Mine with Lace Hot Golds, with the 13.2k bridge pup:

And here's a clip: Willis Funk, the solo guitar and the harmony part is played on the Lace Strat.

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GoranS tunes - GoranS guitar projects

Thanks for the info guys. Now I'm contemplating the Blue sensor for the bridge . It does say it's aimed at a PAF sound but I would like just a bit more, hence the PAF Pro. Still, it could distort quite well. I guess the good thing is that sensors aren't too much $$ so if I don't like one over the other in certain positions I can always move them around a bit. Maybe I need to get both the Hot Gold and the Blue and see what works best .

Nice playin' there GoranS. The Hot Gold sounds nice. I'm looking for a bit more of a heavier style but your clip definately helps out.

[quote="bfloyd6969"]Thanks for the info guys. Now I'm contemplating the Blue sensor for the bridge .

Most of Fender's applications for the Blue Lace Sensor (i.e. later Strat Plus and Tele Plus) placed it at the neck.

Doc

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Nice combination look for that guitar. Would not look as 'clean' with pole pieces.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Though some of us put it in the middle in a Silver/Blue/Red set. For "calibrated" steps up in output, neck to bridge.

There's always someone who has to be different...

Cheers - C

The Ultra was blue, silver, red: neck>bridge was it not? I suppose it's back to xhefri's for the real skinny on that lot.

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I haven't read all the responses here so please forgive me if I add anything terribly rhetorical or redundant. Also, as always there are just my own personal opinions and should only be taken as such.

Last year I worked with a guy who had an American Std with the Lace sensors and that was really one very sweet sounding instrument...the sound was about as close to EMG's as I've ever heard (and to me, EMG's are nearly the Holy Grail of Strat pickups, LOL!). The problem is that the guy sold the guitar rather quickly and bought a Gretch instead so I never found out exactly which Lace Sensors he had or any real specifics about the guitar itself. I -think- they were the Gold Lace but I can't be absolutely sure about it.

Now that said, I recently played a used American Std when I bought my '85 MIJ. That particular instrument had the "Blue, Red and Gold" sensors...I -think- it was blue at the neck, red in the mid and gold at the bridge. Now again here, I only played this guitar in a store for a few minutes and don't really know too much about it at all but that thing just sounded really -awful-. It's quite possible that it just wasn't wired correctly...the instrument was used after all, but it just sounded very thin and brassy and not anywhere close to what a Strat should sound like.

When considering new pickups, my advice is usually take a day off and do a "field trip"...visit as many music stores as you can and play as many different Strats with as many different pickups as you can side by side. Since you said you were "still new", don't worry about "showing off your chops"...you're not there to impress anyone, you're there to make a decision about pickups. Try and find a Strat with the Lace pickups you're considering and play it side by side with an American Std...this is really the only way you'll be able to decide what sounds best to your own ears.

Again, just my own personal opinions,
Jim

[quote="lomitus"][quote="cnsky54"]

Hi Jim:

To the best of my memory, which I am more inclined not to trust these days, Lace Sensors have not been standard equipment in the line with the exception of the Buddy Guy Artist Series guitar for many years now, and that guitar, as with the first generation Clapton before it, carries Gold Laces and and a 25db midboost, which kind of prejudices the audition.

So, except for being fortunate enough to find a used Strat Plus, or Ultra with their stock pickups, or a well setup guitar whose pickups have been swapped out for Laces, I would think it thus becomes more of a Holy Grail quest. Where Strats are concerned, I might add that the CS 35th Anniv Stratocaster also had them but that would be a real find, just hanging around waiting to be discovered. Tele-Plus's, of which I once owned one, would also fall into that category. Helluva guitar that, by the way.

But for the aforementioned. your recommendations are certainly something I would advocate as well.

Looking at EMG's, search out the Actodyne (Lace) Technologies website, if you have not already done, so wherein the technology of the sensor pickups is described. Their design is quite interesting in terms of how they function as transducers.

Doc

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Hey Doc,
You are absolutely correct...even in regards to the guy I mentioned last year, I really don't know if he bought the guitar new or used...and again he sold it fairly quickly so I never got a second look at it. Unfortunately, he's also an older guy and his memory isn't....quite....umm....what guitar? (and Jimmy D., if you're reading this...sorry my friend, just telling it like it is, LOL!). In all honesty, while I had listened to the guy play it for about an hour, I only played the guitar myself for about 10 minutes. I remember that it was a newer American Std (not sure the year) and that the sensors were all the same style...I -think- they were gold but they could have been silver...I know they weren't red or blue.

I know there have been a few models that came with sensors over the years...I'm sure I've read about them in catalogs and such but I never really payed too much attention to which models or anything at all. That said though, I know I've ran in to Strats over the years in the music stores with Lace Sensors...new? used? Don't know. The one I played a few weeks ago was certainly used and as I said before, it's certainly possible it could have just been wired wrong or something but that one just sounded like do-do....-really- bad. I played it for a minute or two...played with the controls a bit...checked the amp to make sure I didn't have something screwed up....said "eewwwweeee" and put it back on the rack. For the sake of fairness, I'm sure that wasn't indicative of how Lace sensors are supposed to sound but still...that thing was just really nasty.

Either way, yea...personally if I'm considering new pickups, I try to find a guitar with whatever I'm considering already installed and will compare it to others...I'll even bring 1 or 2 of my own guitars with me for a -fair- comparison (after all, nothing ever sounds the same on the show room floor as it does in my own basement studio! LOL!). Obviously I've been in and out of A LOT of music stores in my years...I've probably been in every single music store here in Northern Ohio at one point or other. With only one or two exceptions (including my recent '85 MIJ Squier) most of the Strats that ever really blew me out of my socks and made me stop and say "Wow!" have almost always had EMG's in them. In fact I've got a bud with an old Kramer Strat copy that has EMG's (not sure which models) and that one is the same way...just really incredible tone. I -hate- the neck on that sucker compared with my own Kramer (I don't like baseball bats) but it really does sound very very sweet.

I will certainly look up Actodyne as you suggest...looks like it should be an interesting read. I'm starting to get really interested in pickup design anyways...been thinking about trying to wind my own (curiosity...boredom...wanna see if I can do it...), so that will probably be part of my "research".

Peace,
Jim

[quote="lomitus"][quote="zzdoc"][quote="lomitus"][quote="cnsky54"]

Look for it under Actodyne General or Lace Sensors. As for the EMG's
I had a DG-20 prewired pickguard in a Strat once. Certainly can't complain about Gilmour's taste in gear.

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