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Thread: SRV pickups

  1. #1
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    SRV pickups

    Hey,

    Ive got a Squier Strat (Do I need a Fender to be here? I cant really find a Squier forum) and I want it to sound more like SRV's guitar. I know he uses big strings, frets, plays hard, etc....but I would like something that gets me closer. Or does most of the tone come from the big strings....etc. Im thinkin maybe the Custom Texas Specials that come in his sig. or maybe another brand. What would you recommend?

    Thanks alot

  2. #2
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    Personally, I like the Texas Specials. They're raw and have the umph for SRV's stuff.

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    I've just bought abook by Dan Erlewine called Guitar Player Repair Guide and came across the chapter Pro setups in which he was lucky enough to checkout SRV's and Jeff Becks Guitars.He explains in detail srv's neck adjustment,String gauges Fretwire,String height ,bridge saddles,tremolo setup,pickup height etc etc
    He also talks to Albert Collins,Buddy Guy among other blues legends.
    I highly recommend this book as it also shows you all the aspects of guitar repairs and maintenance.
    You might want to check it out.

    I think the Texas Specials are what come in the SRV strat as standard but tone also depends on the body wood and fretboard wood etc.
    Chris Kinmans website www.kinman.com explains all the woods and their tone qualities in his perfect guitar/tone workshop.
    I don't know what SRV's #1 was made of!

    Happy investigating

    Watto

    PS Squiers are more than welcome.

  4. #4
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    Originally posted by Watto
    I've just bought abook by Dan Erlewine called Guitar Player Repair Guide and came across the chapter Pro setups in which he was lucky enough to checkout SRV's and Jeff Becks Guitars.He explains in detail srv's neck adjustment,String gauges Fretwire,String height ,bridge saddles,tremolo setup,pickup height etc etc
    He also talks to Albert Collins,Buddy Guy among other blues legends.
    I highly recommend this book as it also shows you all the aspects of guitar repairs and maintenance.
    You might want to check it out.

    I just got that a week ago....its a really good book.

    I guess Ill check out the Texas Specials when I get enough money.

    Thanks

  5. #5
    When SRV was playing in our area, he found out that a music store in our area still had a couple of the long discontinued ALEMBIC STRATOBLASTER(anybody remember those) Pre amps,he rushed over there and bought the last two they had at the store, now they have a specific jack plate associated with them, but I never saw him with the Alembic jack plate on any of his guitars, but the pre-amp installs inside the guitar, I had heard that he was using them(he did buy them at the store too).I still have a couple of them, and had one on my guitar, it has an on/off switch built into the jack plate, I heard he had it hooked up to his volume pot to work when the volume was turned on all the way.Really boosts the signal works on a 9 V battery.

  6. #6
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    I have the Texas Specials. They sound good but are noisy in all positions except 2 and 4. I am currently thinking of replacing them with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pups. I think the Heavy Blues neck, Blues middle and Solo bridge will do the job. I also have a Dimarzio shockwave preamp installed in mine, which actually sounds like it does a similiar thing to the Alembic Stratoblaster.
    Huh?!

  7. #7
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    Texas Specials.......

    Hey SRV_ fan.... The info you got on the specials is good. I too dished out the big coin for these babies, and what I got was a real good SRV tone,(through my 67' Super) and a lot of noise(hum). The cheap duncan designed they replaced were quiet as a mouse. So...... off to my hobby shop and for three bucks or so came home with enough copper tape to wrap the guitar case up with. Carefuly remove the cover and add a wrap of black tape then a couple of wraps of the copper. cut a short piece to go from the coil to the bottom of the p/u and solder it to the black side terminal. Replace the cover and you now have less than half the noise. You would think for the cost of these suckers, Fender would do it for you. As a new member of the forum, I have enjoyed all the info and chatter. Hope this old dog can pass on some tricks as well...........later

  8. #8
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    on my jimmy vaughan strat im getting soon it has tex-mex pus that people say are very good for that, but one thing everybody has to keep in mind is that you can get all the best gear in the world, but if you don't have the skills to match, the gear really doesn't help any...

  9. #9
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    Superchief, wrapping the coils with copper may reduce RF noise but it also has an unwanted side effect; it allows Eddy currents to interfere with the operation of the coil.

    Didn't you notice a difference in tone? A loss of presence and sparkle?

  10. #10
    I heard from a buddy that is close to the Fender design team that worked on the SRV reissue that the Tex Specials were NOT designed to be exactly like SRVs original pups. He said the '69 reissue pups will get you closer to SRV than the Tex.

    I haven't tried to verify but that is straight from the horses mouth. Good luck as I am always on the SRV tone pursuit since I am in a SRV Tribute Band. ;)

    Here's where I get my tone now:

    http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...8471&members=1
    Last edited by Karaoke Karl; 12-01-2002 at 12:05 AM.

  11. #11
    Forum Member Tonefiend's Avatar
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    KK I hear the first year of production on the Texas Specials pups are the ones to have. This was the word back around the 1st few years of the guitar in the early '90s
    I also remember the 1st SRV guitars had rosewood fingerboards!
    Last edited by Tonefiend; 12-01-2002 at 03:54 AM.

  12. #12
    Forum Member Jeff's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Karaoke Karl
    I heard from a buddy that is close to the Fender design team that worked on the SRV reissue that the Tex Specials were NOT designed to be exactly like SRVs original pups. He said the '69 reissue pups will get you closer to SRV than the Tex.

    I haven't tried to verify but that is straight from the horses mouth. Good luck as I am always on the SRV tone pursuit since I am in a SRV Tribute Band. ;)

    Here's where I get my tone now:

    http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...8471&members=1
    KK, I've heard that story about the 69s, but I'll tell you, the TS pickups nail the SRV tone as far as I'm concerned. I don't have any direct experience with the 69s, though from what I read over at the other place, they are supposed to be fairly clean sounding which I wouldn't necessarily attribute to the SRV tone.

    Anyway, all these pickups can be had used for reasonable enough cash that if they don't work for you, you don't loose $.

  13. #13
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    I'd never heard the story about SRV and the Alembic Stratoblasters before--interesting.

    I know Little Steven uses them on all his Strats, I and do enjoy his lead tones, but I've never heard the SRV thing before. Then again, guitars aside, SRV changed the rest of his rig several times, so maybe so.

    Anyway, God knows I've touted the Texas Specials enough in my other posts here, but I think they do a lot more than just SRV tones. Still, to answer SRV-Fan's original question, I think the Texas Specials would be a bigger step towards that sound than simply upping the string gauge.

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    i am using texas specials in one of my strats and i did the sheilding mod from guitarnuts.com. it is very quiet. those pickups strike a good compromise between thick and thin.

  15. #15
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I put a set of CS 69s in my SRV sig. and am not impressed. They are very clean and low output. Sustain sucks on the higher strings and I'm close to putting the Texas Specials back in.

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    Re: SRV pickups

    I know this a bit off topic, but it is tone related. Have you guys checked out Robert Crays tone lately? Is it me or is it getting nice a raw, and singing compared to his old tone. I heard he has switched from Matchless amps, to Vibroking now. Also that John Mayer dude uses a Vibroking. I`ve never checked one out, but I think I`ll be doing so soon.


    CT.:ahem

  17. #17
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Quote Originally Posted by CocoTone
    I know this a bit off topic, but it is tone related. Have you guys checked out Robert Crays tone lately? Is it me or is it getting nice a raw, and singing compared to his old tone. I heard he has switched from Matchless amps, to Vibroking now. Also that John Mayer dude uses a Vibroking. I`ve never checked one out, but I think I`ll be doing so soon.


    CT.:ahem
    Rick Miller from SCOTS uses a VibroKing too. I'm pretty sure there's no -fb loop on there, so expect it to break up very early.
    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
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    orange picks

  18. #18
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I've got one in a box at home (Alembic stratoblaster) could never get used to it
    hey! ebay auction?
    I saw SRV a few times live and i can tell you INHO this He could play ANy strat guitar with any pups, The real tone came from his very, very loud and powerful Fender customized amps

  19. #19

    Re: SRV pickups

    Makes you wonder after seeing the latest DVD of the two shows at
    Montreux, it doesen't look like he is using his regular amp set up at all, especially in the 82 show, looks like house amps? I never saw him using those before or after ? Perhaps thay couldn't bring their own amps or were told some would be provided ? Still seems to retain his signature tone and sound with the amps at Montreux ?

  20. #20
    Forum Member sabby's Avatar
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Quote Originally Posted by JM3
    I've got one in a box at home (Alembic stratoblaster) could never get used to it
    hey! ebay auction?
    Is this the old kind that requires gutting the guitar or one of the newer "drop-in" kind. If it's the latter and chrome, color me in all sorts of shades of interested.

  21. #21
    Forum Member JM3's Avatar
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    Re: SRV pickups

    itsa black anodized plate that drops right over the existing jack has a micro switch to activate and a 9 volt stuck on the back changes the input to a standard jack its gotta be 20 years old or more

  22. #22

    Re: SRV pickups

    Rory Gallagher had one in his guitar too for a while you could see the switch in place of the second tone knob position, his guitar was wired up with a master tone control. Then some time after that he put the second tone knob back in,don't know if he removed it after that or wired something different? He also had a quarter pounder pick up in the bridge about the same time the switch was on the guitar.

  23. #23
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I can see why CS69s could be used for SRV stuff. I think the low output actually makes the distortion that much nicer because the amp does more of the work.

  24. #24

    Re: SRV pickups

    I have TS in my '62 RI. This guitar is my best sounding Strat for Stratty sounds IMO.

  25. #25
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I'm not necessarily directing this comment towards anybody in particular, but it's seriously becoming more and more annoying to see tons (and I do mean *tons*) of people trying to seek SRV's sound with gear alone when the reality is that nobody gets off their ass and studies the man's technique which made him sound the way he does.

    I have a CD of SRV playing through a solid-state amp and a generic Strat with a fuzz and he sounds like SRV. The color of the sound might have changed a bit, but in all honesty, he sounded almost exactly the same as he did on every single other bootleg CD I have of him.

    He changed rigs as often as people change underwear! Every night, he'd have a different amp and guitar setup. Yet, everybody always thinks that SRV=#1 going through a SR with a TS-808. Wrong.

    No combination of gear will *ever* make you sound like SRV if you don't get the chops down pat. As an example, do any of you actually sincerely believe that Clapton could sound like SRV given the exact duplicate of SRV's rig? No. Never. Not in a million years.

    Stop focusing on gear so much. It pisses me off to no end. It's so easy to go in a store, fork over the money, grab the gear and voila ; the mission's over. You can't sound like SRV no matter how much money you spend if you don't practice for months, years even, learning how to play like him.

    I know this must hit close to home for a lot of you, but come on! Enough is enough, already. Save your thousands of dollars and learn how to sound good by actually *GASP!* playing instead of paying.

    /rant mode turned off.

  26. #26

    Re: SRV pickups

    Have to agree with you on that. As a matter of fact my bros and I STOPPED trying to play or sound like SRV a long time ago. GEEZ it was like every time we went out to a blues club to listen to some music there was another SRV wanna be up there and we would turn around and walk out. I personlly am tired of seeing and hearing people trying to imitate him, even some of the well known players in the main stream today,without mentioning anyone you know who they are.Don't get me wrong, I love SRV and his style playing and what he did.Still listen to it and think it should be a part of some peoples playing but up to a point. There is a time time and place where you want to try and develop your own style and sound too.
    It is great to fuse elements of it in a playing style much like SRV borrowed from others like Lonnie Mack, Hubert Summlin, Albert King,
    Johnny Copland, etc.... He never focused on just one of his mentors
    but was inspired by them all to develop his own style.

  27. #27
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    Re: SRV pickups

    [QUOTE=
    Stop focusing on gear so much. It pisses me off to no end. It's so easy to go in a store, fork over the money, grab the gear and voila ; the mission's over.
    /rant mode turned off.[/QUOTE]

    Isn`t that what people are trying to achieve with modeling amps?? SRV at the touch of a button?? Raging plexi tone at the twiddle of a knob?? Thats what the amp makers want you to believe, and thats what the LAZY player wants to believe. Practice your balls off, and play out as often as you can, and then one day, you`ll wake up and say,,shit my tone is pretty good. And as a matter of fact, you`ll probably get to like your own playing a lot more once you`ve crossed that hump.

    CT.:ahem
    Last edited by CocoTone; 01-10-2005 at 09:31 AM.

  28. #28

    Re: SRV pickups

    Strat-Mangler is one hundred percent correct!!!!!!!!!!

  29. #29
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I remember reading on the Fender website when the first Texas Specials can out was they were designed to give you a SRV like tone without having to use the Heavy strings. So they are most likely not that close to what he was using.

  30. #30
    Forum Member tonemonkey's Avatar
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I'm with the mangler on this one. Gear will not have you sounding like your hero, yiu need to, as far as possible, become them. Remember though that it is better to be yourself in tonal terms, find your own voice, take from others, but don't become them.

  31. #31
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    Re: SRV pickups

    If SRV played the tuba he would still sound like SRV. :lol

  32. #32
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Glad to see I'm not the only person who thinks this way. It's just that I'm really starting to get pissed off at whining people who have this illogical thinking pattern of "Oh, let me buy this paintbrush and I'll automatically paint like Picasso." Obviously, I don't know what the techniques behind this or that particular painter are, but I do know that it's a lot more complicated than simply waving a brush on a canvas randomly, with some "special gear."

    The talent needs to be there. The motivation to make that talent flourish needs to also be there. But no gear can automatically make you sound whether good or bad. You make your own sound with your own talen or lack thereof. I sounded like shit until after the first 2 years of *really* digging into the guitar.

    Try it and you'd be surprised of the leaps and bounds that gear will never be responsible for. ;)

  33. #33
    Forum Member hudpucker's Avatar
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    Re: SRV pickups

    I thought that all I needed to do was buy the Custom Shop SRV strat, a Custom Shop Vibroverb, an original TS-808 and use very heavy strangs and I'd sound just like SRV...


    that's what the nice salesman told my mom, anyway...
    Tone is in the fingers, eh? Let's hear your Vox, Marshall and Fender fingerings then...

  34. #34
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Quote Originally Posted by hudpucker
    I thought that all I needed to do was buy the Custom Shop SRV strat, a Custom Shop Vibroverb, an original TS-808 and use very heavy strangs and I'd sound just like SRV...


    that's what the nice salesman told my mom, anyway...
    No, no, no... NO!

    You need the hat, too!

  35. #35
    Forum Member tonemonkey's Avatar
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Dont forget to tuck your trousers into your boots too!

  36. #36
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    Re: SRV pickups

    The kimono was cool, though! :)

  37. #37
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Quote Originally Posted by Strat-Mangler
    The kimono was cool, though! :)
    Dude, I've got the Custom Shop Kimono!
    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
    Things to make them louder
    orange picks

  38. #38

    Re: SRV pickups

    Then just go to the hardware store buy a paint brush cut the bristle off and crazy glue it to your chin below your lip, for a goatee and you are all set !!

  39. #39
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n
    Dude, I've got the Custom Shop Kimono!
    Well, now I'm jealous! I better order a reliced one. It'll be full of holes and patches, etc... :)

  40. #40
    Forum Member bzimm's Avatar
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    Re: SRV pickups

    Just make sure when you get the Custom Shop briefs you get the Time Machine or the Closet Classic pair. Don't get the relic because it comes with a skidmark.

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