Lace Sensor fans and electronics-savy people, I need some input on what Sensor colors to pick.

[Waraxe]

My first experience withvlace sensors was in the late 90s in my strat plus deluxe.
I liked the red for gain. It was like a super clear po0/bucker sound, but much lower in volume.
The blue was cool. I didnt like the silver, probably because it was in the middle position, which I despise.

After that, my w strat got an HSH hemibucker/hot gold setup.
I had the hemis switchable to the outer coils and a bridge on switch. I couldn't get a good sound, though I believe this was traced to the amps I was using.

I pulled all that for an SSS set of holy grails and a Clapton circuit.

While I like the grails ok, I think I want to go back to a red/something/something set.

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

So I’m basically between the Blue/Gold Dually and the Emerald/Purple dually for the neck pickup. It’s a coin flip, I’m 50/50 on which one I go for. Silver middle and Red/Blue Dually bridge are basically locked in.

I still really want to do a Dinkycaster build at some point, but I’ve started to have other plans for that. For this I’m probably just gonna do a normal Strat body with a swimming pool rout and the Delonge mod on the Pickguard for the volume knob. Might just wait for a good screaming deal on a Strat body. My concerns now are mainly aesthetic ones, like…

What finish and pickguard color do I want? Is the angled Bridge Humbucker necessary? What about knobs? Do I want top hats or something non-stratty? Do I want the Fender trem or a Gotoh 510? Etc..

@Waraxe Those Holy Grail pickups are probably the most expensive (new regular production) pickups I’ve seen, about $150 more than the Fishman Gristle Tone Tele set. They better be amazing.

 

[Waraxe]

So I’m basically between the Blue/Gold Dually and the Emerald/Purple dually for the neck pickup. It’s a coin flip, I’m 50/50 on which one I go for. Silver middle and Red/Blue Dually bridge are basically locked in.

I still really want to do a Dinkycaster build at some point, but I’ve started to have other plans for that. For this I’m probably just gonna do a normal Strat body with a swimming pool rout and the Delonge mod on the Pickguard for the volume knob. Might just wait for a good screaming deal on a Strat body. My concerns now are mainly aesthetic ones, like…

What finish and pickguard color do I want? Is the angled Bridge Humbucker necessary? What about knobs? Do I want top hats or something non-stratty? Do I want the Fender trem or a Gotoh 510? Etc..

@Waraxe Those Holy Grail pickups are probably the most expensive (new regular production) pickups I’ve seen, about $150 more than the Fishman Gristle Tone Tele set. They better be amazing.

I got mine with no box, brand new in '18 for 170 bucks.

Couldn't go wrong at that price.

400 bucks plus? Ill pass.

The bridge pickup is really cool. There were actually 2 versions of these floating around. The early ones were a bit hotter, but there were production issues or something, and they unbound them a bit.
The old fender forum had a lot of great lace info.

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

Remember how in the first post of this thread I talked about reading Lace’s website, and how they "describe the pickup’s sound while avoiding saying what it actually is to avoid trademark infringement?"

Well, I’ve been reading up on the Fishman Fluence website, and Greg Koch’s signature Stratocaster set is described in a way that suggests "These are supposed to be like Lace Sensors but we can’t say that because of trademark reasons."

It’s a whole double dose of trademark infringement avoidance.

I hope the rabbit hole goes deeper and some other brand makes a Strat set, and the website says "These pickups are for you if you’re chasing that 'Wisconsin Man high tech circuit board active pickups' tone!"

 

[PFDarkside]

Remember how in the first post of this thread I talked about reading Lace’s website, and how they "describe the pickup’s sound while avoiding saying what it actually is to avoid trademark infringement?"

Well, I’ve been reading up on the Fishman Fluence website, and Greg Koch’s signature Stratocaster set is described in a way that suggests "These are supposed to be like Lace Sensors but we can’t say that because of trademark reasons."

It’s a whole double dose of trademark infringement avoidance.

I hope the rabbit hole goes deeper and some other brand makes a Strat set, and the website says "These pickups are for you if you’re chasing that 'Wisconsin Man high tech circuit board active pickups' tone!"

I thought they are like the EMG SAs with the mid boost option replacing the SPC.

 

[Toy Sun]

I've got blue/silver/red in my Warmoth Strat (roasted maple neck) with the 10 position freeway switch and OMG, so many cool sounds available. I'm kind of a "deal with it/all guitars have some good sounds" kind of guy, but I have to say statements like this, earlier in the thread, just amaze me:

The blue was cool. I didnt like the silver, probably because it was in the middle position, which I despise.

How can you know if what you didn't like about the silver was because it was in the middle position? Wonder what the blue in the middle and silver in front might have sounded like? I could go on and on. So.... many.... variables......
Talking about an artist's sound - we are hearing their entire chain, amps, speakers, and then recording - mics, pre, the combination of players, mix, and then your own playback system.

Of course that's all known and discussed, but when I just contemplate switching the positions of my existing blue/silver/red, by the time unstrung, removed pickguard, desoldered, swapped, and then put it all back together, would I even remember subtleties of tone?

Power to y'all, but I find it all very intimidating.

 

[Waraxe]

I'm a huge lace fan.

Ive had:
Golds
Blue
Silver
Hot Silver
Hot gold
Red
A set of hemibuckers.
A set of holy grails

I ran sets as:
Hemis with the Hot gold in the middle. 5 way, coil splits, bridge on switch. It had 13 sounds.

Red Silver blue in a 90 strat plus deluxe.
Tried golds in another strat.
Added the Silver in the bridge

There were tons of combos I tried.

From what I remember:

I liked the red for 70 hard rock for bridge. The blue was similar but not as sharp. This is going back 25 years or so.

Liked the Silver and hot Silver in the bridge. Hated the Silver in the middle position. But then I don't like this position at all.

Hot gold was not much hotter than the regular one. Just a slightly different tone.

Now, electronics wise:
I view these as non active emgs.

Years ago, when don mare worked at Lace, and ran their forum (he created the Hot gold btw), he came up with the "333" mod (1meg resistor on a 500k pot) as the optimum spec for laces since 250 was a bit dull and 500 too bright.

This is what the tbx was for on the strat plus. If you just bump it up to 6 or 7, you get there. Works great.

No, they dont need a tbx or midboost to "sound good". They're just tonal variety. I wouldn't use them without though, as i like what they do.
You can also use them with the emg tone circuits. They do a bqc system that has bass, treble, mids, and mid sweep on 2 stacked knobs. Or you can do a volume, standard tone, and the variable mid control. Both will sound better and be less noisy than the Clapton circuit.

Lace sensors are great for wiring the crazy combos since there is no need for rw/rp. You can pick any 2 or 3 and wire them in parallel or series with no phasing issues.

My ultimate scheme for a Swiss army strat was an SSS setup with 2 dimarzio rails (satch track and protrack/super distortion s). 1 next to the neck in the 24 fret position, and the other angled in-between bridge and middle.
A 2 way toggle to switch between 2 halves of a superswitch.
1 side is the standard 5 way strat
The other would be ibanez' 5 way hh setup.
You could sub in a red and blue here with similar results

Standard strat and superstrat in one!

I'm down to the hemis and hot gold in my drawer, and the holy grails in my strat with a Clapton circuit and a freeway tele switch. I like this setup alot. It goes from 50s strat chime to a fat p90 like sound. Under high gain, it can get very close to humbucker tones.
If I were to mimic this setup in laces, I'd do hot gold 6ks.

That said, im gonna rip all that out and go for emgs.
Most likely an slvx set with a VMC.
57/66tws with an slvx and the vmc is another option (these split sound incredible)

I still want to try a red again in the bridge though. It would probably sound really mean with the midboost.
I remember swapping a set of jbjrs into my plus deluxe and being disappointed that the red and blue sounded better. Those Jr's have been in my pickup drawer for 25 years as a result of that. Lol.