So, how are Lace pickups...generally?

[jeremy]

i had a custom set of hot golds given to me by donzo years ago, and they were really good. slightly overwound neck, vintage middle, and hot bridge. really nice set. i gifted that strat to a good friend who still has it with those pups and uses it as his main guitar.

that said, ive not heard any lace pup that sounds like a vintage strat pup. the first gold sensors, which sound good, dont sound like ones from a few years later. i dont know enough to tell you why, but ive heard enough sets to say that confidently. overall, i think they are fine pups, just not my taste.

clapton has been using fender noiseless pups in his strats for a long time now. he still has some old first and second year custom shop clapton models with lace pups, but those dont come out very often. as dave said, the preamp in those guitars does color things a bit, even when the mid boost is all the way off.

[freefrog]

The only thing I know about them is what I've read. (Mostly here.) But I can't help wonder if their (Gold's) are in the same sonic territory as Lipstick tubes. Bright, jangly, and not quite like "normal" Strat singles.

Anyone compared both?

Lipsticks have a lower inductance and more eddy currents, hence the hi-pitched but rounded resonant peak recently discussed . Lace Sensors have a lower pitched but pointier and narrower resonant peak, even if they exhibit Foucault currents to some extent too.

Manfred Zollner from the GITEC compares Lace Sensors to Jaguar pickups with their "teethed U-shaped claws" under the coil... On the same principle, I'd rather think to Tri-Sonic's, whose coil/magnet assembly is closer to what Lace does offer... This and the old DeArmond's mentioned in my previous posts are in my mind cheap primitive versions / indirect ancestors of what Lace did pack in a slimmer and plastic covered shape. YMMV. :-)

[Inflames626]

i had a custom set of hot golds given to me by donzo years ago, and they were really good. slightly overwound neck, vintage middle, and hot bridge. really nice set. i gifted that strat to a good friend who still has it with those pups and uses it as his main guitar.

that said, ive not heard any lace pup that sounds like a vintage strat pup. the first gold sensors, which sound good, dont sound like ones from a few years later. i dont know enough to tell you why, but ive heard enough sets to say that confidently. overall, i think they are fine pups, just not my taste.

clapton has been using fender noiseless pups in his strats for a long time now. he still has some old first and second year custom shop clapton models with lace pups, but those dont come out very often. as dave said, the preamp in those guitars does color things a bit, even when the mid boost is all the way off.

jeremy , might this be the difference between a new Lace pickup and the Fender Lace Sensor branded ones that came out...what, in the 80s or 90s stock in some Strats?

[ArtieToo]

Lipsticks have a lower inductance and more eddy currents, hence the hi-pitched but rounded resonant peak recently discussed . Lace Sensors have a lower pitched but pointier and narrower resonant peak, even if they exhibit Foucault currents to some extent too.

Thanks for that info. I'll bring the "Lipstick" subject up again later. Don't want to hijack the OP's thread.

[Chistopher]

I think a Dually Emerald/Purple neck, Gold middle, and Red/White bridge would be a neat combo for an HSH build

[Inflames626]

I think a Dually Emerald/Purple neck, Gold middle, and Red/White bridge would be a neat combo for an HSH build

It would certainly be a colorful one.