My Ultra

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Dean Leslie West Standard.

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Dean, Epiphone and Fender guitars

Blertles,

Is that the classic lace setup on your guitar? I cannot read the coloring or lettering. I've alway been interested in the lace pups but my old school instincts plus misinformation has lead me to avoid them. However, I have purchased Strats with SCNs (which I love) even though they're not the same as Lace I still feel like I'm a stupid hypocrite since I'm straying from the traditional AlNiCo design. I know this is silly but I consider myself a traditional AlNiCo man although I do know that there have been so many advancements (SCNs which I have bought) since the dawn of the first pup. I mean I'm not using dial up internet anymore and I certainly don't feel bad about that. I do have to say that whatever the pups, I do love the looks of your guitar. I do have a great deal of respect for your opinions. You are one of the few that I consider one of the most knowledgeable of this forum. Let me know how things go and sound please.

Russ

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'08 Amer. Dlx. Strat, '98 Amer. Std. Strat, '10 Squire CV Tele Custom, '96 Seagull S+6 Cedar
Deluxe Reverb RI, Tweed Blues Jr., Champion 110, Champion 600, Mustang I, Line 6 Vetta

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Very nice guitars BMW-KTM. Is that an ash bodied Strat? I've never seen one with such well defined grain. If it is ash, mahogany, alder, or something else, that is one of the most distictive and stunning Stratocasters I've ever seen.

Russ

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'08 Amer. Dlx. Strat, '98 Amer. Std. Strat, '10 Squire CV Tele Custom, '96 Seagull S+6 Cedar
Deluxe Reverb RI, Tweed Blues Jr., Champion 110, Champion 600, Mustang I, Line 6 Vetta

My number 1

My MIM Standard. I was playing with my new Camera and some online programs to get a funky pic...
Davej

Nope, that one is my mystery secret weapon. Made in Korea even though
I can't find any other "Fender" badged guitars made there. The body is
Koa topped, neck is bird's eye Maple w/Rosewood. The moto scratch
plate came stock. I bought the guitar with the intention of using it as a
test bed so I wouldn't have to hack up my American guitars. It has seen a
wide number of pickups, wiring arrangements, string guages, action
heights. It is currently configured with Kinman Woodstocks with the
solderless 9 position switching. The Kinman harness uses some parts that
are quite large compared to stock so I had to do some woodworking in the
cavities to make everything fit. I also installed a set of Schaller locking tuners
which I had in the house for a different project that ended up never happenning.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Nice. R7? Always liked these better than the sunburst reissues.

Yes...break'n de rules....man... My original 1976 Bicentennial Issue Firebird—the real re-issue of the old 60s Firebirds! These were made from late 1975 to early 1977. It has Gold plated hardware that is well worn.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Treats me better than my ex ever did.
At least this one actually responds to my "magic hands", what with the howling and the diving and the screaming and the bending.

The guitar, I mean.

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- Fender USA Select Stratocaster
- Marshall JVM 410H
- Marshall 4x12 cab
- Macbook; Snow Leopard
- MOTU Traveler Audio Interface

Hey Russ,

Its is the standard layout for the Ultra: dual red/red, silver, blue. The dual red has a 3 position toggle switch to select either pickup on there own or in unison. Red lace sensors are a high output pickup. Perfect for when you need a hot humbucker sound, or some bite when playing clean- they give a little out of phase bite when played in pos 2 with a silver sensor.

The second Lace Sensor is silver, which gives a little more midrange than your average strat pickup- but dont think 'texas' midrange. think a loud, early 70's type- like a 69 but with slightly more bark.
Position 2 for the ultra is interesting. You can choose either of the red sensors via the 3 way switch. This is where you can emulate a tele type of sound and also get a cool out of phase tone from using these with the silver.

The third is a blue Lace Sensor. Hmm, I have a love/hate relationship with that pickup to be honest. Its like a P90 sound, which is great sometimes. Very warm, but usable jazzy sound on a strat. You get a nice sound when coupled with a silver on this one. For the Ultra, if I want that hollow bell like tone, I use the silver.

There is also a TBX that comes in handy to roll off treble when needed.

The ultra in my opinion is a very classy strat. Not your average, its a different breed. but very versatile and a pleasure to play.

If you look at the below, you will see how a Sensor works over normal traditional single coils. I reckon you should give them a try. They are loud, they give less hum and they can be set to as close to the strings as you want them to be. The string pull isnt that much so you wount have to worry about your notes being strangled by magnetic pull. I like SCN's- but I prefer Lace Golds myself. I find SCN's are to my taste but are close to the borderline of my preference for tone. The Gold is my favourite. It has every attribute most people want in a pickup: less noise, less string pull, more volume and a jangly vintage strat tone without losing that 'character'. I think they are the best of the deluxe calibre pickup that Fender have used since the Am, Std line was introduced. I havent played a N3 equiped strat yet (I dont think they have arrived yet! ) but I do hear they are good, probably fenders all round best sounding stack to date.


I think you should give Laces a try mate- they're a good pickup. people sometimes dismiss them but some havent even tried them at all. Once you do- you will know why Laces have a following



thanks for the compliment, but really- there are others here that know a lot more than me Mr. Xhefri-san is the grand master of the Strat plus/deluxe Ultra line hahaha

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Xhefri, that Firebird is flat out gorgeous!

I'm a recent Firebird convert. I picked one up for the first time about a month ago and it was love at first touch. I knew it was going home with me as soon as I plugged it in to a '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue.

Johnny Winter was right.

John

Not the best pic of my MIM Lake Placid Blue strat, but I've only had it since Friday. I really love the color and didn't honestly know if I would...I'd only seen pictures and they don't do it justice. It's a very 60's shade of blue, I can easily see either a Caddy or a Corvette this color.

All it needs now is a white pearloid pickguard and some Texas Specials.