Hi fella's.
I'm doing a little research about pick ups for modding my Classic 50s Strat.
If I went with the lace sensor (blue,silver,red) pups...

1. Would they drop in without any routing?
2. Would the pots needed upgrading as well?
3. Opinions on these pups/ positive/negative and why?

I'm basically looking for a little more oomph with a little less hum.

I'm doing the exact same thing. Lace Sensors in a Classic 50's....I ordered a loaded pickguard sensors with Emerald/Silver/Purple. It comes with CTS pots and a good quality switch already wired up. It's not much more than the cost of 3 seperate sensors. Only thing I couldn't get were the sensors in creme colored. I'm just swapping the sensors into my pickguard. You could swap your old pickups and electronics into the new pickguard and sell it to offset the cost. They drop in perfectly. BYE BYE NOISE, HELLO TONE..............I used the blue silver red in the past and they sound great but you will give up the Strat character. They are more dark and humbuckery. I went with the Emerald for the neck(real close to a Texas Special) Silver mid(fat 60's/70's) and a Purple for the bridge which ia akin to a P90 but I will be switching it to a Hot Gold Bridge more than likely.

i have a classic '50's and when i first bought it i couldn't roll the volume up past 5 without the hum (which is very annoying when sitting in front of the amp playing by yourself). so what i did was get a sheet of copper shielding foil ( costs between 8-10 bucks) i totally lined all the routing on my body and lined the back of my pickguard with it... i also resoldered all the grounds on the jack-pots- and trem-claw and all of a sudden i can have my volume on 10 with barely a hiss...no hum and without losing the tone that i bought the guitar for. also changed the pickup height and got a bit more volume. so perhaps before dishing out for new pups give that a whirl..lace sensors will definetly change the sound of the guitar if thats what you want, guess its a matter of personal taste but i love the tone of those stock pups.....hth

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