=========================================================================== Fender =========================================================================== --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer:Fender Model:Lace Sensor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From bill@verdix.com Thu Jul 15 19:32:45 1993 Guitar or Bass : G Gold is a well-rounded pickup. Red is too bright, in a bad way. NOT similar to humbuckers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer: Fender Model: Texas Specials by Fender Custom Shop --------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Name: PopLlama@goren.u.washington.edu Date of Review: 8-4-93 My Personal Musical Styles: Mostly Blues-Rock ala AC/DC, Jimi "God" Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Tesla. And some more modern groups like Motley Crue, The Posies, Gnome, Smashing Pumpkins... Cost: List is about $175 in the states, but you'll probably get it for 10-25% off of that in any reputable shop. Purchased From : Don's Green River Music in Aubrun WA - great shop, with extremely knowledgeable people. Impedance: My stock Fender's ran at about 5k ohms, these ran at nearly 7. So they're signifigantly hotter. Output: My VOMit doesn't messure mili-amps for output (Damn!) but I would say that they are typical of custom single coil pickups. They are even louder than some humbuckers that I have played through. They distort nicely and smoothly no harshness with them at all. Reason for Mod: I was tired of my Blah stock pickups in my US Strat. They were far to bright (I ran my treble tone control near 3 on my amp, and my tone on my axe at nearly 1_ and still it was too trebley!) for my tastes. Further they tended to be bitey and sharp. They weren't nearly as warm as I would have liked them to be. Review In General: These are very nice! Expect to be pleased. They are the same pickups on the new "Stevie Ray Vaughn" signature strat. They are well constructed too, you pay for a lot in these puppies. I was expecting to loose a lot of my clean sound, but found that it stayed. While it does manage to drive an amp into distortion when the clean channel is cranked (great for AC/DC or SRV stuff!) it tends to convey the great acoustic sound of a strat when the volume is more moderate. The trebly bite of a single coil is subdued - mostly because higher impedance does not carry the treble side over to well, but boosts the midrange (something that most strat's need IMHO). Warm and Fat are two words that some to my mind when I listen to these being played. Another that does as well is "Spongey" - but not muddy. A very nice balance. Though I play with 12's so I don't know how well they'd be on a set of 9's. If your gonna play some metal, just throw on some flange and maybe a little reverb and your set. Crank the amp and turn on your stomp box and your doing a damn good rendition of the Smashing Pumpkins. For classical, I'd still prefer my stock pickups. The brightness was really nice there. These do well, but not as well as they should. But they're not intended for that style anyways! I wouldn't recommend these pickups for anyone with a thin necked Ibanez, or a Korean Strat, or any other instrument without a good amount of wood. It would sound nice on a mahogany instrument though! Other notes on Fender Replacement in Specific: These come in a set of three, I don't think you can purchase them seperately. Whereas on your stock pickups you'd rarely use your neck pickup alone (if your like me you'd only play it with the middle as well, or set up a switch to play tele mode of bridge and neck) With these on you'll love the fat tone of the neck pickup. Muddy sound is turned into warmth and depth. An amazing improvement. The bridge pickup gets tamed down signifigantly so that a blues solo won't make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end and remind you of fingernails on a chalkboard. And the mid-pickup is actually used by itself as well! Also, the hum characteristic of single-coils is not any worse nor better with these pickups versus Fender Stock pickups. Other Notes In General: The pickups are made under warantee and Fender includes a wiring diagram for strats (sorry all you other guys - but wait! Its practically the same anyways!). I'd like to hear these installed on a Mustang or a Jaguar - they'd probably make them actually sound GOOD! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer: Fender Model: Texas Specials --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your name : Kyle Grieser email : yuf@sequent.com Date of review : 8/4/93 Your musical style(s) : blues, rock, jazz, etc Guitar or Bass : guitar Pickup features : single coils, hotter than stock Cost : $175 Purchased from : Tigard Music, Tigard, OR Pickup being replaced : stock strat pickups from 50's reissue Neck/Mid/Bridge position: all Other pickups on guitar : none Artists using this pickup: don't really know :-). I know that SRV had some hotter single coils, but not sure if they are the same as these. Reason for pickup change: wanted more variety of sound and more signal to the amp Perceived output level : definitly a bit hotter than your normal single coils. Tone : fatter than stock single coils... a bit warmer too. Candid sonic evaluation: like I said above, much fatter, with noticably better differentiation between positions. The "out-of-phase" positions have much more character than the stock singles. The bridge is actually useful now... I never liked the stock bridge pickup -- it was too twangy/trebly... the Texas bridge PU is much fatter... not at all as twangy and annoying as the stock. Styles and positions for which this pickup is (un)suitable: the set comes with neck, middle, and bridge. wonderrful for blues through a turned up Fender. Much more control of sounds via volume control. On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a: ?? (I don't have enough experience to rate them, though I'm much happier with them than my stock singles...) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer: Fender? Model: I just installed a set of SRV pickups in my American Standard Strat. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Name: Troy Kelley email: tkelley@hel4.brl.mil Dave of Review 2/25/94 Your Musical Style(s) Original Jazz Fusion, Blues Guitar or Bass Amer. Std. Strat & Tele Pickup features SRV Strat pickup Cost $180 for set (includes shipping) Purchased from Bill's Music, Baltimore Maryland Pickups being replaced Stock American Standard Strat pickups Artists using this pickup ...uh..hum.. Stevie Ray?.. NOT. Reason for pickup change Wanted better tone, heard favorable things Perceived output level Slightly hotter than stock pickups Tone Great, Clean, Fat, Warm Candid Sonic evalution Some might not notice a big difference especailly in the out-of-phase selections but positions 1-3-5 are much better. On a scale of 1 to 11 I would give them a 9 for quality of sound this is the tone I was looking for. They work as advertised. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer: Model: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your name : Tim Richter email :tjr2g@klang.music.virginia.edu Date of review : 4-29-94 Your musical style(s) : Blues, Country, UK punk, Jazz Guitar or Bass : Lace Sensor Blue --telecaster replacement Pickup features : Looks just like the original lipstick tube Cost : $70. 00 (I think I paid a little too much) Purchased from : Charlottesville Music in VA Impedance or other specs: Pickup being replaced : Japanese Neck PU for 62 reissue Telecaster Neck/Mid/Bridge position: Neck/Bridge (Blue/Blue) Other pickups on guitar : none Artists using this pickup:??? Reason for pickup change: Japanese Tele PU not hot enough, to cancel hum Because... Perceived output level : "Cool vintage" medium output Tone: Mellow, lots of midrange on the Neck, Biting on the Bridge Candid sonic evaluation: Amazing... Gave me the Chicken Pickin' Twang Styles and positions for which this pickup is (un)suitable:Heavy Metal anything requiring really hard distortion On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a: 9 1/2 Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for *that* sound?: Yep, now all I need is a Black Face Super or Twin --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer: Fender Model: Lace Sensor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your name : David Bell email : db@seachange.com Date of review : 01/11/95 Your musical style(s) : Blues Guitar or Bass : Guitar Neck/Mid/Bridge position: All Reason for pickup change: Initially I needed a replacement for the bridge position on my '74 hardtail strat (original pickup went bad) so I decided to try the red lace-sensor. Since then I have experimented with all flavours of sensors, and have them installed in all three positions of both my '74 hardtail and my '94 American Standard. Based on the type of music I play (blues) I have come up with a combination that works well for me. The combination I use on the '74 is different from what I use on the American Standard because the two guitars sound very different. I find my '74 has much more mid-range than the '94, and I attribute this to the fact it is a hard-tail. Here is my setup: Guitar Neck Mid Bridge '74 Hard Tail Gold Gold Silver '94 Am Std Blue Silver Silver I found for blues that the red pickup was just too harsh sounding on both guitars, although it may be fine for modern rock styles. I tried the blue in the bridge position, but found it to be on the dull side. The blue in the neck of the '74 was too bassy, on the '94 it's perfect. The gold sounds best in the neck and middle of my '74, and also sounds nice in the middle position of the '94, although I like the silver a tad better. I didn't like the gold in the bridge position of either guitar (too thin) and found the silver to be my favorite in this position. Perceived output level : Hotter than the standard single-coil. Tone: See review, depends on the type and location Candid sonic evaluation: I'm totally in love with these pickups. To me they combine the best features of humbuckers (low noise, high output) and single-coil (more highs). On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a: 10 Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for *that* sound?: Totally satisfied. =========================================================================== Miscellaneous Fender Pickup Info =========================================================================== ================================================== Regarding Lace Sensors ================================================== -------------------------------------------------- From ez004557@rocky.ucdavis.edu Thu Feb 10 09:09:29 1994 Subject: Re: Lace Sensor Pickup Questions -------------------------------------------------- Donald Parker (parker@bnr.ca) wrote: : I am looking for specific information about the differences : between the various "colours" ("colors" for my US friends). Gold - close approximation of a traditional Strat single coil Silver - "fat" Strat Blue - humbucker-type balance Red - high output That's for starters - now let the games begin ... George Kaschner -------------------------------------------------- From collins_jim@tandem.com Wed Apr 13 16:58:12 1994 Subject: Re: Lace Sensor Review Wanted -------------------------------------------------- In article <2obrk0$cad@news.duke.edu>, ceh1@acpub.duke.edu (Charles Eric Horowitz) wrote: > > Just wondering, > Last summer, the treble pickup on my Les Paul started to go, so I had to > get something new. I ended up replaceing it with the same thing, which I > am perfectly satisfied with. However, a pickup on the Jeff Beck Strat caught > my ear, I think its called the Lace Sensor. Im wondering if anyone has any > reviews of it, on the JBStrat or if anyone happened to have put it on > a Paul? > THANX > CHUCK Chuck, I've experienced nearly every Lace Sensor they make, including their "humbuckers". I've had them on a few different Strats and one Tele Deluxe. Someone in this thread said that Lace Sensors are single coils, and putting two of them in series won't make them sound like a humbucker. Not true. Humbuckers are nothing but two single coils next to each other. This is the key -- their proximity. The Tele Deluxe I used to have had double reds in the bridge position, with a micro toggle that selected how the bridge pickup assembly would be used: one "coil" alone, the other "coil" alone, or both in series. This last combination is definitely a humbucker tone. That guitar was an ash body that weighed considerably more than other Teles I've owned/own. With the bridge pickup in the humbucker state, it sounded much more like a Les Paul than a Tele, which is one reason I no longer own that guitar. It was also mentioned that Lace Sensors are F-spaced. This may only be partially correct. F-spacing refers to the space between pole pieces. Fender guitars have wider string spacing at the bridge than Gibsons do, thus, the pole pieces on an F-spaced pickup must be wider apart. Lace Sensors do not use pole pieces, so spacing is not an issue. The length of the pickup may be an issue. Since Lace Sensors are built primarily for Fender guitars, the pickup might be too long to fit in the average humbucker mounting ring. I don't know about that for sure. As for sound, the Lace Sensor single coil is as quiet as a mouse, which is one of its selling points. It may sound a little too sterile, or too precise, for some ears, but there is no single coil noise. These are excellent pickups if you process your sound a lot -- no noise to get processed. Lace Sensors are also excellent candidates for an active system, as is found in the Eric Clapton Strat -- no noise to be processed by the on-board pre-amp. Lace Sensors have one other quality to recommend them. Because they use no pole pieces, a stretched string will not fade out. A stretched note over a normal single coil may have a tendency to fade out because the string moves away from the pole piece -- particularly in neck pickups. Lace Sensors are like blade pickups in this regard. Personally, I prefer normal single coils to Lace Sensors, but I don't process my sound. So what about the humbucker variety of Lace Sensor? Humbuckers are already quiet, so that selling point of a Lace Sensor humbucker is largely lost. I've personally never experienced stretched strings fading on a humbucker, so that feature may also be largely lost. That leaves the character of the sound. To my ears, Lace Sensors lack a little character when played clean, whether they are single coil or humbucker. This is, after all, a matter of opinion. I prefer traditional humbuckers to the Lace Sensor humbuckers for that reason. I think there is a greater variety of sounds available in traditional humbucker configuration than there is in Lace Sensor configuration. Jimmy -------------------------------------------------- From mic@emx.cc.utexas.edu Fri Mar 25 10:30:11 1994 Subject: Re: Lace sensors -------------------------------------------------- In article <2ms4u7$pe4@ucthpx.uct.ac.za>, Greg Cox wrote: > >Hi... > >What exactly is the difference (besides $$$) between the different >color Lace sensors on the Strat Plus, Deluxe etc? Here are the tonal qualities Fender advertises for each pickup: Gold -- traditional single-coil Strat Blue -- 50's humbucker Silver -- ``fat'' Strat (enhanced midgrange) Red -- high output single-coil The Strat Plus comes with 3 Gold sensors. The Plus Deluxe originally came with (I think) a Blue in the neck position and 2 Silvers in the bridge and middle position, then went to a Red in the bridge position. The Plus Ultra comes with two Reds hooked up in series in the bridge position for even higher output, with a mini switch to cut out one of them. I for one agree with people who say that Lace sensors don't sound like conventional Strat single-coil pickups. I wouldn't call them ``sterile'' so much as ``precise''. I happen to like that, but it *is* different. --mic-- -------------------------------------------------- From aash@ms.uky.edu Fri Mar 25 10:30:37 1994 Subject: Re: Lace sensors -------------------------------------------------- In article <2ms4u7$pe4@ucthpx.uct.ac.za>, Greg Cox wrote: > >Hi... > >What exactly is the difference (besides $$$) between the different >color Lace sensors on the Strat Plus, Deluxe etc? the red has a thin sound that's awesome for the bridge position, mainly for use with distortion the blue has a bassy bluesy sound that goes well in the neck position the gold has a clear bright tone that i use in the middle position for that cleaner than clean tube clean. the silver has a bright midrangy sound, also for the middle position.. i haven't messed with the double ones much =========================================================================== Regarding Squire Pickups =========================================================================== -------------------------------------------------- From mbreen@sdacs.ucsd.edu Thu Feb 17 13:50:21 1994 Subject: Mexicasters: finally, "definitive" answers -------------------------------------------------- I've been talking Mexican-made Stratocasters on this and other venues for quite a while. It all started when someone swapped out their pickups on their USA-made Strat and offered the originals for sale. I posted the honest question "are these pickups any better than those that came in my Mexicaster". Vicious lies and rumours regarding the quality of wood, construction, and hardware have been flying ever since. I just got off the phone with a person named Jeff at Fender Musical Instruments (7975 N Hayden Road, Scottsdale AZ 85258 (602) 596 9690, Product Services is extension 7378, 9AM to 4PM Mountain Time). I asked him a lot of questions, and he is calling me back. Here's what I've learned so far: Pickups: "Some are made in Mexico, most are made in the US. They are slightly less 'beefy' then those in USA-made. They are 'single coil standards' while the USAs have 'American standards'. They are wound differently." Any mistakes and typos are mine. These are *not* exact quotes, but I wanted to make it clear what he said, and what I'm saying, thus the quote marks. (I didn't tape the conversation, but I took notes). Michael Breen From c8906822@wombat.newcastle.edu.au Mon Jul 11 12:01:55 1994 Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar From: c8906822@wombat.newcastle.edu.au Subject: Re: Truss Rod Adjustment Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 10:18:21 GMT In article <1994Jul5.191317.20953@midway.uchicago.edu>, apbasson@quads.uchicago.edu (Alex Basson) writes: > I know this has been covered many times already, but I keep forgeting, and > I want to be sure before I screw something up. I just took off the .09's I > had on my Strat and put on .11's. I know this will bow the neck due to > increased tension -- my question is: which way (clockwise or counter-clockwise) > due I turn the truss rod to counteract the bow? I have a '94 Strat, so the > truss rod adjustment is at the headstock, not the body, if that makes any > difference. > Thanks in advance. > > -- > Alex Basson > apbasson@midway.uchicago.edu > University of Chicago The following is straight from a Fender manual I have regarding truss rod setting's. I hope it helps. "To check the truss rod setting, tune the guitar to playing pitch. Install a capo at the first fret, and depress the 6th string at the fret where the neck joins the body. Using a feeler gauge, check the gap between the bottom of the 6th string and the top of the 8th fret. The recommended string clearance is approximately .10". If an adjustment is necessary, insert the wrench into the truss rod adjustment hold. Rotate it gently until you feel it engage in the hex socket. If the neck is too concave, turn the wrench clockwise. If it is too straight or convex, turn the wrench counterclockwise while periodically checking the gap with the feeler gauge. Continually re-check tuning for standard pitch." Having said that, personally, I found that when I went from .08's several years ago to .10's, I didn't have to change any setting's on my strat. The only thing I did have to do was add 2 extra tension springs from 3 to 5. Cheers, David..... From mikem@col.hp.com Thu Jan 26 10:42:33 1995 Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!caen!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hplextra!news.dtc.hp.com!col.hp.com!mikem From: mikem@col.hp.com (Mike McTigue) Newsgroups: alt.guitar Subject: Re: Comments on Fender's Lace Sensor Date: 25 Jan 1995 20:47:13 GMT Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division Lines: 13 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3g6dch$6s8@nonews.col.hp.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: rd6.col.hp.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] I did a side by side compare of a Strat with gold lace sensors versus by 73 Strat with stockers. The lace sensors were quiter, had more volume, and had more midrange. They sounded somewhere between most humbuckers I've played and the stock strat pickups. The stock pickups are much brighter, less output, and more noisey. My personal opinion were that they were good pickups, but don't expect to get the jangley bright sound that is so Fender. Just depends on the sound you want. MikeM