotter than the factory. Debating throwing the Player series bridge pickup back in.

Dont know if those (my stock pickups) are considered "Tex-Mex" pickups. Just are labeled as "Alnico V" Pickups when I bought it.

The Neck Pickup for the TS is staying in the guitar. I just dont get why the TS Bridge is thin and icepicky. Overwound should make it thicker sounding, not thinner. It has a big ass baseplate on it as a Tele bridge p/u should.

 

[Fender_Player90]

Damn so I got a multimeter that reads inductance. The original Player Series Bridge pickup reads much higher inductance and resistance wise. I might be throwing it back into the guitar and pair it with the Texas Special neck. The TS is only slightly hotter than the original Player Series Neck Pickup.

These were not some weak sauce pickup such as those that used to come in the original American Standards.

 

[Humbuckers]

Could you share the inductance readings you got?

As far as resistance goes, the Texas Special and Player bridge should both be in the 10.25-10.8K range.

Damn so I got a multimeter that reads inductance. The original Player Series Bridge pickup reads much higher inductance and resistance wise. I might be throwing it back into the guitar and pair it with the Texas Special neck. The TS is only slightly hotter than the original Player Series Neck Pickup.

These were not some weak sauce pickup such as those that used to come in the original American Standards.

 

[Fender_Player90]

Could you share the inductance readings you got?

As far as resistance goes, the Texas Special and Player bridge should both be in the 10.25-10.8K range.

My Texas Special bridge pickup is like 9.5K. Player series is like 10.5K. And inductance readings show the same as well. So resistance does show the difference for these two pickups. Resistance was I think ~3.7H for the Texas Special. ~4.6H for the Player Series. Ill have to double check. Im seriously considering putting the Player series Bridge Pickup back in. The Texas Special is a weaker than advertised bridge. Wonder if Fender would do anything about this?

 

[Humbuckers]

Hmm. Inductance for the Texas Special seems about right.

The inductance for the Player pickup isn’t directly comparable because inductance is affected by the dimensions of the coil and I believe the Player pickup has a plastic bobbin with shafts the magnets are inserted into, so the added thickness of the plastic will increase the width of the coil, increasing the inductance a bit but not necessarily increasing output. At least if I understand correctly.

Even taking this into account, the Player pickup is still probably a little higher in theoretical output.

Could you share the inductance readings you got?