Pickin' up what you're puttin' down - Guitar Pickups Vol. 4: The Rio Grande Conundrum (First-world Problems) [017]

Stuck in my head: "El Diablo"
ZZ Top
Tejas

One of the bummers about 1976's Tejas is that it was digitally remixed in 1987 to sound more like ZZ Top's contemporary records, since they'd found great success with the Eliminator period of records. The drums were replaced en masse in the 1987 version and the whole balance sounds off. I've posted the original 1976 version - I like it better.

~^v*v^~
The purpose of this entry is mostly visual; I finally received the neck plate from Dave at Rio Grande, and wanted to highlight the finish against that of a traditional chrome-covered pickup. As noted in prior entries, the "raw finish" of the neck plate is the same that's used on the updated set of "Wider Range" pickups from Rio Grande.

I used one of my reissue Wide Range humbuckers for comparison between finishes.

These were snapped on Thursday, May 19, 2022, in both sunlight and shadow, but both with plenty of natural light. Judge for yourself which finish you prefer.

If I want to maintain the classic look, I may be faced with a custom job, which I long sought to avoid.

Lame.