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I have had questions about the benefits of using a wound third string to get the authentic sound of early Hank.
I personally hate using a wound third because I bend a lot and a wound third doesn't, so if I need the authentic early sound I am lucky to have a Strat fitted up with a heavier string gauge including the wound third. I've just had a play with two Strats through the Meazzi & TVS3 as they are currently in my front room. I have to say that the Strat with heavier strings (12/54 with wound third) does sound 'right' on tunes such as Apache, FBI. Frightened City, The Savage, Kon Tiki et etc because of the way the wound third doesn't ring as much as a plain third. I still prefer to use my 9-46 Hybrid Ernie Ball for gigs though and not many people would notice the difference if truth be known.
The heavier strings are harder to play, but the voice of the guitar is stronger because of the fact that the strings are bigger. That's the trade off against lighter and more comfortable strings, but I just push the volume on the amp to compensate.

That’s interesting, Dave.

I agree about gigs. There’s no point in getting too obsessed because the venue acoustics interfere anyway - and, as you say, not many punters will notice. I’m not sure I would!

I've been using 12s on my main Strat for ages (so the third is about a .024) but don't like using a wound one as it seems to reduce the volume.

It's a real shame that on cheap and nasty pickups you can move the polepiece to compensate, but not on decent ones!

Maybe they’re not so nasty if you can do that!

I have a 'Strat' with a Fender 57/62 setup which has staggered pickups giving the third string extra volume. My guitar tech said it was not safe to try and move the pole pieces as it could damage the windings thus making the pickup useless. As an aside the individual selections sound ok, quite a lot more more bassy than the bridge selection which has slightly reduced volume and sounds quite trebly moving somewhat towards a Tele sound. The upshot of this situation is that the pickups sound like those from two different sets. Apparently Fender do offer a set without staggered pole pieces but this was not apparent when I ordered them from Thomann. On reflection I would have been better to have got a set of Tonerider Surfaris... much much cheaper.

Regarding the Fender 57/62 pickup sets, I had at least two of those sets back in the days when we played Shadowmania and my white Strat had them fitted when we did the 2006 show and the comments from everyone was very positive. I was using the ESE Echomatic and the Pinnacle KV-30 amp, so plenty of valves involved. I had been experimenting with Custom Shop 54s but they were proving too 'ice picky' so I sold them. I later tried some more that were not the same, so a little confusing. That said I now have a USA Strat with 57/62 pickups and it sounds great, just as it should, but I also have some Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II and they too are very reminiscent of the early Strat pickups.
My '62 Strat has Sliders and my '63 has some period correct pickups from a guy in the USA and each of those guitars sound as they should. It is a minefield out there with so many pickups to choose from and all one can rely on is your own ears. I personally find the current Squier Classic Vibe pickups are as close as any that I've heard and it's rumoured that they may be made by the company that make Toneriders. I also picked up a set of Mojo Vintage Sixties which are expensive, but good. My Kinman AVn Tradiional set sound great too, as do the Fender Noiseless on my USA Deluxe, but I feel the best of all are the pickups on my G&L S-500 that Leo Fender designed not long before he passed. They are called MFD (Magnetic Field Design) and have pole pieces that can be adjusted with a small hex wrench, though I have never needed to interfere. Come to think, the whole tone circuit on the G&L S-500 is what is needed to get the exact early Hank tone, because you can actually dial in the different tones that he used right across the spectrum on all the different tunes. In my opinion and from vast experience, I feel that Leo finally got it right not long before his passing because for almost sixty years, the tone controls on a Strat were pretty useless, but not so on the S-500.
I'll get me coat . . . . .

Hank made a point of talking about string gauges on the 2004 tour, in order to get closer to the sounds of the records, but on the DVD the closer shots of his heavier-strung Strat show that he was still using a plain third.

Iain Purdon wrote:That’s interesting, Dave.

I agree about gigs. There’s no point in getting too obsessed because the venue acoustics interfere anyway - and, as you say, not many punters will notice. I’m not sure I would!

Agreed, Iain. On the one occasion I've recently used a Strat on stage to specifically try and copy a few early sounds (albeit with 'modern' gear) I did miss the wound third, and I wished I'd had the time to change the strings, but I doubt that even 2% of my audience wound have noticed any difference.

I was well-known to obsess over the sound. The most important things are getting the notes right and making sure the performance means something. Wasting time with gear between tunes just loses you your connection with your audience. I admit I miss trying for the old sounds, but if I have to choose between fiddling with equipment or keeping the fluency of the gig, I know what's most important in a live setting.

dave robinson wrote:Regarding the Fender 57/62 pickup sets, I had at least two of those sets back in the days when we played Shadowmania and my white Strat had them fitted when we did the 2006 show and the comments from everyone was very positive. I was using the ESE Echomatic and the Pinnacle KV-30 amp, so plenty of valves involved. I had been experimenting with Custom Shop 54s but they were proving too 'ice picky' so I sold them. I later tried some more that were not the same, so a little confusing. That said I now have a USA Strat with 57/62 pickups and it sounds great, just as it should, but I also have some Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II and they too are very reminiscent of the early Strat pickups.
My '62 Strat has Sliders and my '63 has some period correct pickups from a guy in the USA and each of those guitars sound as they should. It is a minefield out there with so many pickups to choose from and all one can rely on is your own ears. I personally find the current Squier Classic Vibe pickups are as close as any that I've heard and it's rumoured that they may be made by the company that make Toneriders. I also picked up a set of Mojo Vintage Sixties which are expensive, but good. My Kinman AVn Tradiional set sound great too, as do the Fender Noiseless on my USA Deluxe, but I feel the best of all are the pickups on my G&L S-500 that Leo Fender designed not long before he passed. They are called MFD (Magnetic Field Design) and have pole pieces that can be adjusted with a small hex wrench, though I have never needed to interfere. Come to think, the whole tone circuit on the G&L S-500 is what is needed to get the exact early Hank tone, because you can actually dial in the different tones that he used right across the spectrum on all the different tunes. In my opinion and from vast experience, I feel that Leo finally got it right not long before his passing because for almost sixty years, the tone controls on a Strat were pretty useless, but not so on the S-500.
I'll get me coat . . . . .

Maybe I got a faulty set...they don't sound like a balanced set to me, although each pickup sounds fine in itself...

Just buy more guitars, I’ve 10’s on my Burns, 11’s on my 60’s NOS and 12’s with a wound 3rd on my ‘56 NOS.