hey everyone i have a highway one stratocaster in black, and i want to put in Lace sensor pickups (red, silver, blue.). and i was just wondering if anyone on here has tried them and what they think of them. i play alot of alternative rock / grunge and metal. so id like to hear what you guys think of em. i love strat's just i need a strat that get #$@*&!% heavy. do they sound good clean and dirty? opinions are appriciated

Emerald, Silver, Purple
overdrive 15 watt tube amp very easily, bell tones, very tasty
Lace calls them the Rainbow set- for that Monterey sound

sweet picture but how do they sound dirty and clean?

They will provide a good strong signal; thicker than standard but still definatly a strat sound. glassy and bell tone; watery just like you'd expect and will drive any pre amp you have.
IMHO with all the signal processors we have now you can make anything sound like anything you want so long as there is distortion involved; not to say I don't like overdrive; it's just that some folks like more and some folks like less.
And that's ok.
The more distortion the less tone in you guitar sound; the less your pickups matter so long as they have good signal strength.
If you "scoop" the tone it's even less like anything cause there is less tone being presented. IMHO.

I have a calibrated set of Sensors in a Strat and I love them. If I only had one Strat perhaps they wouldn't be my top choice because they aren't so good at the classic low output vintage twang that I want much of the time. But for lots of stuff from jazz to medium drive blues through to Gilmourish lead they are excellent.

I use mine a little differently from the classic Fender set up, in as much as I put the Silver at the neck rather than in the middle, so that they rise in output progressively from neck to bridge.

I spend much of my time on the neck pickup, where the Silver gives me a very nice rolled off warm jazzy sound. I go to Blue in the middle with the tone wide open for lead work, and only move to that very hot Red at the bridge for flat out aggression - for which they work beautifully.

In other words, I use that guitar in a distinctly different way to my vintage setup Strat, where the middle pickup really only serves to provide the "inbetween" sounds.

No rules, but a way to think about it.

Cheers - C

.........and...........they don't create a string-dragging magnetic field so you can set them anywhere you like.

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

If your into grunge & metal and replace the pickups than rather use a stomp box I would recommend going to www.dimarzio.com and purchasing a Strat Super Distortion pickup for the bridge. That should give a metal sound like crazy.

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Fender Natural reissue 70's Stratocaster!

My Strat Plus Deluxe had the blue, silver and red lace sensors when I bought it. With the blue in the neck position, silver in the middle and red in the bridge position. This guitar has a heavy ash body with a maple neck. So the guitar itself is a little on the 'bright' side tonally.

I need to say first that I like a CLEAN strat sound through a Twin Reverb amp. With no distortion. And that is why I didn't care for the lace sensors sound, even in a 'bright' sounding guitar. The blue and red sound like humbucking pickups to my ears, with the blue sounding like a normal humbucker and the red having a pretty hot humbucker sound. The silver that was in the middle position, was supposed to sound like a "fat" single coil, if I remember correctly.

The lace sensors are great pickups, in my opinion. I just didn't like the sound of the set that was in my plus deluxe. The golds on the other hand are said to sound just like the sound I like. You just need to get the lace sensor that produce the sound you like.

And, like one above said, you can set the lace sensors as close to the strings as you want, as long as the strings don't touch the sensors.

The one downside I see to them is they are a bit pricey.

I went with Fender CS 54 pickups to replace the lace sensors. That gave me the sound I like - but probably wouldn't be anywhere close to what you want.

edited to try to clean up the spelling

Yes, that's right. It needs to be clearly understood that this particular set of Sensors is not going to give anything like a traditional Strat tone. And looking again at the OP I am not sure it is the obvious first choice for jangly alternative rock sounds, either. But used appropriately they are very nice.

Point of curiosity: as I mentioned above, I use mine with a non-standard installation, Silver, Blue, Red; neck to bridge. I know several people here have that set but in the more normal Fender setup, with the Silver in the middle.

What I'm wondering is if you ever use the middle pickup on its own with that configuration, or only use it to get the in between sounds in postitions two and four? If you do use the Silver on its own, do you find the jumps up and down in output from the Blue and Red pickups problematic?

After all, it's a huge step from the 7K output of the Silver to 15K on the Red...

Cheers - C

PS Hey, this is my thousandth post! Another red plectrum to my name - it seems I really can't find anything better to do than type away at this Forum. Get a life, Ceri! Oh, well...

Congrats on the 1,000 post Ceri. You are now a pro musician!!

It has been a few years since the lace sensors were in that strat, so I'm working from memory (and it's seen better days )

I don't remember it being as big a problem with the lace sensors as it was with the regular H/S/H setup I had in a Yamaha solid body guitar. There probably was a volume difference, but not enough to stay in my memory like that Yamaha. Also, the fact that you can raise the lace sensor up to almost touching the strings (the silver), or lower it down like many do a standard pickup (the blue and red) can help some with those problems.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. But it has been a while and memory fades.

edited for:
About using them individually or together.
Yes I did try them in every combination before giving up on them and buying the other pickups.

It's ironic, because of my preference for the single coil sound, but with those lace pickups, I liked the blue in the neck the best. And it didn't sound anything like a single coil does in the neck position, but more like a gibson neck humbucker. Go figure!?!

The red was my 2nd choice and wasn't used much. Mostly for some Christian music from a band called BloodGood. (if anyone remembers them)

The silver sound I didn't care for and very seldom went to it. But I did try it alone and in combination with the other two.

That bit's all too familiar!

Thanks for the reply - C

Not even Chet's got the full seven picks yet, has he? I assume when we finally see that one it is going to say underneath, "Used to be a pro: now sits on the veranda in a rocking chair strumming quietly and recalling the old days"...

Uh-hu... - C

EDIT - By the way, on re-reading this post I notice it is open to misinterpretation. It absolutely was not meant to be a rude reference to Chet. I was entirely thinking of myself - I genuinely am looking out the window at a rocking chair on my veranda! - C

Lace's are very nice.
Emg's 81's are good for the heavy groove metal.
But require a Fat Strat pickguard and sometimes a bit of routing to get 'em to fit. Vintage Noisless are gret for blues and heavy stuff, they pick up a fly farting a mile away.. .
It's all in what sound you want and how much you want to spend$$$$.
Not to mention how involved you want to get in the luthier work.
Good Luck to you whatever you decide.

Nice Guitar! The METS sticker is the perfect touch!!!