Hi, I grabbed a japanese Start recently and wanted to confirm what the pickups are.
They must be active as there is a battery hidden under the cover.
One of the tone pots is push-pull and makes the sound weaker when pulled up.
Can anybody tell me what is on the pictures? What pups are those? On the outside there is no brand name or anything and I don't think they are factory fitted...
Many thanks!

It says right on the bottom of each pickup that they are Lace Sensors made in the USA. The battery is for what appears to be preamp/midrange boost circuit board installed in the guitar.

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Bill

Alright! Any way of telling the exact model of Lace Sensor pickups by looking at the pics?

So the push-pull thins is part of the small board (visible on the pic) and that's what the battery is for?

Thanks for replying!

Unless someone here knows, contact Lace and give them the part number.

http://www.lacemusic.com/contact.php

Yes.

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Bill

Definitely Lace Sensor pickups with a boost circuit (the green electronic plate).

Fender had several Strat models equipped with Lace Sensors (Mr Lace designed them in license for Fender).

Combined with a mid boost, Lace Sensors are FANTASTIC sounding! You got some REALLY nice PUs there!!

There's different types of Lace Sensor PUs which can be identified by the color of the LACE SENSOR writing on top of the pickup.

If it's written in gold, they're supposed to produce a "vintage 50s sound".

There's also Blue Lace Sensors (blue script on top) which are for BLUES and there's a "HOT" version (red script) for heavier rock sounds.

In the meantime Lace has produced further colors, a hot version of the golds and so on....

Here's a pic of my Lace Sensor Gold pickups. Note the golden script on top of the PU cover. Unfortunately it doesn't look very golden on the pic , but it is golden script:

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Thanks for the useful info. However there is no writing on my PUs. They are just white with the poles exposed. No sign of the make on the outside.

I think it has the TBX tone control as well. Now not sure if the battery is for the TBX or the pickups?

Also the signal seems super high on those pickups but when I pull out the TBX(?) tone pot it all gets pretty quiet - too quiet. Could it be the flat battery?

Sorry for sounding stupid but I have not had a fender equipped with anything other than the stock stuff.

Well, if there's no writing on top of the Laces, they might either be different Lace models or (less probably) modded "normal" pickups (which I don't think, because that's very difficult to do).

Best is to provide the Lace customer service with pichtures of bottom and top of the PUs.

If you have TBX, then there should be a coticeable detent at 5, where the pot feels kinda "stuck". If you exceed over the detent, trebles are added. If you turn below the detent, trebles are reduced. Not like with a normal pot, where the "sound" is changed. Dunno how to explain. If there's a detent, it's TBX.

I haven't heard about a push/pull TBX though.

I don't know what exactly the push/pull does but I assume it's a bypass for the active electronics which means, you get the basic non-boosted pickup output, which is well known under Strat players.

The non-boosted Lace Sensor sound is not very popular because it sounds a bit thin.
That's why Lace Sensors got negative reviews and reputation. With active mid-boost circuit they sound AWESOME!!! I love'em to death!!

My guitar has no bypass, so if the battery is dead, my guitar is quiet like a church mouse

If your battery was dead, you wouldn't get the fatter sound with the push/pull pushed in. That's why I assume it's a bypass. The battery is for powering the boost.

_________________
Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Hey, I got the reply from Lace. These are Lace Holy Grail pickups:
http://www.lacemusic.com/Holy_Grails.php

Now the middle tone pot seems to be the TBX as it soes have a 'stop' half way. However there is very little effect when using it, almost no tone change at all.
The bottom tone is push-pull and it does affect the output a lot.

This still leaves me unsure as to the 9V battery. The pickups are passive yeah? The TBX is not battery powered (supposedly) so it must be push-pull thing which has that small board on the inside? If its a mid boost then it seems to be doing it's job because pulling that tone pot up makes the sound super quiet - I hope it's normal although I don't see a situation where you would like to use it since the difference in the signal level is really significant.

Anyway, thanks to you people I do know a lot more about this guitar now yet any additional input would be greatly appreciated!

Hard to tell from the photos, but the TBX pot should have both a resistor and capacitor connected to it. I cannot see the resistor. Is there one? If not, the TBX is wired wrong.

Yes, the battery is for the circuit board. We have already said that. Yes, the guitar will will be quieter when the circuit is turned off. Whether it is a mid-boost or overall boost you will have to determine by listening.

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Bill