Lace Pickups

[mwbjr13]

Does anyone have any experence with Lace pickups? I'm considering doing aHSS setup with two sensors and a dually with a split on the dually. Thing is I know nothing about Lace pickups and I don't know anyone who has experence with Lace. I play hard blues to hard rock with a heavy jazz influence but with that being said I dont know enough about the pickups to make a choice.
Thanks for the input  :rock-on:

 

[greywolf]

I had a Blue neck, Gold mid and Red Bridge setup and loved them 

 

[Hbom]

I have chrome domes in my Warmoth strat. Look left.
I really like them.Sort of Fen  Der on steroids. Some of the metal guys say they don't have enough 'umph' for that. Not a prob here as I only play wood & plastic.

Try em. I don't think you will be unhappy unless you like battery operated guitars.
:rock-on:

 

[MSP]

I liked them in the old Fender Plus guitars.  I haven't played them in anything since then, but those had a really nice sound.

 

[Cagey]

My experience with Lace pickups is somewhat dated - I haven't used any of the modern offerings. The ones I'm familiar with sounded thin and lifeless to the point where I still wanna spit on them. But, I've read good reviews of the more recent parts.

I will say this, though - if you're looking for a noiseless single coil that actually sounds like a single coil, I don't think you can buy anything better than the Gordon Food Services "Tru-Coil" parts. I've done the DiMarzios and Seymour Duncans and Lollars et al, and none of them can match these things. Not that any of those sound bad or poor - they sound great - but these things are the whip for rich single coil tone that doesn't buzz your ears to death. Don't be fooled by the price (which is incredibly low), they're high-quality parts and the sound is amazing. Unclench $30 and try one - it's unlikely you'll wanna use anything else after that.

 

[drewfx]

I have a Strat with Laces. 2 golds and I replaced the gold with a blue in the bridge.

They're there own thing and don't sound all that much like "normal" SC PU's (which is why I suspect some people hate them). Very touch sensitive and sort of hi-fi.

Try them through a decent compressor pedal and they fatten up nicely.

 

[Steve_Karl]

I had 3 maroon in an alder bodied Fender strat. that had a maple / rosewood neck about 20 yrs. ago and I liked them very much.
Unfortunately that guitar didn't survive guitar wars that year and got sold.

 

[xDave]

I have a '91 Strat Plus Deluxe with the same set as greywolf and likely MSP. Love 'em. They sound like a strat but no hum. A little more sustain because of the lack of magnetic pull to I believe. I've heard good things about the Hot Golds, hard to really judge sound from youtube videos though.

 

[crash]

For a traditional strat tone, I kind of like the Hot Gold.  I say, kind of, because they do lack some low end that you really notice when you play clean.  I had Hot Gold, Hot Gold, Purple in my Koa strat and it sounded similar to my Black strat clone that has the Fat 50, CS69, SSL-5.  I changed the Koa strat to Purple, Hot Silver, Blue just to be different.

The Blue, to me, is almost an exact copy of the Seymour Duncan SSL-5.  Very hot and fat sounding.
The Purple is probably my favorite.  A little less output than the Blue.  Works great in the bridge or neck.
If you want to keep the strat quack in positions 2 and 4, put a Hot Gold in the middle.

Here's a combination to consider:
Neck: Purple or Light Blue
Middle: Hot Gold
Neck Dually: Burgandy-Blue (Both work well as singles in the bridge)

This place sells more Dually combinations:
http://www.aampselectricguitarstore.com/lace_pickups/lace_duallys.html

 

[mwbjr13]

For a traditional strat tone, I kind of like the Hot Gold.  I say, kind of, because they do lack some low end that you really notice when you play clean.  I had Hot Gold, Hot Gold, Purple in my Koa strat and it sounded similar to my Black strat clone that has the Fat 50, CS69, SSL-5.  I changed the Koa strat to Purple, Hot Silver, Blue just to be different.

The Blue, to me, is almost an exact copy of the Seymour Duncan SSL-5.  Very hot and fat sounding.
The Purple is probably my favorite.  A little less output than the Blue.  Works great in the bridge or neck.
If you want to keep the strat quack in positions 2 and 4, put a Hot Gold in the middle.

Here's a combination to consider:
Neck: Purple or Light Blue
Middle: Hot Gold
Neck Dually: Burgandy-Blue (Both work well as singles in the bridge)

This place sells more Dually combinations:
http://www.aampselectricguitarstore.com/lace_pickups/lace_duallys.html

Those alternate dually combinations are awesome! Thanks for the site 

 

[xDave]

+1

 

[Rickgrxbass]

My experience with Lace pickups is somewhat dated - I haven't used any of the modern offerings. The ones I'm familiar with sounded thin and lifeless to the point where I still wanna spit on them. But, I've read good reviews of the more recent parts.

I will say this, though - if you're looking for a noiseless single coil that actually sounds like a single coil, I don't think you can buy anything better than the Gordon Food Services "Tru-Coil" parts. I've done the DiMarzios and Seymour Duncans and Lollars et al, and none of them can match these things. Not that any of those sound bad or poor - they sound great - but these things are the whip for rich single coil tone that doesn't buzz your ears to death. Don't be fooled by the price (which is incredibly low), they're high-quality parts and the sound is amazing. Unclench $30 and try one - it's unlikely you'll wanna use anything else after that.

The overwound set is pretty tempting; I was looking at DiMarzio's Injectors, but at less than half the price, I might give them a go first...

 

[Cagey]

I just did one the first time because I was skeptical. Not any more. I'm not kidding, these things are the real deal. But, maybe you should do the same thing. I mean, it's only $30 or so. Pretty low-risk. You can't even buy a used DiMarzio for that. Get one of the middle range parts, like the the 7.0K version and put it in the neck position. If you like the sound of single coils, I can pretty much guarantee you'll love that. They're authentic. It's like it's not a noiseless single coil style like everybody else is doing, it's a single coil with no noise.

 

[Hbom]

  maybe you should do the same thing. I mean, it's only $30 or so. Pretty low-risk. You can't even buy a used DiMarzio for that.

I understand the theory. But if you are going this route with pickups, why not the neck and body too?

I mean if I'm spending $400.00 on the neck & 500.00 on the body, why would I go with import pups?

I've read here more than once that pickups have more to do with tone than wood so wouldn't it be prudent to use import body & neck with better pickups rather than the other way around?

Just my nickel.

:rock-on:

 

[bagman67]

  maybe you should do the same thing. I mean, it's only $30 or so. Pretty low-risk. You can't even buy a used DiMarzio for that.

I understand the theory. But if you are going this route with pickups, why not the neck and body too?

I mean if I'm spending $400.00 on the neck & 500.00 on the body, why would I go with import pups?

I've read here more than once that pickups have more to do with tone than wood so wouldn't it be prudent to use import body & neck with better pickups rather than the other way around?

Just my nickel.

:rock-on:

I'd respond that if you can find a body and/or neck of equal quality to the Warmoth stuff at a third of the price you'd pay from Warmoth, you'd be a fool not to at least give them a try.  That's the argument Cagey's making with respect to the GFS pickups - not that you should pay as little as possible, period - but that you should pay as little as possible for the level of quality you require.


Bagman

 

[Cagey]

What he ^^ said.

I'm not trying to save you money. That's not the issue. I'm trying to get you to try a better-sounding pickup. That it costs much less than you're used to paying is just icing on the cake. Sauce for the goose. Naked women on TV.

 

[Tipperman]

What he ^^ said.

I'm not trying to save you money. That's not the issue. I'm trying to get you to try a better-sounding pickup. That it costs much less than you're used to paying is just icing on the cake. Sauce for the goose. Naked women on TV.

I've found Great Food Selection pickups to be iffy. I've heard one pair of tru coils that sounded great, another that was total garbage. That being said, at that price range its WELL worth trying, seeing as buying a set up Blackfaces from Lollar will cost you your arms and you won't be able to play anymore. Still, I don't think the great pair was better than the Lollars I used to have. But that might be my mind justifying spending $14 trillion on pickups.

Definitely try the Grand Fluff Sharpener pickups.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Does anyone have any experience with Lace pickups? I'm considering doing a HSS setup with two sensors and a dually with a split on the dually. Thing is I know nothing about Lace pickups and I don't know anyone who has experience with Lace. I play hard blues to hard rock with a heavy jazz influence but with that being said I don't know enough about the pickups to make a choice.
Thanks for the input  :rock-on:

I had a Strat with 3 of the "Gold" Lace Sensors and I did not care for them at all. It was nice that they didn't hum, but they did not have that vintage single-coil tone.

In my opinion, the Dimarzio Area-series (I like the "67s") are the way to go for noiseless single-coil pickups.

 

[Cagey]

I like the "area" series pickups, too. I have them in two guitars, and they sound great. But, they don't really hit the classic "single coil" sound. Close, but no cigar. That's not to say they don't sound good - they do. Very good. I'm not replacing them. But, if you want authentic old-style single coil sound, you need to get some of those GFS parts. I'm not kidding, those things satisfy.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Here's a youtube video I did with some sound demos of my Warmoth strat with a red/silver dually in the bridge and Lace Holy Grails in the middle and neck - and I set up the bridge so I can split it on either side and also have an S1 switch so there's quite a few options to sit through.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m36sRugr0g&feature=relmfu