Stevie Ray Vaughan pickups

[Possum]

....

I was lucky enough to see SRV on his first gig in Los Angeles. My brother's friend was from Austin so clued us in that he was going to play. Well, he didn't get booed off the stage but his show was a dud. I remember that he played most Hendrix tunes, in L.A. if you throw a rock down the road you're likely to hit several musicians who can play Hendrix tunes as good as Jimi himself, so the audience knew that and were bored to death. His stage presence was awful, he looked down at his guitar like he was ashamed to be there. I wasn't that impressed; we played his LP before we went and I thought he was pretty good but the show stunk. I think his solo on Bowie's album is what put him over. I wish he had played his original stuff at that show and he would have gotten a better response.

[Sweetfinger]

Texas specials were mean to mimic the tone on his records but they are nothing like what was in his guitar. TS pickups are plastic bobbin with all same size magnets pushed up for a fake stagger, and they use 43 gauge wire to get a midrangey compressed tone, they really are junk.

You are describing "Tex-Mex" pickups, or the current American Standard pickup. Texas Specials have always had fiber flatwork/traditional construction. The older sets were wound a bit hotter, the sets in recent years are closer to the specs you'd see in vintage strats. They are actually my favorite "off the rack" Fender Strat PU.

[JGundry]

I saw SRV right before he hit rock bottom. He was good in fact great but LOUD!! Messed with the amp a lot and was stooped over his guitar for most of the show. The best live guitar performance I ever witnessed was Brian Setzer with the Stray Cats though.

I do not remember anybody claiming SRV was a second rate Hendrix knock of when he was alive. He was innovative and a legend while alive. The only proof of that you need are all of the guitar players that have come up that sound like SRV clones and not Hendrix clones.

[Possum]

...

When I lived in L.A. there was talent everywhere, amazing talent and big stars everywhere, no one knew who SRV was at the show I went to, very small turnout, the guy sitting next to me got up and left saying "if I wanted to hear Hendrix I can go home and put an album on." I don't remember anyone even clapping much either, you have to remember this was the height of the punk type thing where guys would jump off stage into the audience, some blues guy from Texas, playing Jimi tunes was a big flop. I left there like most thinking so what...the playing was good but stage presence was terrible, I never thought he would have made it, the Bowie thing is what put him over I think...

[Elvisofnazareth]

Yeah I agree , don't get those "Texas special" pickups, they are neither.

I'd grab some slightly overwound Fralins, and make sure you have some real stout 6l6's if you're going to use those heavy strings.

One time I had a custom shop Texas special Telecaster bridge pickup that I measured at around 13k.... sounded horrible (Muddy, no distinct resonant frequency, and no high end.)

It was suppose to be a vintage reissue...but I think if Leo caught you making a pickup like that in the 50's you'd soon be working as a soda jerk in the drug store.

[mkat]

I saw SRV when he came out to Australia. Played at the Opera House (no idea why) and the Hordon with Jimi Vaughan's band as the support - great gig.

[mkat]

Aloha Possum,
I saw a set of Tx Specials in the late 90ties and it looked verry traditional.
Fiber bobbins , plain enamel and cloth wire.
Seems like they go for cheap.
db

Yep, same here. I rewound a bridge pickup a few months ago, black fibre bobbons and so on.

[StarryNight]

I think his 'commercial' popularity took off when he played on David Bowie's tune Let's Dance.

[David Schwab]

I think his 'commercial' popularity took off when he played on David Bowie's tune Let's Dance.

That's true. That's the first time many people heard him, including me.

He wouldn't go on tour with Bowie though, so he's not in any of the videos.

[jrfrond]

No one has mentioned the top TEN reasons that SRV sounded the way he did: his FINGERS!

Sorry to be so cynical here, but I am not down with the whole micro-dissection of the minutia in an attempt to recreate a player's tone and vibe. Most players sound like themselves no matter what they are playing on. Their gear becomes more iconic than the players themselves, and it IS NOT the gear. However, this is how the music industry manages to keep selling "stuff" year after year.

FWIW- It's not just the guitar industry that sells the "signature" bill of goods.

[ken]

The magic is in yer hands

Hello...

+1 to jrfrond

This reminds me of seeing Leslie West at a guitar show awhile ago. He was trying out some Korean? guitar at a booth through a transistor amp, but he still
sounded like 'Mississippi Queen'. I have to admit that even tho I try to make pickups that get somewhere close to 'SRV' tone, your tone is still all in your fingers.

ken

[GlennW]

No one has mentioned the top TEN reasons that SRV sounded the way he did: his FINGERS!

That's true to an extent, as it is with anyone; but since he did sound different with different guitars it's not like he (or anyone else) had the same tone with every guitar he played.

[Zhangliqun]

I discovered totally by accident that a very quick slap echo, so fast it's almost inaudible as an echo, really nails the Texas Flood tone. I'm not saying SRV ever did that, seems unlikely, but probably it approximates a spring reverb seeting he might have used.

[jason lollar]

I would bet he had varying acceptance depending on the region. I remember hearing pride and joy on the radio- I had switched over to playing only blues in 1980 and I was working in a gas station as a pump jockey when that came on the radio. I remember being excited because it looked like there was a chance for blues to become somewhat popular again (granted he played a different variety of blues) and it did to some extent for a short time, I got away with playing blues in clubs all over the northwest from the early 80's to the early 90's and then alot of us moved to portland.
I saw every tour he did up to in step, that first texas flood tour he played the seattle paramount which is a 25 to 2800 seat theater and it was almost full. Of course there was alot of interest in tommy shannon the bass player because many of us had watched him through the 70's with johnny winter so that first trour Tommy pulled alot of people in IMO.
As a background Seattle downtown was mostly blues clubs from around 1980 to 1993 or 5 but the suburbs were butt rock clubs and top 40. In the 70's it was a stop on all the major rock tours, so maybe Stevie was a little bigger deal here. It wasnt untill around 1990 that I remember clones showing up in clubs.

Really at the time I was more into going to see albert collins, gatemouth, john lee, willie dixon etc. in bars but stevie pulled in alot of interest in this area

[chevalij]

From what I've read, he was basically booed off the stage the first time they play Montreux. That was in '82 I believe. Only been to Seattle once and the only thing I can remember is too much scotch and a jazz bar called Tula's. I think....