Masta' C
Well-known member
New "Hard Rock" Pickup Day! Well, it's really the middle of the night :sleeping:, but I just got around to sitting down and writing something.
Behold the Brent Hinds (Mastodon) signature "Hammer Claw" bridge pickup from LACE!
Even the pickup has a face tattoo, so you know it has to be amazing!
I have been waiting months to get my hands on this bad boy. I would have had it a few weeks sooner, but the manufacturer insisted on charging full MSRP plus postage plus a handling fee
wrf when ordering direct through their online store, so I saved around 25% by waiting for it to hit retail shelves!
Anyone familiar with Brent Hinds is probably aware that he has a ton of cool guitars in his sonic stable and that he primarily used older Gibsons and the like on all of the Mastodon productions, typically with stock pickups and all. So, why hire a less popular company like LACE to produce an outlandishly titled signature pickup that doesn't resemble anything Brent actually uses?
My first guess is that Brent is only looking for enough licensing royalties to cover his weekend beer tab, so LACE's historical lack of marketing for new products wasn't a major deciding factor. My second guess is that he was jealous his bandmate, Bill Kelliher, was finalizing a signature set with LACE before him and he had to play catch-up. My third guess is "just 'cuz". After all, a man of Brent's talent and unpredictability doesn't really need a reason.
Oddly, if you've seen any of the "promotional" videos LACE has shared since NAMM, Brent rarely seems enthusiastic about "his" new pickups. Perhaps that's because LACE refused to name them the "B-Hinds" like he wanted and instead settled on the moniker "Hammer Claws" :dunno:
While Mr. Hinds may not be over-the-moon excited about the introduction of these little gems, I'm as stoked as a brush fire with a fresh squirt of lighter fluid!
Under the hood, this pickup is soooooo heavily modified that LACE had no choice but to look beyond their typical formula for metal-oriented, overly compressed humbuckers to come up with something that could handle classic rock and cleans as easily as it can handle modern gain and effects. The idea behind this pickup may have had humble beginnings, but the R&D process with Brent Hinds resulted in LACE rethinking the application of their Sensor technology in an attempt to achieve the exceptional dynamics and versatility of a vintage pickup with the power, clarity and presence in a mix that modern progressive metal players require. I know we've heard that same marketing pitch a dozen times in the pickup world, but I think this little black humbucker really has something special going for it. If the Hemi, Arena and Drop 'n Gains were LACE's first-gen designs and the Lifers, Finger Burners and Dirty Heshers were essentially V1.5 models expanding upon those, I think the Brent Hinds signature set represents a true V2.0 development in the LACE humbucker family. Compared to the newly released Bill Kelliher "Dissonant Aggressor" models, the Hammer Claws are said to be more lead-oriented in their voicing, which I'm really looking forward to!
Unfortunately, it will be at least a week or two before I will have a chance to install this pickup in my #1 and put it through its paces. I'll be sure to report my thoughts and update this thread with new details shortly!
Meanwhile, tickle your visual tone bone with some more photographic madness:
Behold the Brent Hinds (Mastodon) signature "Hammer Claw" bridge pickup from LACE!
Even the pickup has a face tattoo, so you know it has to be amazing!
I have been waiting months to get my hands on this bad boy. I would have had it a few weeks sooner, but the manufacturer insisted on charging full MSRP plus postage plus a handling fee
wrf when ordering direct through their online store, so I saved around 25% by waiting for it to hit retail shelves!Anyone familiar with Brent Hinds is probably aware that he has a ton of cool guitars in his sonic stable and that he primarily used older Gibsons and the like on all of the Mastodon productions, typically with stock pickups and all. So, why hire a less popular company like LACE to produce an outlandishly titled signature pickup that doesn't resemble anything Brent actually uses?
My first guess is that Brent is only looking for enough licensing royalties to cover his weekend beer tab, so LACE's historical lack of marketing for new products wasn't a major deciding factor. My second guess is that he was jealous his bandmate, Bill Kelliher, was finalizing a signature set with LACE before him and he had to play catch-up. My third guess is "just 'cuz". After all, a man of Brent's talent and unpredictability doesn't really need a reason.
Oddly, if you've seen any of the "promotional" videos LACE has shared since NAMM, Brent rarely seems enthusiastic about "his" new pickups. Perhaps that's because LACE refused to name them the "B-Hinds" like he wanted and instead settled on the moniker "Hammer Claws" :dunno:
While Mr. Hinds may not be over-the-moon excited about the introduction of these little gems, I'm as stoked as a brush fire with a fresh squirt of lighter fluid!
Under the hood, this pickup is soooooo heavily modified that LACE had no choice but to look beyond their typical formula for metal-oriented, overly compressed humbuckers to come up with something that could handle classic rock and cleans as easily as it can handle modern gain and effects. The idea behind this pickup may have had humble beginnings, but the R&D process with Brent Hinds resulted in LACE rethinking the application of their Sensor technology in an attempt to achieve the exceptional dynamics and versatility of a vintage pickup with the power, clarity and presence in a mix that modern progressive metal players require. I know we've heard that same marketing pitch a dozen times in the pickup world, but I think this little black humbucker really has something special going for it. If the Hemi, Arena and Drop 'n Gains were LACE's first-gen designs and the Lifers, Finger Burners and Dirty Heshers were essentially V1.5 models expanding upon those, I think the Brent Hinds signature set represents a true V2.0 development in the LACE humbucker family. Compared to the newly released Bill Kelliher "Dissonant Aggressor" models, the Hammer Claws are said to be more lead-oriented in their voicing, which I'm really looking forward to!
Unfortunately, it will be at least a week or two before I will have a chance to install this pickup in my #1 and put it through its paces. I'll be sure to report my thoughts and update this thread with new details shortly!
Meanwhile, tickle your visual tone bone with some more photographic madness:
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