@@antonoguba not really... you must be new here. the point of this video is not the tone.... the point is how it works. the tone is very subjective. the point of what we do is to help you understand your guitar, not tell you what to buy or make tonal comparisons . there are TONS of videos with people playing lace sensors. Those are pointless too because only you hear a guitar the way you hear it. so.... go play one. form your own opinion, and report back. That is what this community is all about.
Just found your channel. Nice description/illustration. And not surprised to find some sort of troll immediately--you know, before Al Gore invented the internet, people had to go to stores and try things out, or God forbid, order something in, install it and try in your own guitar. smh--subscribed anyway, Like your presentation.
Cool to see a LS broken down like this. A couple of things about the design: -First, the magnetic field around a pickup has nothing to do with whether it reduces EMI. The field is essentially transparent to external magnetic oscillations. Magnetic string oscillations can create some reinforcement or cancelation of external oscillations, but that can happen in any magnetic pickup. What reduces EMI is all the Steel and Ferrite around the coil, as well as the coil density and its orientation within the strongest flux lines from the strings. The Steel casing and thick Ferrite under and around the coil reduce much of the EMI field, while the coil is just a more efficient design, and possibly of ~44WG wire. Thinner wire also increases sensitivity to smaller vibrations. Bill Lawrence took that to another level with 46AWG wire in his Micro-Coil design. -I think the Steel comb structure is also inside the coil, if there isn’t just another Ferrite bar. Either one would increase the coil inductance. The comb design allows the string flux lines to be less disturbed by the highly permeable and conductive Steel, which would otherwise reduce the high-end much more. The side-mounted Ferrite bars may not be magnetized, but just serve as EMI shielding. They may also increase efficiency by drawing the outer string flux lines down more through the coil. I think the design also spreads/shortens the field so the magnetic aperture window is wider, but the output is also reduced more than in a traditional design when the pickup is lowered. I’ve heard they do need to be close to the strings for a decent output. That and the denser coil actually give them a broader dynamic range in that the attack-to-sustain and note fundamental-to-upper-harmonic ratio is increased which is the opposite of being compressed. The reason they may sound “compressed” is likely a combination of the weak magnetic field and that most of the models are relatively high inductance and low Q, and the wider magnetic aperture further rolls off the high-end. I was surprised to discover that a elctronic analysis on the GuitarNutz2 site showed the Q of the 2.2H Gold model was not as low as I expected, so the eddy current-induced roll-off is maybe like an AlNiCo II/III-pole pickup.
This would explain why wrapping my pickups in (grounded) copper foil did absolutely nothing to reduce EMI. Could I reduce hum using steel or ferrite to wrap the sides and bottom of a regular single coil pickup?
Cool!! I'm the one who sent them, I was wondering forever how they're actually made inside... I just never bothered to rip them apart!! Now, one thing needs to be pointed out to some who commented down below. These pickups had gone bad, two strings had gone dead and seeing how Dylan tore 'em apart it's not like one could just change a bar magnet or a couple of polepieces to fix them. That being said, a tone comparison between them and a single coil would have been pointless and unfair to a set of bad Lace Sensors.
@@nazmoking3171 They actually were in my friend's Tele... He obviously hated them because of the low output situation. I swapped in a set of overwound single coils which made him really happy. Another case of apples to oranges.
G60syncro haha, yes we're all different animals when it comes to our guitars, pickups, etc. I've never owned the Lace Sensors. P90's are my current favorite across the board. I call them more articulate humbuckers!
I love all my Lace Sensors, pretty close to quiet and I find they still have the clarity without the brittleness of some single coils. They won't satisfy purists, even if some think that the sound is quite close to a traditional single coil. I also like their Dually pickups, powerful and versatile. Big names like Clapton, Blackmore, Beck and Gilmour have used these at one time or another.
dont forget jonny greenwood and his tele plus with the dually red in the bridge. I've got one too, great hard-rock guitar with crazy output that drives distortion pedals or cranked amps into smooth sustain
From Leo: I have a Fender that came with Lace Sensors and I added a red-silver-blue Lace sensor set to another. Far quieter than any single coil strat I have. The tone/volume/gain controls on the amp like different settings than a conventional strat. Once you figure out your settings, they are a very good pickup that make great tones. No harsh sounds at any volume or any different notes. I am happy with them.
I have the blue/silver/red set and I love them! Although they don't sound vintage when playing alone, in a mix they produce a very convincing strat sound, especially if they are set low. These pickups paired with an EQ can play almost anything. The only negative about them is that it's really impossible to have feedback at apartment appropriate volume levels.
I have a Strat with the 3 color L Sensors and a L P with 496/500 buckers. Night and day difference in sounds. I agree with L S needs gain pedal to do what my Paul does easily. But the L P is limited in the # of ways to be used where the Strat with TBX and different sounds of each pup has so many easy to use tones in it. But I also have a 12 pedal board and playing through a Boogie ,these 2 guitars pretty much cover whatever needs covering. I always loved Strats but didn't ever like the original single coils.
Love em!! 15 yrs ago I bought a 1983 MiJ Strat - all black - unbranded standard type pup @ neck & blue & silver LS mid & bridge. For over 10 yrs I never used the LS as I thought they were lifeless - BUT - when I retired as a cabinetmaker I thought I would try luthiery & first task was to rewire Strat. I looked up LS website to find the different colours were for specific positions - neck & mid & as the plain pup was most powerful it was moved to bridge. What a HUGE improvement in tone - the LS just came alive! I strongly advise that before swapping out pups on any guitar make sure you have premium wiring - incl pots, switches, output jack - & of course shielding. This vid has just given me insight as to why poor wiring affects LS more than standard pups. The weaker signal from LS is affected more than with a more powerful pup. I paid just $200 for Strat spent no more than $200 on it - incl. gold trem & brass nut - now worth nearly $1500!! Alas to gain this profit I would have to sell the Strat - but it is now a much loved member of my musical family. Thanks Dylan - great vids - keep em coming!
I love them. I have a Strat Plus which came with Golds. Awesome guitar. I rebuilt an Ibanez with Emerald,Purple,Lt. Blue,Silver & Red and five switches for dozens of combinations. Ironically, one of the best tones on the guitar is the Lt. Blue in the middle by itself. I would have a whole guitar with just the Lt. Blues.
I use my middle p/u a lot alone. L/S silver. Or combined with neck blue is 2nd spot most used. Tone control in 4-7 range. Sounds well with the 10 band on my board.
I appreciate your explanation and how you dug into the pickup style structure and differences. Thank you for keeping it to the point and straight forward. This was the first video I've seen of yours and I'm sure it's not the last.
Love my Lace Sensors, I've put them in a number of guitars over the years. Part of the reason I love Strat Plus's so much is because of the pickups. I currently have the silver and blue in the middle and neck position of my take of a "partscaster" Strat Plus with a Jeff Beck neck. I've had golds, dually red's (bit too much bottom end for me), love 'em all.
Doesn’t matter if it’s goofy set up, i like lace sensors, but I own many guitars with different pickups, they all have thier place in my lineup, I really like lace pickups, thats about it and my own enjoyment, thank you for all your videos! Big fan here brother
My custom Warmoth has Silver Laces in the neck and the middle and a Dully silver/red on bridge. Mine is absolutely dead quiet. Sounds round with no sharp edges. I love them. In fact, I like the sounds on mine better than most of the traditional guitars. But, I want other flavors, that is why I am looking for a traditional Tele.
Love the way you broke it all down. Between the physical demonstration and then the theory explanation you made it very clear, how these pups work. You should be a teacher.
Seems a lot of people don't like the sensors, but I do. The gold in particular. The sensors work well with humbuckers especially the blue and silver. Also,I like the early ones with the two wires best. They say they are the same but they are not.
Decades ago I played a Fender Strat with the Red, Silver, Blue set of Lace Sensors in it and for years it was my favorite Strat! I didn’t buy it however and fought with different strata ever since. I finally built my own Strat and bought a new set of the RSB sensors (Lace not Fender/Lace) and still liked them. Experimenting for a new build Strat, I bought a set of Fender Custom Shop Robert Cray pickups and I have to say that the Crays are amazing! They have all the nuances that you would expect from a good true single coil pickup! The Lace Sensors are going back in that guitar now as the Crays are going in the new Strat build soon. My opinions on the Laces are still favorable however they are not as “noiseless” as I expected but less noisy than the Crays or similar counterparts. It will be nice to have both options available in two different guitars for my work! I also have a partscaster Strat (mostly Squier) with cheap Mexican ceramic pickups and I like those too for some things. I’ve said this before, because of my work environments, I need basically 90% humbucking/noiseless pickup systems so it’s hard to make pure single coils work. I have some stacked pickups and they work well for me in Fender style guitars. I want to get a set of SD classic stack Strat pickups but it’s a significant investment and there are several to choose from. I watched your video on stacks and you answered a lot of questions! Thank you! I know you said that you won’t build stacks but have you ever done any repair work on them? Or are you not into that? I have an old one that has half the windings compromised. If you don’t, could you recommend anyone? Thanks Dylan!
i love lace sensors but ive never tried the single coils. been using one of their dissonant aggressors for years now and its by far the meanest meatiest P-A-F style pickup ive ever come across. i dont have to raise the pickup quite high but then again its output is magnificently high and hot.
First off props for doing this video. I've done this experiment before and your magnetic fields are not quite right - the flux will always pass through the coil so your first drawing should be similar to the second. It has no choice but to pass through magnetic metals like alnico or steel. Speaking as a materials engineer here. The U-shaped "retainer"/shield on lace sensors is creating the same kind of field as rod magnets.
Speaking of Lace, I would love to see some Alumatones being taken apart and explained! I've always found those to be very fascinating, and it's also very interesting to me that they're significantly lighter in weight than standard pickup designs. I have 2 guitars with them, and I can describe the tone, but I certainly don't understand WHY they sound the way they do.
The Lace Alumitone works to a different set of electrical physical principles. Unlike traditional 'reluctor' style pickups, that have a high impedence coil wrapped around a iron or magnetic core (pole pieces), that creates an voltage in the coils as the string passes back and forth through the field created by the magnets. Alumitones use an 'Eddy-current' sensing design. The shell of this pickup is an alumin-i-um 'exoskeleton' with slots, water-jet cut into it. In these slots are placed ferro-ceramic-fubber magnets (just like those found in the 'Sensor' featured here...). They create a small magnetic field above the surface of the pickup. As the string vibrates, by passing back-and-forth through the tight field, eddy-currents are set up in cirular pattern around the ally exoskeleton. Inside the exoskeleton, sit a pair of very small coils, no longer or wider than a fingernail each, that sit side-by-side at one end of the pickup. These coils, in turn, are connected to the exoskeleton, via a rectangular ring made of soft-iron laminsations, 4 in number (similar to the soft-iron laminates found at the heart of any transformer, or within electric motors....). This laminate ring, passes through both coils and around a small section of the vertical end of exoskeleton, close to the support leg. The eddy-currents (with the musical data...) circulating around the exoskeleton, are thus sensed by these two coils, the eddy-currents imparting their electrical energy (and signal) to the coil windings via the rectangular, laminated core. The DCR of these coils, are typically around 1.8 kilo ohms per coil, giving a full DCR or around 3.6k ohm. 'Deathbuckers' - the high-output variant, has typically larger DCR and other variants will differ again. The coils use a finer gauge of wire than traditional windings. I've not determined what exaclty... most likely finer than >AWG 45. Without knowing the c.s.a of the wire ( or its gauge), the number of turns cannot be calculated. These coils are thus buggers to repair or copy.... Espaecially as Lace coat them in resin and encase the lot in heatshrink sleeves. They really *don't* want you inside there... Being of lower impedance than tradtional humbuckers, means they are less succeptable to RFI, making them quieter. And of course, much, much lighter.... The wiring of these coils differs, as one would expect, from the tradional method of hookup. Green wire is 'chassis ground', this is the screen of the pickup. Each coil terminates to a white or orange coloured wire. Sealed within the *resin* the orange wire of coil one is soldered to the white wire of the coil two, putting the two coils in series. From this junction and soldered to it, a white/black striped wire forms one of the hookup wires, the others being an orange (from coil two) which is the 'hot' (signal) conductor, the white wire from tcoil one and green screen/chassis ground. If the white/black striped wire is connected to ground, the first coil becomes open circuit and the junction goes to ground, leaving the second - hot coil active. If the white wire (from coil one) is connected, then the two coils are on in series across the junction. Though not technically a 'coil-tap', it serves the same purpose. In series, the coils give maximum output, tapped effectively reduces the output of the pickup, but not its range, or with any noticeable change in the noise floor (hum, or lack thereof...). There is however, a noticeable difference in tonal cadence, between the two states. Mistakes are often made by joining the two white and white/black wires together. This will cause the first coil to be open circuit and a nasty noise will ensue.... If both the same wires are then connected to chassis, then only the second coil will be active and at reduced output. So with Alumitone pickups, only *one* white-coloured wire should ever be connected to ground, though of course both would ideally be connected to a DPDT mini-toggle (push-pull etc...) switch, to allow selection of the output level/dual-sound option. The one main downside of these Alumitone pickups, other than the cost, is that they are so clear and precise, that the can easily show up poor fingering, fudges and string slides... So they do *educate* one to be more precise in playing (which of course is really an upside ;-) ) That said, this could be one of the reasons why some guitarists give them a wide berth (that and cost of course....). They can't handle the accuracy. Personally, I like all types of pickups, from all sources. But Lace are certainly up there with other favourite, more traditional and *h e a v i e r* brands.
@@Deebz270 "If the white/black striped wire is connected to ground, the first coil becomes open circuit " - did you mean to say that by connecting the "center tap" W/B wire to ground the first coil would be shorted to ground, not an "open circuit"?
@@Deebz270 Thanks, I had wondered about this! I have one Strat-sized one that I bought used. Like a lot of Lace sensors, I think the high end clarity is nonexistent from mine. I also have a Lace humbucker that seems to have the same components as the Alumitone one but they are all sealed in epoxy and stuck in the case. Never could figure out how it works. Based on your description I really wonder if it doesn't do the same thing by sensing the eddy currents in the pickup cover? (And is the cover perhaps alumINUM? Would it matter what metal was used in the cover?) Regardless, with a little thought and my dmm, I was able to figure out how to wire it up like a tapped humbucker, and it too works wonderfully in this way; the 'single coil' setting is thinner and brighter than humbucker mode, even makes a better single coil sound than most tapped humbuckers, imo.
It's a unique sound. But I suspect the quiet nature actually comes from the fact that it's encased in a Faraday cage on all sides but the top. I quite like them. I am not sure if that's how a field looks like exactly lol, but yes, the lace will have a completely different tone. I can at least see that the magnet will cause the comb to magnetize thus producing a more even field. The mutual interference due to the more homogenous field distribution is probabaly also the main factor for compression.
@@boimesa8190 Lace sensors? Sure, I don't see why not. Lots of drawings online. Takes a bit of handiness just like anything - First time is never the charm.
I love Lace sensors! It was great to see a tear down so people understand what the difference is! They are excellent pickups and my favorite ones. I am starting to make guitars using these pickups with as many Fender Original parts as I can get my hands on (Only difference is the Body, which I am sourcing elsewhere).
Great video.. thanks so much!... For whatever reason my main guitars don't have lace sensors but my ... well one does.. my verdict is for lead playing.. the sound incredible.. I find leads even with no distortion just sound full and have a lot of harmonics.. perhaps you can say the have some natural compression to them.. For rhythm they don't do as well for me....but I absolutely love lace sensors
I have five (5) Stratocaster’s with LACE sensors in the bridge pickup location and standard pickups in the middle and neck locations. I like the sound that I get from those instruments, but you should know that there are several variations of the LACE sensors that are designed for different sound profiles. One thing that Fender discovered is the pickups that were desirable to some well known guitar players sounded the way they do because the magnets had weakened over time and that is how they performed like that, because they had weaker magnets, they found a way to replicate the sound by starting off with weaker magnets, those pickups became the Tex Specials. I am not quite sure how the LACE sensors vary in construction to sound different, but for Stratocaster’s they have Gold, Silver, Blue, and Red pickups that are all designed for specific frequencies. The writing on the pickups come in the various colors I described above while the covers are all the same white plastic, I haven’t seen ones with black plastic on them before, originally they all were white, and I used to see Eric Clapton play Stratocaster’s with them when they were a new item. The sound is definitely compressed and I usually do not run a compressor while I’m playing those guitars. Other Stratocaster’s that I have without the LACE sensors have Tex Special, noiseless, and standard Stratocaster pickups, I prefer the ones with the LACE sensors. I also have one Stratocaster with a humbucker in the bridge position that has a coil tap, it has a unique sound of it’s own. The Gold LACE sensors are designed to sound like the vintage fifty’s pickups, they are the ones that I use, the Silver ones are designed to sound like sixty’s pickups, Copper was for seventy’s sound, and the Blue and Red were for more modern sounds, according to Fender. Since then, LACE has become it’s own entity and makes many more kinds of sensors now, and they also make their own guitars. The weird thing about them is that they are a sensor, and not a pickup, at least that is what they would have you believe, internally they are constructed differently for each application, the Gold ones have a separate sensor for each string, I was fortunate enough to run across one that the cover had not been epoxied on and it was easy to remove and look inside, it appeared to have what looked like integrated circuit chips for each sensor location within the casing, one for each string. It would be interesting to see how the magnetic fields vary from each other, and how they vary from conventional pickups. This was an interesting video. Thank you for posting this video. Please have an excellent and awesome day! 🙂
Just a small detail. The "comb" is actually 2 U section parts, joined in the middle with an insulator layer between them, forming a bobbin. It appears the hot and earth are soldered to each of these, and output connections at the other ends. So one side of the comb is at the "front" of the coil and the other is at the end. I'm not sure how this arrangement affects operation.
I had a Lace Sensor Gold until I relized it doesn't respond linear to pick attack: if you pick very softly then going stronger it has a certain volume it mantains until it starts responding to your picking. In other words: it doesn't have dynamic at lower picking.
I had a 1989 Fender Strat plus that came stock with Lace Sensors in it. I loved the middle and bridge pick ups. When it came to the Bridge position I needed more. I popped a humbucker in there. What an amazing guitar. Had a roller nut and locking tuners. I'd do anything to have it back
Lace Sensors definitely have more compression than a conventional single-coil, which I think is the cause for their reputation for being “sterile.” Of course, people use compression already, especially in recording. So perhaps the solution is for people to adjust their various settings, in order to compensate this effect back to where they want it.
I always wondered, but I'm just as Curious about the other lace products too. Alumitone, drop and gain etc. They're a truly unique company that isn't afraid of changing and experimenting.
I used to use Lace Sensors exclusively as many of my guitars are Warmoth builds and I would employ a blue in the neck, a reverse wound silver in the middle, and a red dually in the bridge. I used them until I started employing Seymour Duncan Lil’ 59’s and humbuckers and then EMG’s. The Laces still sound great in the one strat and 12 string strat they are still mounted in.
I have two custom warmoths and have lollars in one and the Seymour Duncan everything axe loaded pickguard with the two toggle switches (one for coil tap and the other for activating neck pickup). I love the beefy smoothness of it but just doesn't give you that strat slap sound but can get some amazing tone with it. I fingerstyle and use it for getting some nice jazzy tones and then can slap into some screamin leads too. Very versatile though I am interested in the lace sensors for a fretless guitar I'm working on currently. Should be good for that or so I hope.
Exactly explains what I was able to hear in other videos, and I agree with your comment on the tone. I get it. You like it if you like it, but I understand it now and can make that call. Thanks.
Lace Sensors with lower output - Gold/Emerald/Silver models - do sound more compressed, a bit warmer/"woollier" (for a lack of a better term), with a less prominent percussiveness in the string attack, than regular low-output Fender single coils. That's neither a good, nor a bad thing, per se. It depends on what the player is looking for. Not everybody wants explosive dynamics all the way, where every tiny difference in the attack changes the sound. There's a reason why so many people use compressors when they play clean leads on Fender-style guitars or put P-90s in their telecasters. With overdrive or distortion, the Sensors obviously produce significantly less hum, although they're not quite in the territory of stacked or regular humbuckers. Those are still noticably "quieter". I'd say the more distortion is dialled in, the better the Sensors are than regular low-output single coils. They stay "open" longer, at higher gain levels when regular single coils just start to produce that honking "overloaded" noise. That's if you can actually still hear them over the 60/50-Hz hum... It really depends on what kind of sounds the player mainly uses. If "vintage" clean sounds and light overdrive are the priority, I would probably stick with regular single coils and work on my "quick draw" skill for the volume control on the guitar, for occasional distortion and fuzz. If occasional clean as an addition to mainly overdriven and distorted sounds is what's needed, the Sensors might be the better choice. If you want a somewhat more Gibson-like "behaviour" from your Fender, without going all the way to full humbuckers, the Sensors definitely can do that better than regular single coils, in my opinion. I wouldn't use either for music that mostly requires very high gain levels. I'm really not quite sure how the Sensors fit into today's pickup landscape, as opposed to the 1980s when they were first introduced to the market. We have so much better and much more "vintage-single-coil-ish" sounding stacked humbuckers now, that are even less susceptible to hum problems. They're really their own thing. People who like them, seem to REALLY like them. Just like lipsticks, Dynasonics, p-90s, Jazzmaster pickups, or goldfoils, they're a different flavour of single coil pickup than standard Strat or Tele pickups. If the goal is to have a vintage Strat sound, only without the pesky hum, they're probably not the best option available anymore - because they don't _really_ do that. If DiMarzio Areas aren't "authentic-sounding" enough for you, you won't be much happier with the Sensors, I'm afraid. But if you're going after certain 1980s/1990s sounds, they might be just the right tool for it.
Thank you so much for this review I'm 67 and blew my hearing out long ago. I have to remember what I thought sounded good back when I was 12. my wife gave me a 94 strat, a fortieths anniversary edition for my fortieth birthday which I thought was cool. However, I am profoundly deaf in the high end and lace pickup were not around when I was young. Thanks for the review, on the positive side I did get to see the. Yardbirds and Hendrix live in Oklahoma
When I was a teen I had a light yellow colored fender strat with a tortoise sheel pickguard that came with three lace senser pickups. I absolutely loved that strat and those pickups sounded so fat and smooth with so little noise.
I loved this, thank you very much. I have 3 strats and two of them with Lace Sensors. I love the sound and have often wondered exactly what & how, that this vid has explained.
Very cool stuff. I would love to see you break down how Rickenbacker pickups work, and if possible, how the three different pickups Rickenbacker makes (toasters, hi-gains, and Rickenbacker humbuckers) compare to each other.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned it (this video is 2 yrs old), but the magnets are placed in something called a Halbach Array. The orientation of the poles rotate so as to strengthen the field on one side and almost negate it on the other. Great videos btw...Off to find the one on Fishman Fluence next ✌
I've got Gold ones in a Strat Plus, they just work really well with clean and distorted sounds with little noise. Had to change bridge as sweat got into solder joint, corroded it and gaining access to repair (as you demonstrated) is quite destructive (If that makes sense 🤪). Guitar also has a TBX tone control - people don't seem to love/understand them but I find it great to make the 2 and 4 positions more chimey by rolling some bass off.
I love my strat plus!they have a very sweet sound clean and a really warm tone with drive and distortion.They are not for purist, but not every body want to sound like SRV
Hotblack Desiato from 1987 to 1998 that was the top of the line until custom shop. Many of techs who worked on Strat Plus’ , Strat Plus Deluxe and Ultra’s went on to the custom shop. So many technical advances that many players today seem to miss. Roller nut/ LSR completely eliminates need for string trees, which induce drag and hurt sustain. Noiseless pickups ( now everybody has those) tbx. At end of the day though it’s all opinion, we each have one and neither is wrong! 👍🏽.
Cool never seen the guts before. Its basically just a mini humbucker then. By keeping the coil coverage geometry more or less the same as a single coil and winding really tight you maintain a single coil type tone.
I've had 2 James Burton Gold Paisley's and I'm not a country player. I was in a rock band in the 90s and used quite a few peddles and they were brilliant. Very warm quiet pups. Just not everyone's cup of tea as we say here in Britain. They do have a place.
I have fender gold lace in my strat... absolutely love em. Crunchy and heavy as hell if you want em to be or smooth as butter. They have a great tonal range
thats kinda very interesting, always thought they are hum canceling like two coils inside because of that weird comb shape ... thanks for making things clear
If you haven't already, do SD HotRails! If you have let me know and I'll check it out. I also have that same metal table in my RV, it's great because it folds away so small. I use it for sewing, guitar work, and my dinner table.
I love vintage strat pups and the lace sensors as well. Have both of them, pristine hand wound strat pups that cost me a fortune and also some lace sensors from the late 90´s. And love them all equally. They all sound different and they all have their strong points. It´s like a palette of colours, use them accordingly about what you want to achieve.
Different colors do different things. Blue is supposed to be a 50s paf type sound, silver is more of a 70s middle position strat type sound, red is full on high output humbucking. Golds I believe are closest to traditional single sound.
I've been playing for 42 years. I did put a set of Lace into a late 80s MIJ Jazz bass over 30 years ago with positive results. Clean, full and harmonically rich. At the time they were becoming stock on the USA basses so it felt appropriate, and I couldn't afford Bartolini. That said, I have 8 electrics and a PRS baritone and I would not choose Lace for them. Favorite electric pickups to date: Bridge Humbuckers: S.D Distortion, S.D Holdsworth, S.D Custom-Custom (Baritone), Jackson USA J-80, Dimarzio H2 (like a super3 I'm told) Neck Humbuckers: S.D Jazz, Dimarzio Breed Single coils: Suhr V70 (neck), Dimarzio YJM, S.D Stk-S4 (neck), Fender USA Jazzmaster set Note: I've now decided to avoid any new single coil humbucking designs. Future pickups I'd like to try: S.D Full Shred (bridge) ...and now some pickups I've not liked enough to keep installed: Gibson Burstbucker 2 (fizzy) Leo Sounds Vintage Player (lacking) S.D. Jeff Beck (close but piercing) Dimarzio Super Distortion (jury's out, might have been a new bridge install) S.D Sentient (too dark) Dimarzio Fred (weak)
I put chrome Lace Sensors in an electric mandolin shaped like a Tele. I didn't want a Tele sound, I wanted a clean buzz free sound. I ended up recording with it sometimes, and it sounds like a real mandolin.
I have a black Fender Lace Sensor in an old Fender Musicmaster bass guitar. The original single coil pickup was way too noisy. With the Lace pickup, it is dead quiet. So I bought Lace Sensors for my Jazz bass as well.
Have you already tested Q Tuners pickups? The first generation humbucker pick-up was already constructed in a clear see through material,a 3 way 13 pole magnetic window,all polepieces adjustable.Neodym magnets.
Thank you Dylan, I have owned a PBass plus with Silver Lace Sensors, and I love the higher output and tone of these near noise free pickups. I always wanted to know how they work, as I believe they were meant to have evolved from a Jaguar pickup. At least they are a true single coil with different construction as opposed to the stacked humbucker solutions you have rightly claimed are not single coils.
I’ve found that I do like the Lace Sensor Gold’s very much in my Clapton Strat. But that’s with the TBX and midboost controls. I had a different EC Strat years ago with those controls removed and the Gold’s were kinda of bland by themselves. It also takes some time finding the right pickup heights. I personally like mine lower rather than close up. But moving them up or down to suit can make all the difference. And I do like that they are much quieter than regular single coils. I took one of my Tele’s with fancy old school boutique pickups out for a local jam one night. There was so much noise from the lighting that I literally couldn’t use the guitar. Never had that problem with the LS Gold’s in my EC Strat.
Gonna share this on my channel bro , we have just done a set of videos on Clapton’s 24 nights and one was on gear he used , this video is excellent in discussing the lace sensors that Clapton’s Stratocaster used back during journeyman and 24 nights . Cheers Andrew .
Great demo. Could you explain why the pick up has three wires? A normal single coil only has two wires. Why have a third wire? this cost more to add on. Is this a redundant wiring? Is the third wire for coil tapping? Or a wilder explanation is this can be coiled split. There on the web is a video showing how the pickups are made. They look like he ones you disassembled. In their video they point out the the two combs on the top are isolated by a plastic insert between the right and left comb. I can give a link if you want. Thanks for this and your other videos.
So the rubberized ferrite magnets are weak and provide the inductance and frequency response and the construction creates a Faraday cage to reduce noise?
Basically, yes. Which is why they need to be very close to the strings to get a good tone. They're quite good sounding for the most part. The difference eliminates what most humbucker fans gripe about with single coils - noise and harsh top end. Sensors mitigate those very well and achieve a nice tonal balance between humbuckers and singles. Love them. Especially with effects.
I had Lace Sensors (red, blue, gold?). I found that if you picked softer and softer, the volume would go down 10-9-8-7-6-5-4- ... 0. No 3-2-1, it would go from medium-quiet to silent without reproducing the super-quiet playing. I found that regular single coils would go 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, and reproduce those last 3 dynamic levels. Maybe I’m crazy but that’s what I remember from decades ago.
I have a lace transensor in a drawer somewhere and if memory serves, its construction is quite a bit different than the one you were looking at here. Primarily no steel chassis, just the wires coming through the epoxy on the bottom of the plastic cover. I had some emails to lace asking about the pickup, and even from the company, there was limited information on the transensor.
This was awesome! I have an '80s Strat Plus with Lace Sensors. As this is my only experience I was happy to learn how they differ from AlNico single coils. I just bought a knock-off Les Paul and I wonder if you could enlighten me/us on the things to look for in a humbucker. What is a good one for an upgrade, what does a "microphonic" pickup do for/against your sound, and what is "potting"? Great work with the sketch pad by the way. That was really helpful! Thank you.
Dylan, I'm not sure the padding you removed is magnetic in any way. I'm pretty sure it's the steel which the padding is adhered to is what's providing the focus and the shielding.
I'm really interested to hear how/if Lace sensors and Dually's interact with the SD Hyperswitch settings. If I had the cash I'd just build it myself lol but I'd love to hear it first
While watching this video I was in the process of finishing adding a Lace Sensor Gold Pickup in the neck position of my Telecaster. About 2 weeks ago what started out as a 4 way switch mod with pull-up for phase shift turned into a nightmare so to speak when the original neck pickup hot lead was showing to be shorting out with the cover ground lead. The front single rab was deformed when assembled and caused the tab to make contact slightly. When trying to resolve the issue rather late at night I was determined to get the pickup working correctly. I should have called it a night especially after inadvertently disturbing the south pole lead wher the 43 gauge wire broke. Twas not a happy camper and did call it a night at that point. Enter the Lace pickup. I have an oddball rare Lace Acela electric acoustic that had in the neck said Lace pickup. Just it, no piezo. I thought I will put that in the place of the Tele neck pickup. Lace was an OEM supplier to Fender in 5he 80s for certain Special Run Strats and Teles. Fender released an aEric Clapton Strat with Lace pickups and had a few others with various Lace pickup configurations. This is also when I discovered Strat single could are larger than the single could Tele pickups too . No prob. I hogged out the pickguard opening and it looked good. I then decided to get new pots and caps so I ordered some and they came in this past week. Anyway. some sound tests show the Lace will sound good along with the original Tele bridge and I may play around with cap selection. I am a big Tele Twang fan but plenty of resource advice on this channel on pots and caps. I like the videos I have viewed so far. Very informative.
I have had a 1987 Strat Plus since I was 19.I swapped out the pickups about 6 years ago. And the detail on those are great. Then I ended up installing a new set of Lace Sensor Gold's in another guitar. There's room for both.But Lace Sensors are not a problem if you play in a loud band.It's just a different flavor.
Great video and break down 🤘 I have Fralin Blues Specials Fender 69’s Texas specials And AY’s ☝️ Turns out Lace (The Hot Gold only 6.0k)actually sound their best not so close to the strings. It’s the biggest mistake made with em’. Found all the spank and sparkle with no hum at lower pickup hight through tube amp🤷🏼♂️
I'm getting ready to try out a strat set I picked up 2nd hand. I also got a pair of Schaller Tetrads that I'm considering the wiring possibilities for. Have you done any oddball but cool pickups videos? You would be the one person I could listen to for that. You definitely have your own opinions, but base your information on the science, which I appreciate.
It's 4 in the morning here and a couple of hours ago I was like: "Stop obsessing about putting that Lace Sensor on the SG, do it tomorrow". Couldn't help it and grabbed my tools... My SG is a chinese fake brand no serial number that costed about the same than one Sensor, but it's a nice guitar. It was setup with stock on the bridge and FLS on the neck. I actually bought the guitar to put the pickups in, I had them for years and they're still the Fender branded ones, got them new like ten years ago, were on another guitar that I sold... Anyway... I do like the sound of them... Another thing they advertise about Lace Sensors is a clearer sound, which I believe they accomplished. These are duallies Gold-Gold, I was going for a really clean and clear sound... But I didn't imagine they were made with fridge magnets. I'm from Argentina, so my currency makes it kinda hard to join the group, but I found this video amazing... I also had back, in the day, a single Gold sensor in a strat and I wondered ever since how it was they got their mojo... And this was very illustrating, so thank you. P.S.: With duallies, at least, and in the neck position you can get the pickup flat with the holder and it will still give enough voltage for it to sound good and while I haven't decided yet it could be a setting that I can use, very acoustic guitar like. Haven't tried the bridge or single coil since there are no switches connected to the pickups... Yet. But there probably will be.
Thanks for this. I have sensors and I love them. And one of them has been slightly taken apart by myself, but just the cover. You mention about it having a comb on top but isn’t that essentially two u-shapes together to form an I beam where the coil wraps around? If the magnets are so weak like you said without gaussing them why are they so much louder? The one I opened is a strat and it’s pretty much the same only the plate is not a tele plate, more like strat mounting. Would this be similar to what Lollar (or is it Fralin) does to telefy a strat pickup? Have you even investigated a Holy Grail from Lace? That seems to have regular magnetic pole pieces on sidewound coils (2 of them). On a side note, taking a cover of a Lace Sensor makes it fit a Jaguar pickup cover, only the metal teeth on it will be further recessed. Handy if you like the Jaguar but not necessarily it’s sound. Thanks in advance for replying in an upcoming video (wishfully thinking).
1959 Futurama has U shape steel surround with strong magnetic adjustable pole pieces in centre + 6.3k single coil Effectively 2 fields from pole to top of surround - sounds very strat on centre but rounded tone on neck. Gonna rewind one coil with 38 gauge - theory : lower impedance is matching strong field . My guess is crisper tone but wait and see . Yours best RUclips about pickups - thanks regards. BobK
Like so many others here, I still have my 1988 Strat Plus with gold Lace Sensors, bought it new because it sounded great and was so quiet compared to a standard Strat and that still applies today.
my Mooneyes (race car accesories co.) Strat copy guitar is said to have been built by Lace however the single coils have poles . And are much quieter than Ibanez vintage singles, Seymour d's hotrails but i like the clarity more ,other than for fuzz . I do boost them lil more than others. I tend to grab that guitar more than tele, mex strat and it's a much lighter .
Man, I'm late to the game by about 4 years. I actually own a set of sensor lace, goldGold series pick ups i've had an astrat I've had them about 12 Years I'll still experience some hum in the 1,3,5 position And you are right.Some of the charminess is missing like normal single coils in a strat
I think building on the concept using a traditional bar magnet would be interesting. It seems like a Jaguar pickup is Fenders way of repositioning the magnetic field. A tele bridge pickup made like a Jaguar pickup with a traditional base plate and a test with and without a comb or top plate.
It's amazing what you can do with rubber fridge magnets and perforated steel bobbins . Less copper and non ferrous nickel , brass etc required so much cheaper to make .
Completely. The Alumitones dont work like any normal pickup which is voltage driven by the fluctuations in the magnetic field. Alumitones are current driven and require a lot less windings because the aluminum bar induces a current and effectively acts as the coil would in a normal pickup. They're essentially a true noiseless _single coil._ I love them.
Great video. Yes I have used Lace Sensors and the only ones I found I could get along with were the gold and the silver models in my James Burton Telecaster I was playing at the time. The blue and the red edition were much too dull for my taste. This has been 25-30 years ago back when I was a Fender endorses. My James Burton Tele was even signed by the man himself. They were using LS Strat pickups for all three positions on that guitar back then.
I have been on a real pickup odyssey with my 58 Strat over many decades. Stock did not work for me because of the sounds I was writing for so I put them away about 1980. I went thru the following, with comments: Barden Rails - loved the sound, kept these for many years Lawrence stacked - can’t recall much about them Lace Sensors - couldn’t lose them fast enough, just horrible EMG S - liked them but never grew to love them EMG SA - liked them better but decided no more active for me Fender Noiseless (originals) - liked the sound, hated the look (no pole pieces) Fender Noiseless Vintage - love them, still using to this day I have recently changed just the neck to a Seymour Duncan Vintage neck pickup and love it. It matches well with my Fender Noiseless Vintage set but sounds noticeably better to my ears. Point of all this is that the Lace Sensors really left me cold.
I kept finding myself looking away during the lace coil breakdown. I kept seeing the tools slipping out and stabbing your finger or palm. (Which if happened you prolly would show that, but it kept going through my head anyway). Great info tho 💯
expected to hear the tone.
go to your local shop and play a fender... thats the best way.
DylanTalksTone ridiculus nonsense answer, !!
@@antonoguba not really... you must be new here. the point of this video is not the tone.... the point is how it works. the tone is very subjective. the point of what we do is to help you understand your guitar, not tell you what to buy or make tonal comparisons . there are TONS of videos with people playing lace sensors. Those are pointless too because only you hear a guitar the way you hear it. so.... go play one. form your own opinion, and report back. That is what this community is all about.
took me zero seconds to find ruclips.net/video/151MI3WgvJc/видео.html
Just found your channel. Nice description/illustration. And not surprised to find some sort of troll immediately--you know, before Al Gore invented the internet, people had to go to stores and try things out, or God forbid, order something in, install it and try in your own guitar. smh--subscribed anyway, Like your presentation.
Cool to see a LS broken down like this. A couple of things about the design:
-First, the magnetic field around a pickup has nothing to do with whether it reduces EMI. The field is essentially transparent to external magnetic oscillations. Magnetic string oscillations can create some reinforcement or cancelation of external oscillations, but that can happen in any magnetic pickup. What reduces EMI is all the Steel and Ferrite around the coil, as well as the coil density and its orientation within the strongest flux lines from the strings. The Steel casing and thick Ferrite under and around the coil reduce much of the EMI field, while the coil is just a more efficient design, and possibly of ~44WG wire. Thinner wire also increases sensitivity to smaller vibrations. Bill Lawrence took that to another level with 46AWG wire in his Micro-Coil design.
-I think the Steel comb structure is also inside the coil, if there isn’t just another Ferrite bar. Either one would increase the coil inductance. The comb design allows the string flux lines to be less disturbed by the highly permeable and conductive Steel, which would otherwise reduce the high-end much more. The side-mounted Ferrite bars may not be magnetized, but just serve as EMI shielding. They may also increase efficiency by drawing the outer string flux lines down more through the coil. I think the design also spreads/shortens the field so the magnetic aperture window is wider, but the output is also reduced more than in a traditional design when the pickup is lowered. I’ve heard they do need to be close to the strings for a decent output. That and the denser coil actually give them a broader dynamic range in that the attack-to-sustain and note fundamental-to-upper-harmonic ratio is increased which is the opposite of being compressed. The reason they may sound “compressed” is likely a combination of the weak magnetic field and that most of the models are relatively high inductance and low Q, and the wider magnetic aperture further rolls off the high-end.
I was surprised to discover that a elctronic analysis on the GuitarNutz2 site showed the Q of the 2.2H Gold model was not as low as I expected, so the eddy current-induced roll-off is maybe like an AlNiCo II/III-pole pickup.
This would explain why wrapping my pickups in (grounded) copper foil did absolutely nothing to reduce EMI. Could I reduce hum using steel or ferrite to wrap the sides and bottom of a regular single coil pickup?
Cool!! I'm the one who sent them, I was wondering forever how they're actually made inside... I just never bothered to rip them apart!!
Now, one thing needs to be pointed out to some who commented down below. These pickups had gone bad, two strings had gone dead and seeing how Dylan tore 'em apart it's not like one could just change a bar magnet or a couple of polepieces to fix them. That being said, a tone comparison between them and a single coil would have been pointless and unfair to a set of bad Lace Sensors.
Thanks for doing that
thank you for your contribution to this video. very informative stuff, never seen it before.
So how did you like your lace sensors compared to regular single coils?
@@nazmoking3171 They actually were in my friend's Tele... He obviously hated them because of the low output situation. I swapped in a set of overwound single coils which made him really happy. Another case of apples to oranges.
G60syncro haha, yes we're all different animals when it comes to our guitars, pickups, etc. I've never owned the Lace Sensors. P90's are my current favorite across the board. I call them more articulate humbuckers!
I love all my Lace Sensors, pretty close to quiet and I find they still have the clarity without the brittleness of some single coils. They won't satisfy purists, even if some think that the sound is quite close to a traditional single coil. I also like their Dually pickups, powerful and versatile. Big names like Clapton, Blackmore, Beck and Gilmour have used these at one time or another.
dont forget jonny greenwood and his tele plus with the dually red in the bridge. I've got one too, great hard-rock guitar with crazy output that drives distortion pedals or cranked amps into smooth sustain
Lace Purple in the neck is one of my favorite.
@@DJG016 I've got the Tele Plus also, best guitar I've got, I've known it to sustain more than some Les Paul's.
@@ChrisRash Not tried the Purple, imagine it sounds great though.
Ya i love my lace pickups. I have golds in my strat.
From Leo: I have a Fender that came with Lace Sensors and I added a red-silver-blue Lace sensor set to another. Far quieter than any single coil strat I have. The tone/volume/gain controls on the amp like different settings than a conventional strat. Once you figure out your settings, they are a very good pickup that make great tones. No harsh sounds at any volume or any different notes. I am happy with them.
1:00 It hurt just watching that.
More like listening to it, lmao
I have the blue/silver/red set and I love them! Although they don't sound vintage when playing alone, in a mix they produce a very convincing strat sound, especially if they are set low. These pickups paired with an EQ can play almost anything. The only negative about them is that it's really impossible to have feedback at apartment appropriate volume levels.
Boss feedback booster bruh lol
What do you mean by feedback in this regard?
I have a Strat with the 3 color L Sensors and a L P with 496/500 buckers. Night and day difference in sounds. I agree with L S needs gain pedal to do what my Paul does easily. But the L P is limited in the # of ways to be used where the Strat with TBX and different sounds of each pup has so many easy to use tones in it. But I also have a 12 pedal board and playing through a Boogie ,these 2 guitars pretty much cover whatever needs covering. I always loved Strats but didn't ever like the original single coils.
Love em!! 15 yrs ago I bought a 1983 MiJ Strat - all black - unbranded standard type pup @ neck & blue & silver LS mid & bridge. For over 10 yrs I never used the LS as I thought they were lifeless - BUT - when I retired as a cabinetmaker I thought I would try luthiery & first task was to rewire Strat. I looked up LS website to find the different colours were for specific positions - neck & mid & as the plain pup was most powerful it was moved to bridge. What a HUGE improvement in tone - the LS just came alive! I strongly advise that before swapping out pups on any guitar make sure you have premium wiring - incl pots, switches, output jack - & of course shielding. This vid has just given me insight as to why poor wiring affects LS more than standard pups. The weaker signal from LS is affected more than with a more powerful pup. I paid just $200 for Strat spent no more than $200 on it - incl. gold trem & brass nut - now worth nearly $1500!! Alas to gain this profit I would have to sell the Strat - but it is now a much loved member of my musical family. Thanks Dylan - great vids - keep em coming!
I love them. I have a Strat Plus which came with Golds. Awesome guitar. I rebuilt an Ibanez with Emerald,Purple,Lt. Blue,Silver & Red and five switches for dozens of combinations. Ironically, one of the best tones on the guitar is the Lt. Blue in the middle by itself. I would have a whole guitar with just the Lt. Blues.
I use my middle p/u a lot alone. L/S silver. Or combined with neck blue is 2nd spot most used. Tone control in 4-7 range. Sounds well with the 10 band on my board.
I've got a 93 Strat Plus with the golds that I bought new and love.
I have a set of red, silver, blue Sensors combined with TBX tone control. Best sound I ever got is from that setup
I appreciate your explanation and how you dug into the pickup style structure and differences. Thank you for keeping it to the point and straight forward. This was the first video I've seen of yours and I'm sure it's not the last.
Love my Lace Sensors, I've put them in a number of guitars over the years. Part of the reason I love Strat Plus's so much is because of the pickups. I currently have the silver and blue in the middle and neck position of my take of a "partscaster" Strat Plus with a Jeff Beck neck. I've had golds, dually red's (bit too much bottom end for me), love 'em all.
I have a red in my Strat Bridge and it’s too much for me. Love the blue and silver in neck and middle.
Doesn’t matter if it’s goofy set up, i like lace sensors, but I own many guitars with different pickups, they all have thier place in my lineup, I really like lace pickups, thats about it and my own enjoyment, thank you for all your videos! Big fan here brother
My custom Warmoth has Silver Laces in the neck and the middle and a Dully silver/red on bridge. Mine is absolutely dead quiet. Sounds round with no sharp edges. I love them. In fact, I like the sounds on mine better than most of the traditional guitars. But, I want other flavors, that is why I am looking for a traditional Tele.
Love the way you broke it all down. Between the physical demonstration and then the theory explanation you made it very clear, how these pups work. You should be a teacher.
Seems a lot of people don't like the sensors, but I do. The gold in particular. The sensors work well with humbuckers especially the blue and silver. Also,I like the early ones with the two wires best. They say they are the same but they are not.
Decades ago I played a Fender Strat with the Red, Silver, Blue set of Lace Sensors in it and for years it was my favorite Strat! I didn’t buy it however and fought with different strata ever since. I finally built my own Strat and bought a new set of the RSB sensors (Lace not Fender/Lace) and still liked them. Experimenting for a new build Strat, I bought a set of Fender Custom Shop Robert Cray pickups and I have to say that the Crays are amazing! They have all the nuances that you would expect from a good true single coil pickup! The Lace Sensors are going back in that guitar now as the Crays are going in the new Strat build soon. My opinions on the Laces are still favorable however they are not as “noiseless” as I expected but less noisy than the Crays or similar counterparts. It will be nice to have both options available in two different guitars for my work! I also have a partscaster Strat (mostly Squier) with cheap Mexican ceramic pickups and I like those too for some things. I’ve said this before, because of my work environments, I need basically 90% humbucking/noiseless pickup systems so it’s hard to make pure single coils work. I have some stacked pickups and they work well for me in Fender style guitars. I want to get a set of SD classic stack Strat pickups but it’s a significant investment and there are several to choose from. I watched your video on stacks and you answered a lot of questions! Thank you!
I know you said that you won’t build stacks but have you ever done any repair work on them? Or are you not into that? I have an old one that has half the windings compromised. If you don’t, could you recommend anyone? Thanks Dylan!
Dylan comes through with the actual science again! This is the best stuff on RUclips.
i love lace sensors but ive never tried the single coils. been using one of their dissonant aggressors for years now and its by far the meanest meatiest P-A-F style pickup ive ever come across. i dont have to raise the pickup quite high but then again its output is magnificently high and hot.
First off props for doing this video. I've done this experiment before and your magnetic fields are not quite right - the flux will always pass through the coil so your first drawing should be similar to the second. It has no choice but to pass through magnetic metals like alnico or steel. Speaking as a materials engineer here. The U-shaped "retainer"/shield on lace sensors is creating the same kind of field as rod magnets.
Speaking of Lace, I would love to see some Alumatones being taken apart and explained! I've always found those to be very fascinating, and it's also very interesting to me that they're significantly lighter in weight than standard pickup designs. I have 2 guitars with them, and I can describe the tone, but I certainly don't understand WHY they sound the way they do.
The Lace Alumitone works to a different set of electrical physical principles. Unlike traditional 'reluctor' style pickups, that have a high impedence coil wrapped around a iron or magnetic core (pole pieces), that creates an voltage in the coils as the string passes back and forth through the field created by the magnets. Alumitones use an 'Eddy-current' sensing design. The shell of this pickup is an alumin-i-um 'exoskeleton' with slots, water-jet cut into it. In these slots are placed ferro-ceramic-fubber magnets (just like those found in the 'Sensor' featured here...). They create a small magnetic field above the surface of the pickup. As the string vibrates, by passing back-and-forth through the tight field, eddy-currents are set up in cirular pattern around the ally exoskeleton.
Inside the exoskeleton, sit a pair of very small coils, no longer or wider than a fingernail each, that sit side-by-side at one end of the pickup. These coils, in turn, are connected to the exoskeleton, via a rectangular ring made of soft-iron laminsations, 4 in number (similar to the soft-iron laminates found at the heart of any transformer, or within electric motors....). This laminate ring, passes through both coils and around a small section of the vertical end of exoskeleton, close to the support leg.
The eddy-currents (with the musical data...) circulating around the exoskeleton, are thus sensed by these two coils, the eddy-currents imparting their electrical energy (and signal) to the coil windings via the rectangular, laminated core. The DCR of these coils, are typically around 1.8 kilo ohms per coil, giving a full DCR or around 3.6k ohm. 'Deathbuckers' - the high-output variant, has typically larger DCR and other variants will differ again. The coils use a finer gauge of wire than traditional windings. I've not determined what exaclty... most likely finer than >AWG 45. Without knowing the c.s.a of the wire ( or its gauge), the number of turns cannot be calculated. These coils are thus buggers to repair or copy.... Espaecially as Lace coat them in resin and encase the lot in heatshrink sleeves. They really *don't* want you inside there...
Being of lower impedance than tradtional humbuckers, means they are less succeptable to RFI, making them quieter. And of course, much, much lighter....
The wiring of these coils differs, as one would expect, from the tradional method of hookup. Green wire is 'chassis ground', this is the screen of the pickup. Each coil terminates to a white or orange coloured wire. Sealed within the *resin* the orange wire of coil one is soldered to the white wire of the coil two, putting the two coils in series. From this junction and soldered to it, a white/black striped wire forms one of the hookup wires, the others being an orange (from coil two) which is the 'hot' (signal) conductor, the white wire from tcoil one and green screen/chassis ground. If the white/black striped wire is connected to ground, the first coil becomes open circuit and the junction goes to ground, leaving the second - hot coil active. If the white wire (from coil one) is connected, then the two coils are on in series across the junction. Though not technically a 'coil-tap', it serves the same purpose. In series, the coils give maximum output, tapped effectively reduces the output of the pickup, but not its range, or with any noticeable change in the noise floor (hum, or lack thereof...). There is however, a noticeable difference in tonal cadence, between the two states.
Mistakes are often made by joining the two white and white/black wires together. This will cause the first coil to be open circuit and a nasty noise will ensue.... If both the same wires are then connected to chassis, then only the second coil will be active and at reduced output. So with Alumitone pickups, only *one* white-coloured wire should ever be connected to ground, though of course both would ideally be connected to a DPDT mini-toggle (push-pull etc...) switch, to allow selection of the output level/dual-sound option.
The one main downside of these Alumitone pickups, other than the cost, is that they are so clear and precise, that the can easily show up poor fingering, fudges and string slides... So they do *educate* one to be more precise in playing (which of course is really an upside ;-) ) That said, this could be one of the reasons why some guitarists give them a wide berth (that and cost of course....). They can't handle the accuracy.
Personally, I like all types of pickups, from all sources. But Lace are certainly up there with other favourite, more traditional and *h e a v i e r* brands.
@@Deebz270 "If the white/black striped wire is connected to ground, the first coil becomes open circuit " - did you mean to say that by connecting the "center tap" W/B wire to ground the first coil would be shorted to ground, not an "open circuit"?
Excellent description by the way..
@@Deebz270 Thanks, I had wondered about this! I have one Strat-sized one that I bought used. Like a lot of Lace sensors, I think the high end clarity is nonexistent from mine. I also have a Lace humbucker that seems to have the same components as the Alumitone one but they are all sealed in epoxy and stuck in the case. Never could figure out how it works. Based on your description I really wonder if it doesn't do the same thing by sensing the eddy currents in the pickup cover? (And is the cover perhaps alumINUM? Would it matter what metal was used in the cover?) Regardless, with a little thought and my dmm, I was able to figure out how to wire it up like a tapped humbucker, and it too works wonderfully in this way; the 'single coil' setting is thinner and brighter than humbucker mode, even makes a better single coil sound than most tapped humbuckers, imo.
IIRC, each coil was about 1.6K ohm, read about 3.2K ohms in HB mode.
It's a unique sound. But I suspect the quiet nature actually comes from the fact that it's encased in a Faraday cage on all sides but the top. I quite like them. I am not sure if that's how a field looks like exactly lol, but yes, the lace will have a completely different tone. I can at least see that the magnet will cause the comb to magnetize thus producing a more even field. The mutual interference due to the more homogenous field distribution is probabaly also the main factor for compression.
Beat me to it, I was scrolling to see if anyone mentioned the Faraday cage first.
Would it be possible to make one yourself?
@@boimesa8190 Lace sensors? Sure, I don't see why not. Lots of drawings online. Takes a bit of handiness just like anything - First time is never the charm.
@@MintStiles oh really?? Do u have links? And those are what makes the pickups noiseless right?
I love Lace sensors! It was great to see a tear down so people understand what the difference is! They are excellent pickups and my favorite ones. I am starting to make guitars using these pickups with as many Fender Original parts as I can get my hands on (Only difference is the Body, which I am sourcing elsewhere).
Great video.. thanks so much!... For whatever reason my main guitars don't have lace sensors but my ... well one does.. my verdict is for lead playing.. the sound incredible.. I find leads even with no distortion just sound full and have a lot of harmonics.. perhaps you can say the have some natural compression to them.. For rhythm they don't do as well for me....but I absolutely love lace sensors
I have five (5) Stratocaster’s with LACE sensors in the bridge pickup location and standard pickups in the middle and neck locations. I like the sound that I get from those instruments, but you should know that there are several variations of the LACE sensors that are designed for different sound profiles. One thing that Fender discovered is the pickups that were desirable to some well known guitar players sounded the way they do because the magnets had weakened over time and that is how they performed like that, because they had weaker magnets, they found a way to replicate the sound by starting off with weaker magnets, those pickups became the Tex Specials. I am not quite sure how the LACE sensors vary in construction to sound different, but for Stratocaster’s they have Gold, Silver, Blue, and Red pickups that are all designed for specific frequencies. The writing on the pickups come in the various colors I described above while the covers are all the same white plastic, I haven’t seen ones with black plastic on them before, originally they all were white, and I used to see Eric Clapton play Stratocaster’s with them when they were a new item. The sound is definitely compressed and I usually do not run a compressor while I’m playing those guitars. Other Stratocaster’s that I have without the LACE sensors have Tex Special, noiseless, and standard Stratocaster pickups, I prefer the ones with the LACE sensors. I also have one Stratocaster with a humbucker in the bridge position that has a coil tap, it has a unique sound of it’s own. The Gold LACE sensors are designed to sound like the vintage fifty’s pickups, they are the ones that I use, the Silver ones are designed to sound like sixty’s pickups, Copper was for seventy’s sound, and the Blue and Red were for more modern sounds, according to Fender. Since then, LACE has become it’s own entity and makes many more kinds of sensors now, and they also make their own guitars. The weird thing about them is that they are a sensor, and not a pickup, at least that is what they would have you believe, internally they are constructed differently for each application, the Gold ones have a separate sensor for each string, I was fortunate enough to run across one that the cover had not been epoxied on and it was easy to remove and look inside, it appeared to have what looked like integrated circuit chips for each sensor location within the casing, one for each string. It would be interesting to see how the magnetic fields vary from each other, and how they vary from conventional pickups. This was an interesting video. Thank you for posting this video. Please have an excellent and awesome day! 🙂
Just a small detail.
The "comb" is actually 2 U section parts, joined in the middle with an insulator layer between them, forming a bobbin.
It appears the hot and earth are soldered to each of these, and output connections at the other ends. So one side of the comb is at the "front" of the coil and the other is at the end. I'm not sure how this arrangement affects operation.
I had a Lace Sensor Gold until I relized it doesn't respond linear to pick attack: if you pick very softly then going stronger it has a certain volume it mantains until it starts responding to your picking.
In other words: it doesn't have dynamic at lower picking.
Sweet vid. Love alternative pickup tech. Thank you.
I was hoping for a iron filings on paper with pickup underneath demonstration of the magnetic fields, great way to illustrate field geometry.
me too
WHY did I read the comments?? This entire series explaining the differences between pickup types is brilliant. Thank you.
I had a 1989 Fender Strat plus that came stock with Lace Sensors in it. I loved the middle and bridge pick ups. When it came to the Bridge position I needed more. I popped a humbucker in there. What an amazing guitar. Had a roller nut and locking tuners. I'd do anything to have it back
Love my Lace Sensor gold in the neck of my semihollow custom strat. It has its own sound that is very different, and that is what I like about it!
Lace Sensors definitely have more compression than a conventional single-coil, which I think is the cause for their reputation for being “sterile.” Of course, people use compression already, especially in recording. So perhaps the solution is for people to adjust their various settings, in order to compensate this effect back to where they want it.
I always wondered, but I'm just as Curious about the other lace products too. Alumitone, drop and gain etc. They're a truly unique company that isn't afraid of changing and experimenting.
I used to use Lace Sensors exclusively as many of my guitars are Warmoth builds and I would employ a blue in the neck, a reverse wound silver in the middle, and a red dually in the bridge. I used them until I started employing Seymour Duncan Lil’ 59’s and humbuckers and then EMG’s. The Laces still sound great in the one strat and 12 string strat they are still mounted in.
I have two custom warmoths and have lollars in one and the Seymour Duncan everything axe loaded pickguard with the two toggle switches (one for coil tap and the other for activating neck pickup). I love the beefy smoothness of it but just doesn't give you that strat slap sound but can get some amazing tone with it. I fingerstyle and use it for getting some nice jazzy tones and then can slap into some screamin leads too. Very versatile though I am interested in the lace sensors for a fretless guitar I'm working on currently. Should be good for that or so I hope.
Exactly explains what I was able to hear in other videos, and I agree with your comment on the tone. I get it. You like it if you like it, but I understand it now and can make that call. Thanks.
Lace Sensors with lower output - Gold/Emerald/Silver models - do sound more compressed, a bit warmer/"woollier" (for a lack of a better term), with a less prominent percussiveness in the string attack, than regular low-output Fender single coils. That's neither a good, nor a bad thing, per se. It depends on what the player is looking for. Not everybody wants explosive dynamics all the way, where every tiny difference in the attack changes the sound. There's a reason why so many people use compressors when they play clean leads on Fender-style guitars or put P-90s in their telecasters.
With overdrive or distortion, the Sensors obviously produce significantly less hum, although they're not quite in the territory of stacked or regular humbuckers. Those are still noticably "quieter". I'd say the more distortion is dialled in, the better the Sensors are than regular low-output single coils. They stay "open" longer, at higher gain levels when regular single coils just start to produce that honking "overloaded" noise. That's if you can actually still hear them over the 60/50-Hz hum...
It really depends on what kind of sounds the player mainly uses. If "vintage" clean sounds and light overdrive are the priority, I would probably stick with regular single coils and work on my "quick draw" skill for the volume control on the guitar, for occasional distortion and fuzz. If occasional clean as an addition to mainly overdriven and distorted sounds is what's needed, the Sensors might be the better choice. If you want a somewhat more Gibson-like "behaviour" from your Fender, without going all the way to full humbuckers, the Sensors definitely can do that better than regular single coils, in my opinion. I wouldn't use either for music that mostly requires very high gain levels.
I'm really not quite sure how the Sensors fit into today's pickup landscape, as opposed to the 1980s when they were first introduced to the market. We have so much better and much more "vintage-single-coil-ish" sounding stacked humbuckers now, that are even less susceptible to hum problems. They're really their own thing. People who like them, seem to REALLY like them. Just like lipsticks, Dynasonics, p-90s, Jazzmaster pickups, or goldfoils, they're a different flavour of single coil pickup than standard Strat or Tele pickups. If the goal is to have a vintage Strat sound, only without the pesky hum, they're probably not the best option available anymore - because they don't _really_ do that. If DiMarzio Areas aren't "authentic-sounding" enough for you, you won't be much happier with the Sensors, I'm afraid. But if you're going after certain 1980s/1990s sounds, they might be just the right tool for it.
Love every lace sensor I’ve tried but as stated in the video, they do have a unique character to their sound
Thank you so much for this review I'm 67 and blew my hearing out long ago. I have to remember what I thought sounded good back when I was 12. my wife gave me a 94 strat, a fortieths anniversary edition for my fortieth birthday which I thought was cool. However, I am profoundly deaf in the high end and lace pickup were not around when I was young. Thanks for the review, on the positive side I did get to see the. Yardbirds and Hendrix live in Oklahoma
When I was a teen I had a light yellow colored fender strat with a tortoise sheel pickguard that came with three lace senser pickups. I absolutely loved that strat and those pickups sounded so fat and smooth with so little noise.
I loved this, thank you very much. I have 3 strats and two of them with Lace Sensors. I love the sound and have often wondered exactly what & how, that this vid has explained.
Very cool stuff. I would love to see you break down how Rickenbacker pickups work, and if possible, how the three different pickups Rickenbacker makes (toasters, hi-gains, and Rickenbacker humbuckers) compare to each other.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned it (this video is 2 yrs old), but the magnets are placed in something called a Halbach Array. The orientation of the poles rotate so as to strengthen the field on one side and almost negate it on the other.
Great videos btw...Off to find the one on Fishman Fluence next ✌
Are the Lace Sensors lighter in weight than a traditional single coil?
@@tonydrake821 Just got mine and the Lace Sensors are heavier than my stock Strat pickups
I've got Gold ones in a Strat Plus, they just work really well with clean and distorted sounds with little noise. Had to change bridge as sweat got into solder joint, corroded it and gaining access to repair (as you demonstrated) is quite destructive (If that makes sense 🤪).
Guitar also has a TBX tone control - people don't seem to love/understand them but I find it great to make the 2 and 4 positions more chimey by rolling some bass off.
Yup, also have a Strat Plus with Gold Lace Sensors - great guitar & TBX is really useful too.
I love my strat plus!they have a very sweet sound clean and a really warm tone with drive and distortion.They are not for purist, but not every body want to sound like SRV
Strat plus best STRATOCASTER every made, imho
@@horacebond9394 Don't know about the best but it is certainly overlooked by many people.
Hotblack Desiato from 1987 to 1998 that was the top of the line until custom shop. Many of techs who worked on Strat Plus’ , Strat Plus Deluxe and Ultra’s went on to the custom shop. So many technical advances that many players today seem to miss. Roller nut/ LSR completely eliminates need for string trees, which induce drag and hurt sustain. Noiseless pickups ( now everybody has those) tbx. At end of the day though it’s all opinion, we each have one and neither is wrong! 👍🏽.
Cool never seen the guts before. Its basically just a mini humbucker then. By keeping the coil coverage geometry more or less the same as a single coil and winding really tight you maintain a single coil type tone.
I've had 2 James Burton Gold Paisley's and I'm not a country player. I was in a rock band in the 90s and used quite a few peddles and they were brilliant. Very warm quiet pups.
Just not everyone's cup of tea as we say here in Britain.
They do have a place.
Learn something new about single coil designs. I had a Strat with Lace Sensors I wish I still had, but that’s another story. Thanks!
I like Lace Sensor Golds.
I've got a Strat set of Golds from the mid 1990's and I ain't never giving them up! Best pups ever.
@@marekbage Yeah i got the gold laces in my 88 strat..Another level!!
I have fender gold lace in my strat... absolutely love em. Crunchy and heavy as hell if you want em to be or smooth as butter. They have a great tonal range
I like to pair hot golds with LSDs. Really nice for playing heavy while maintaining as much string clarity as possible.
thats kinda very interesting, always thought they are hum canceling like two coils inside because of that weird comb shape ... thanks for making things clear
If you haven't already, do SD HotRails! If you have let me know and I'll check it out. I also have that same metal table in my RV, it's great because it folds away so small. I use it for sewing, guitar work, and my dinner table.
Leo Fender used a similar concept for his MFD pickups: stronger (ceramic) magnets with fewer coil windings.
I love vintage strat pups and the lace sensors as well. Have both of them, pristine hand wound strat pups that cost me a fortune and also some lace sensors from the late 90´s. And love them all equally. They all sound different and they all have their strong points. It´s like a palette of colours, use them accordingly about what you want to achieve.
Would all the different colour lace sensors be made the same? what varies between colours? Coil gauge or winds? Magnet strength or type?
the different colors mostly differ in output and overall tone but i'm not exactly sure how that is achieved mechanically
Different colors do different things. Blue is supposed to be a 50s paf type sound, silver is more of a 70s middle position strat type sound, red is full on high output humbucking. Golds I believe are closest to traditional single sound.
Gold ones are meant to replicate a 50s Strat.
Purple is like a p90. Emerald is like texas special. Have not tried burgandy.
My 1993 Jeff Beck Strat has the Fender Lace Golds with a dually in the bridge. Fairly quiet for single coils and has a great sound.
I just got a lace sensor red/white/blue pickguard, very high output, excellent clarity, the red sounds like a grungy bridge p90, no noise eitger 😮😊
I've been playing for 42 years. I did put a set of Lace into a late 80s MIJ Jazz bass over 30 years ago with positive results. Clean, full and harmonically rich. At the time they were becoming stock on the USA basses so it felt appropriate, and I couldn't afford Bartolini. That said, I have 8 electrics and a PRS baritone and I would not choose Lace for them. Favorite electric pickups to date:
Bridge Humbuckers:
S.D Distortion, S.D Holdsworth, S.D Custom-Custom (Baritone), Jackson USA J-80, Dimarzio H2 (like a super3 I'm told)
Neck Humbuckers:
S.D Jazz, Dimarzio Breed
Single coils:
Suhr V70 (neck), Dimarzio YJM, S.D Stk-S4 (neck), Fender USA Jazzmaster set
Note: I've now decided to avoid any new single coil humbucking designs.
Future pickups I'd like to try:
S.D Full Shred (bridge)
...and now some pickups I've not liked enough to keep installed:
Gibson Burstbucker 2 (fizzy)
Leo Sounds Vintage Player (lacking)
S.D. Jeff Beck (close but piercing)
Dimarzio Super Distortion (jury's out, might have been a new bridge install)
S.D Sentient (too dark)
Dimarzio Fred (weak)
I love Lace Sensors. I have set of Golds on my E series MIJ Strat and it sounds amazing.
I put chrome Lace Sensors in an electric mandolin shaped like a Tele. I didn't want a Tele sound, I wanted a clean buzz free sound. I ended up recording with it sometimes, and it sounds like a real mandolin.
I have them in my Birdsong Cortobass… thanks for the explanation!
I have a black Fender Lace Sensor in an old Fender Musicmaster bass guitar. The original single coil pickup was way too noisy. With the Lace pickup, it is dead quiet. So I bought Lace Sensors for my Jazz bass as well.
Have you already tested Q Tuners pickups?
The first generation humbucker pick-up was already constructed in a clear see through material,a 3 way 13 pole magnetic window,all polepieces adjustable.Neodym magnets.
Endless Thanks for feeding the guitar nerd curiosity. You do it well sir.
Thank you Dylan, I have owned a PBass plus with Silver Lace Sensors, and I love the higher output and tone of these near noise free pickups. I always wanted to know how they work, as I believe they were meant to have evolved from a Jaguar pickup. At least they are a true single coil with different construction as opposed to the stacked humbucker solutions you have rightly claimed are not single coils.
I’ve found that I do like the Lace Sensor Gold’s very much in my Clapton Strat. But that’s with the TBX and midboost controls. I had a different EC Strat years ago with those controls removed and the Gold’s were kinda of bland by themselves. It also takes some time finding the right pickup heights. I personally like mine lower rather than close up. But moving them up or down to suit can make all the difference. And I do like that they are much quieter than regular single coils. I took one of my Tele’s with fancy old school boutique pickups out for a local jam one night. There was so much noise from the lighting that I literally couldn’t use the guitar. Never had that problem with the LS Gold’s in my EC Strat.
Gonna share this on my channel bro , we have just done a set of videos on Clapton’s 24 nights and one was on gear he used , this video is excellent in discussing the lace sensors that Clapton’s Stratocaster used back during journeyman and 24 nights . Cheers Andrew .
Great demo. Could you explain why the pick up has three wires? A normal single coil only has two wires. Why have a third wire? this cost more to add on. Is this a redundant wiring? Is the third wire for coil tapping? Or a wilder explanation is this can be coiled split. There on the web is a video showing how the pickups are made. They look like he ones you disassembled. In their video they point out the the two combs on the top are isolated by a plastic insert between the right and left comb. I can give a link if you want. Thanks for this and your other videos.
I have many colors of Lace pickups. I really like them when using higher gain like a big muff.
my strat plus sound incredible with a russian big muff
So the rubberized ferrite magnets are weak and provide the inductance and frequency response and the construction creates a Faraday cage to reduce noise?
Basically, yes. Which is why they need to be very close to the strings to get a good tone. They're quite good sounding for the most part. The difference eliminates what most humbucker fans gripe about with single coils - noise and harsh top end. Sensors mitigate those very well and achieve a nice tonal balance between humbuckers and singles. Love them. Especially with effects.
On the Lace pickup, did anyone notice the "cap" that Dylan mentions, looks like the old Adder Plus Corp. Modifier?
I was wondering if anybody on RUclips might know about lace sensors…
And BAM…🤘🏻😆🤘🏻
Awesome vid, thanks
I had Lace Sensors (red, blue, gold?).
I found that if you picked softer and softer, the volume would go down 10-9-8-7-6-5-4- ... 0.
No 3-2-1, it would go from medium-quiet to silent without reproducing the super-quiet playing.
I found that regular single coils would go 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, and reproduce those last 3 dynamic levels.
Maybe I’m crazy but that’s what I remember from decades ago.
I love Lace Sensors. The blue is hands down the best neck pickup I've ever used.
I have a lace transensor in a drawer somewhere and if memory serves, its construction is quite a bit different than the one you were looking at here. Primarily no steel chassis, just the wires coming through the epoxy on the bottom of the plastic cover. I had some emails to lace asking about the pickup, and even from the company, there was limited information on the transensor.
This was awesome! I have an '80s Strat Plus with Lace Sensors. As this is my only experience I was happy to learn how they differ from AlNico single coils.
I just bought a knock-off Les Paul and I wonder if you could enlighten me/us on the things to look for in a humbucker. What is a good one for an upgrade, what does a "microphonic" pickup do for/against your sound, and what is "potting"?
Great work with the sketch pad by the way. That was really helpful!
Thank you.
Dylan, I'm not sure the padding you removed is magnetic in any way. I'm pretty sure it's the steel which the padding is adhered to is what's providing the focus and the shielding.
I'm really interested to hear how/if Lace sensors and Dually's interact with the SD Hyperswitch settings. If I had the cash I'd just build it myself lol but I'd love to hear it first
While watching this video I was in the process of finishing adding a Lace Sensor Gold Pickup in the neck position of my Telecaster. About 2 weeks ago what started out as a 4 way switch mod with pull-up for phase shift turned into a nightmare so to speak when the original neck pickup hot lead was showing to be shorting out with the cover ground lead. The front single rab was deformed when assembled and caused the tab to make contact slightly. When trying to resolve the issue rather late at night I was determined to get the pickup working correctly. I should have called it a night especially after inadvertently disturbing the south pole lead wher the 43 gauge wire broke. Twas not a happy camper and did call it a night at that point. Enter the Lace pickup. I have an oddball rare Lace Acela electric acoustic that had in the neck said Lace pickup. Just it, no piezo. I thought I will put that in the place of the Tele neck pickup. Lace was an OEM supplier to Fender in 5he 80s for certain Special Run Strats and Teles. Fender released an aEric Clapton Strat with Lace pickups and had a few others with various Lace pickup configurations. This is also when I discovered Strat single could are larger than the single could Tele pickups too . No prob. I hogged out the pickguard opening and it looked good. I then decided to get new pots and caps so I ordered some and they came in this past week. Anyway. some sound tests show the Lace will sound good along with the original Tele bridge and I may play around with cap selection. I am a big Tele Twang fan but plenty of resource advice on this channel on pots and caps. I like the videos I have viewed so far. Very informative.
there is a vid on Lace Sensors channel that already shows you how they're built without tearing apart
Thats so boring
I have had a 1987 Strat Plus since I was 19.I swapped out the pickups about 6 years ago.
And the detail on those are great.
Then I ended up installing a new set of Lace Sensor Gold's in another guitar.
There's room for both.But Lace Sensors are not a problem if you play in a loud band.It's just a different flavor.
Cheers for the video. I have loved having a Red Lace sensor in the bridge position of my strats since 1995.
Great video and break down 🤘
I have Fralin Blues Specials
Fender 69’s
Texas specials
And AY’s ☝️
Turns out
Lace (The Hot Gold only 6.0k)actually sound their best not so close to the strings.
It’s the biggest mistake made with em’.
Found all the spank and sparkle with no hum at lower pickup hight through tube amp🤷🏼♂️
I'm getting ready to try out a strat set I picked up 2nd hand.
I also got a pair of Schaller Tetrads that I'm considering the wiring possibilities for.
Have you done any oddball but cool pickups videos? You would be the one person I could listen to for that. You definitely have your own opinions, but base your information on the science, which I appreciate.
It's 4 in the morning here and a couple of hours ago I was like: "Stop obsessing about putting that Lace Sensor on the SG, do it tomorrow". Couldn't help it and grabbed my tools... My SG is a chinese fake brand no serial number that costed about the same than one Sensor, but it's a nice guitar. It was setup with stock on the bridge and FLS on the neck. I actually bought the guitar to put the pickups in, I had them for years and they're still the Fender branded ones, got them new like ten years ago, were on another guitar that I sold... Anyway... I do like the sound of them... Another thing they advertise about Lace Sensors is a clearer sound, which I believe they accomplished. These are duallies Gold-Gold, I was going for a really clean and clear sound... But I didn't imagine they were made with fridge magnets. I'm from Argentina, so my currency makes it kinda hard to join the group, but I found this video amazing... I also had back, in the day, a single Gold sensor in a strat and I wondered ever since how it was they got their mojo... And this was very illustrating, so thank you.
P.S.: With duallies, at least, and in the neck position you can get the pickup flat with the holder and it will still give enough voltage for it to sound good and while I haven't decided yet it could be a setting that I can use, very acoustic guitar like. Haven't tried the bridge or single coil since there are no switches connected to the pickups... Yet. But there probably will be.
Thanks for this. I have sensors and I love them. And one of them has been slightly taken apart by myself, but just the cover. You mention about it having a comb on top but isn’t that essentially two u-shapes together to form an I beam where the coil wraps around? If the magnets are so weak like you said without gaussing them why are they so much louder? The one I opened is a strat and it’s pretty much the same only the plate is not a tele plate, more like strat mounting. Would this be similar to what Lollar (or is it Fralin) does to telefy a strat pickup? Have you even investigated a Holy Grail from Lace? That seems to have regular magnetic pole pieces on sidewound coils (2 of them). On a side note, taking a cover of a Lace Sensor makes it fit a Jaguar pickup cover, only the metal teeth on it will be further recessed. Handy if you like the Jaguar but not necessarily it’s sound. Thanks in advance for replying in an upcoming video (wishfully thinking).
1959 Futurama has U shape steel surround with strong magnetic adjustable pole pieces in centre + 6.3k single coil
Effectively 2 fields from pole to top of surround - sounds very strat on centre but rounded tone on neck.
Gonna rewind one coil with 38 gauge
- theory : lower impedance is matching strong field . My guess is crisper tone but wait and see . Yours best RUclips about pickups - thanks
regards. BobK
Like so many others here, I still have my 1988 Strat Plus with gold Lace Sensors, bought it new because it sounded great and was so quiet compared to a standard Strat and that still applies today.
my Mooneyes (race car accesories co.) Strat copy guitar is said to have been built by Lace however the single coils have poles . And are much quieter than Ibanez vintage singles, Seymour d's hotrails but i like the clarity more ,other than for fuzz . I do boost them lil more than others. I tend to grab that guitar more than tele, mex strat and it's a much lighter .
I saw a pickup out of UK that had a coil around each pole piece so 6 separate coils in each pickup how would this work?
Cycfi Nu Series?
Man, I'm late to the game by about 4 years. I actually own a set of sensor lace, goldGold series pick ups i've had an astrat I've had them about 12 Years I'll still experience some hum in the 1,3,5 position And you are right.Some of the charminess is missing like normal single coils in a strat
Great video! I have always wondered what is under the covers on those Lace sensors. Thanks Dylan!
I think building on the concept using a traditional bar magnet would be interesting. It seems like a Jaguar pickup is Fenders way of repositioning the magnetic field. A tele bridge pickup made like a Jaguar pickup with a traditional base plate and a test with and without a comb or top plate.
It's amazing what you can do with rubber fridge magnets and perforated steel bobbins . Less copper and non ferrous nickel , brass etc required so much cheaper to make .
Great video! How are Lace Alumitone pickups different from the Sensors?
Completely. The Alumitones dont work like any normal pickup which is voltage driven by the fluctuations in the magnetic field. Alumitones are current driven and require a lot less windings because the aluminum bar induces a current and effectively acts as the coil would in a normal pickup. They're essentially a true noiseless _single coil._ I love them.
@@yargnad There are alumitone single coils, but original lace sensors are true single coils. Alumitones are transformers.
I want to see this for fishman pickups next
Great video. Yes I have used Lace Sensors and the only ones I found I could get along with were the gold and the silver models in my James Burton Telecaster I was playing at the time. The blue and the red edition were much too dull for my taste. This has been 25-30 years ago back when I was a Fender endorses. My James Burton Tele was even signed by the man himself. They were using LS Strat pickups for all three positions on that guitar back then.
I have a 91 Strat plus ultra. I love this guitar.
I have been on a real pickup odyssey with my 58 Strat over many decades. Stock did not work for me because of the sounds I was writing for so I put them away about 1980. I went thru the following, with comments:
Barden Rails - loved the sound, kept these for many years
Lawrence stacked - can’t recall much about them
Lace Sensors - couldn’t lose them fast enough, just horrible
EMG S - liked them but never grew to love them
EMG SA - liked them better but decided no more active for me
Fender Noiseless (originals) - liked the sound, hated the look (no pole pieces)
Fender Noiseless Vintage - love them, still using to this day
I have recently changed just the neck to a Seymour Duncan Vintage neck pickup and love it. It matches well with my Fender Noiseless Vintage set but sounds noticeably better to my ears.
Point of all this is that the Lace Sensors really left me cold.
Been playing a long time, never heard of em before this company was featured on How It's Made!
Lace Sensors use small magnets instead a pole piece, and in middle of bobbins have some layers of shielding
I kept finding myself looking away during the lace coil breakdown. I kept seeing the tools slipping out and stabbing your finger or palm. (Which if happened you prolly would show that, but it kept going through my head anyway). Great info tho 💯