Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

[JB_From_Hell]

I got a Strat today (Thanks Kac!) and in the bridge is a Livewire Hot for Strat. Holy shnikees! Talk about a kick ass pickup. With heavy distortion, it sounds great for metal, and the cleans are killer, too.

The middle pickup is a silver Lace Sensor, and the neck is a blue. I'm really digging them, as well. I've never used them prior to now, and am blown away. I've never been a fan of single coils, but these three are really winning me over.

[Kac]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Well, JB I'm really glad that you're enjoying them, they were always good to me.
The Ibanez Humbuckers in my RG 7-string aren't too bad, but I'll be changing them out at some point in the future. I traded away my guitar with a Duncan pick-up, so now I gotta buy some more.
Rock On

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

I always thought those (the 7 string) pickups weren't great, but definitely useable. Better than the six string models, anyway

[rspst14]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Some of the Lace pickups are really good, while others I don't really care for. I think the Hot Gold and Holy Grail models are excellent choices if you want a Strat pickup that doesn't hum.

Ryan

[Fusion1]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

JB, can you give further detail about the lace sensors? Which is in the neck spot? I just bought those same exact lace sensors but havent decided where to use them yet.

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

The blue one is in the neck, silver in the middle. The blue one is fat and thick. Very Strat-like, but 'bucker-ish as well The silver is not as hot, but balances extremely well. The two together is the first time I've liked the neck/mid combo on a Strat. The thing that really blows me away is they're both as quiet as the Livewire.

Lace's descriptions of their pickups (these two, anyway) are extremely accurate.

Does anybody know what the Lace pickups look like under the covers? What I mean is, do they have blades or poles?

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

I've got a set of Custom Shop Hot Golds with a hot (13.something) bridge and they made my Strat sound like a Strat should! Great value for a set of three.

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Do you have the same impedance matching problems with actives and passives with the live-wires that you do with EMG's???

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Do you have the same impedance matching problems with actives and passives with the live-wires that you do with EMG's???

None whatsoever. I don't know how it's wired (haven't looked under the hood yet ) but you'd never know that there's an active in the bunch, except for the fact that the Laces are super quiet under high gain, but the Livewire is dead silent.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Does anybody know what the Lace pickups look like under the covers? What I mean is, do they have blades or poles?

36 Tiny polepieces.

That's how they get them to be so quiet and to have so little string pull. Something to do with the diffusion of the magnetic field.

They have no humcancelling coils, and are, in fact, true single coils.

Technically, they are not "noiseless", just"low-noise".

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Are the poles arranged in a 2X18 manner, or something else?

I cannot believe they're not hum-cancelling... they're quieter than some 'buckers I've used.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

Yep, 2x18, IIRC. They're quite ugly looking when you take the covers off.

Also, they don't use a normal magnet, according to Dan Erlewine's book, which might contribute to their low noise.

[rspst14]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

If you haven't done it already, try adjusting the Laces really close to the strings. Because of the very low magnetic pull, you can adjust them much closer to the strings than you can a normal single coil. In fact, they often sound better that way.

Ryan

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Livewire Hot for Strat/Lace Sensors

I had them lowered a bit, and the Livewire jacked up really high, so I'll try raising the Laces. Thanks for the tip!