Fender 57/62 Vs Tex Mex Pickups | Frusciante Tone-Off

Hi folks, little video looking at these Tex Mex pickups - often cited as being awesome Frusciante tone pickups. Taking a look at each clean first then some JF riffs! The amp was set EXACTLY the same through all John tone examples.

What i would stress here though - if you like ALOT of gain on your strat, thats when texmex pups come into their own. But for John tone or my taste, they are much darker then you expect and a little hotter then the real vintage pups that John would have in his strats. But what do you think?

#Fender #Frusciantestone

[i]

I was undecided between the Tex Mex and the 57/62 pickups, but now I'm clear that the sound I'm looking for is the Tex Mex. Great comparison, thank you!

[ChadwickRider]

Personally I like the twang in the 57/62 better... but for half the price the Tex-Mex get me close enough.

[mstrdanny]

I actually like the sound of the Tex Mex! I’m going to buy them and put them in my home made guitar! Great comparison video and nice played! 🔥🙏🏻

[thetanman]

Tex-Mex sets like to sit loooow in the pickguard. Takes a lot of the shrillness out. Tone control wired to the bridge helps even more! They really are a fantastic pickup for their price. Love how the 57/62 set sounds here. Been thinking about getting them. Cheers!

[duck_]

The 57/62 are amazing pups...and reasonably priced

[gavphil]

I just bought the Tex mex pickups and all I can say is it’s good for distortion. I was amazed how well the bridge pickup handles different genre for a single coil pickup, but I guess because it’s hotter

[markewing]

So glad I watched this. I have a really nice Fender Strat MIM that I just acquired, and the pickups in it are terrible. I also have a new set of Tex Mex pickups in a Squier Strat and was debating swapping them from the Squier to the new Fender Strat (new to me). But I was debating if I should use the Tex Mex pickups or just buy a set of 57/62’s. You helped me to decide. I’m going to buy a set of 57/62’s. Thank you for this video! Much appreciated!

[philz]

Great video. I can really hear the difference and agree that the 57/62's have more life to them. I'm going to upgrade my Carvin Strat bolt pickguard and this video helped me decide. Thanks.

[paulcarter]

57/62s sounds warm and well rounded. TM, to hot and to bright.

[denniseh]

Great video! I’m stuck trying to pick between these 2 pickup sets for my new Strat build and your video came up first. Although I am a huge John Frusciante fan and agree the 57/62 sounds more like John, I prefer the Tex Mex for my needs.

[deerosario]

i liked the neck and middle sounds of the Tex Mex and the bridge sounds of the 57/62s. I like brightness in my tone and that pickup combination would sound great on one of my strats.

[bluemooncollision]

Tex Mex pickups sound great, definitely going to get a pair to replace a strat with the SCN pickups.. 57/62 have a nice tone too. I have a 57 AVRI Mary Kaye model that sounds killer, bought another set of 57/62s for a parts caster and was really disappointed by the new set I got. Anyways, thank you for making this comparison very helpful.

[bumblefritz]

I have Tex Mex pickups in my main Strat. The other guitar player in my band plays Les Pauls and our tones perfectly compliment each other without stepping on each other.

[PaulCooksStuff]

3-tone sunburst has two more tones than flat blue, obvs! 😜

Tonepaint aside, I preferred the sunburst. It seemed more rounded, and less shrill. But in isolation I'd probably play either and not notice. Lol. Interesting comparison though.

[richardwhitehead]

Wow. Rare that a pup demo shows such a stark difference. Thank you for this. To my ears, the 57/62 had much greater depth, clarity, and that magic ‘airy’ quality I so love about strats. The Tex mex were clearly brighter, and that’s not a problem, but they also felt more one dimensional. They simply lacked the Strat magic. IMO. Why bother with a Strat if you can’t have the magic? If you want hotter, cutting treble tone that stands up to lots of gain, just get a Tele with hot pups. I need clarity/depth in a Strat. I have a Japan ‘E’ series Strat from the 80’s, and I’ve been debating changing out the original pups (very bright, but still ‘airy’). My issue with them is the RW middle pup. Not a fan. While it is noise canceling, it’s also tone neutering. Neither of these two sets sounded like they had a RW middle, is that right? Thanks again for the useful review.

[RocklandHomes]

I swaped out my Tex Mex for the 57/62's many years ago in my Jimmie Vaughan Strat. The guitar sounds and plays amazing.

[joshfeatherstone]

I’m preferring the 57/62s. Kind of surprised because I wanted to like the Tex Mex. Thank you for the comparison. Side note: I have Fender 65 Pure Vintage in my Strat. I get on fine with those. Cheers

[justtheguy]

Superb comparison! And great playing, as well. I liked the 57/62 pickups more because they have that classic Strat sound that everyone knows and loves. I found the Tex Mex pickups to sound a little “fat”.
Great one, mate. Keep the good content coming. (:

[jr]

When you were playing cleanly, I felt the low end on the Tex-Mex set was superior, but when the overdrive was added, the 57/62 set handled it better. In a mix, all of that low end is going to be dialed out, so it doesn’t really matter anyway.

[hisroyalsucculence]

Tex Mex had the edge for me. Thanks for the video!