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Post subject: Thinking about putting Lace Sensors into my MIM Strat
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:08 am
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I really love my MIM Strat. I've had it for almost a year now, and I think the tone and everything about it brilliant...EXCEPT for the 60-cycle hum that is present with most stock Strats. It screws up the level of overdrive/distortion/fuzz ratio to the level of the guitar when clean. And, it's a real pain to toggle with amp settings to try to dull it down, but it's still there. I've been interested in Lace Sensors for a while now (mostly because my favorite guitarist (Billy Corgan)'s old Strats had them. And I researched them enough to where I know it would be beneficial. (Especially the humbucking-noise cancelling qualities, but still retaining single coil tone...).

Now, the reason I'm posting is because I have no clue how solder/change pick-ups. I'm a guitar player and not much of a guitar tech beyond changing strings. On musiciansfriend they have an already pre-set Strat pickguard with Lace Sensors (Blue/Silver/Red) and I believe that'd be the road for me. So, what I'm asking is: Should I try and learn and take a chance by installing it on my own? Or should I just fork over a little extra money and take it to guitar center to have it installed?


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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:11 am
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Soldering isn't so hard and is a skill worth having for just these occasions.

Google it and read up on it a little: it's those nice, shiny joints we're after.

An important point is to use a soldering iron of the correct power, neither too big or too small. This is most important on the backs of pots. If you have to leave a small soldering iron touching the metal casing for a long time to heat it up enough to make the joint then heat will also be transmitted inside the pot and damage the workings. Similarly if you use a huge iron: heat floods in a ruins the innards.

Also handy is to use crocodile clips as heat sinks near to the joint to transmit excess heat away and stop it going where you don't want it.

It all sounds tricky at first, perhaps, but it really isn't. Just read about it before hand so's you know what you are trying to achieve.

Good luck - C


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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:49 am
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Ceri wrote:
Soldering isn't so hard and is a skill worth having for just these occasions.

Google it and read up on it a little: it's those nice, shiny joints we're after.

An important point is to use a soldering iron of the correct power, neither too big or too small. This is most important on the backs of pots. If you have to leave a small soldering iron touching the metal casing for a long time to heat it up enough to make the joint then heat will also be transmitted inside the pot and damage the workings. Similarly if you use a huge iron: heat floods in a ruins the innards.

Also handy is to use crocodile clips as heat sinks near to the joint to transmit excess heat away and stop it going where you don't want it.

It all sounds tricky at first, perhaps, but it really isn't. Just read about it before hand so's you know what you are trying to achieve.

Good luck - C


Wish this would have come up a week a go. I replaced two of my MIM pickups with area 58 & area 67 pickups.

I have to turn the volume knob up higher than I used to. I thought at first it may be because the pickups are not as hot as the MIM. They sound good at volume but maybe I partially cooked the tone pot because it seemed to take forever to get the negative wires to loosen up and come off. I had very little soldering experience but woudl tackle it again. If it does not work you can always take it into a tech afterwards.


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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:11 am
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Soldering is quite easy if you are careful about it. To avoid "cooking pots" I use a 40 watt soldering iron. It heats up the spot you need very quickly without too much heat dissipation to the pot.

Lace sensors are great pickups but they take some getting used to. They are much more sensitive than traditional pickups. you will probably find that your amp and vol/tone settings have to change. Still they are very nice and very noiseless.

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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:58 am
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You should get a soldering gun (like $10 or something) and practice on something OTHER THAN your guitar. Like Ceri said, get those connection nice, shiny and very minimal. It's worth learning.

Me? I didn't practice so much, I just did it. Nice, bug, bumpy bubble-gum sized wad of solder. Worked for years, then I decided I wanted to clean it up, so to speak, so I practiced a bit on some scrap parts, etc. Not hard, but you want to do it right and not have to worry about some crappy connection coming undone.

If you get it and still suck, have a friend do it, or have the store put it in. Not much charge, maybe none at all if you're buying a bigger purchase like that.


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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:03 am
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Another note: Lace Sensors tend to sound much better if you have a more solid attack and technique. If you have a very light touch, you may not get a good sound of them, and they'll sound muddy and crummy. Just my experience, but something to look out for.


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Post subject: Re: Thinking about putting Lace Sensors into my MIM Strat
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 6:36 am
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[quote="directorfitzy"]

You should go into the Actodyne website and review the entire series of Lace Sensors. There's a hotter series available which you might prefer over the classic gold, silver, blue, and red.

Doc

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