Texas Special Strat Pickups

[oldguy]

I really don't know much about these, other than both the Roadhouse Strats are loaded with them. I did some searching and found this short description regarding the configuration in the Roadhouse Strats.

"Fender Custom Shop Texas Special Strat Pickups give you that classic blues sound. Take a set of vintage Fender Strat pickups and overwind them for more midrange, punch, and output and you get pickups with Attitude! Featured in the Stevie Ray guitar, they are calibrated for each position with a reverse coil, reverse-wound middle pickup for noise cancellation. If you want plenty of midrange bark and crisp high-end bite, get these Special Strat Pickups."

Anybody else here use them, and if so, what do you think of them?

[Spudman***]

I almost bought a 2006 Mexi Strat with them just because it sounded so darn good. Unfortunately it didn't play as good as it sounded. Those pickups are real sensitive to height. I think a lot of folks don't like them simply because they try running them too close to the strings. I like them though.

[duhvoodooman***]

I put a set in my '89 Strat Plus (or Darth Strat, as Tot calls it) because I never particualrly cared for the Lace Sensor Golds that came in that guitar. I like 'em a lot. Just as described, it punches up the midrange and gives the guitar more b@lls. Not the same airier, sparklier tone you get from more "vintage-correct" Strat p'ups, but exactly what I was looking for. They definitely lean to the SRV side, tonally. And they will give you the dreaded "wolf tones" if you run them up too close to the strings.

[oldguy]

Thanks, guys!
I haven't played w/ the height adjust. on these, I don't notice any string ghosting/warble. They're just WAY different (better, IMO) than my MIM Strat, and wanted some valued opinions.
(I gotta get back to cleaning the music room, or I'm in trouble......)

[markb]

They're slightly overwound at ~ 6.5K with Alnico 5 magnets. Fender originally claimed they were based on the pickups from SRV's no.1 guitar. Those pickups are now known to be slightly underwound by early 60s standards. The MIM standard pickups are ceramic magnets and quite powerful but a bit harsh in my opinion. Fender advise setting TS pickups lower than (say) American Standard pickups.

http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php Scroll down a bit for pickup height recommendations.

[mrmudcat]

I got a set in Mary Jane they kick arse with some special wiring!!!:

[Duff]

I got a Texas Special bridge pup for my Tele and it is awesome. Hot at 10.5K ohms output. Totally different and superior to the stock bridge pup.

I now want to get a neck Texas Special for the tele. I got the bridge one, custom shop, for 35 dollars because I put a hot rail pup in a friend's tele. This was in it at the time.

Although it's not a strat TS I thought I'd throw in my observation of what I think is a great great bridge pup for a tele. It won't be going anywhere, that's for sure.

Duffy