ShortScale.org

honeyiscool wrote:I agree with that in theory, but also, a lot of players who play relatively clean will often stay in the same zip code of guitars. I think most players will make the guitar sound like themselves, but dislike guitars that somehow make that difficult.

I seem to remember you doing a review of the different lace sensor style pickups but I can't find it.

I don't really use them anymore. The only one I still use regularly is the Red one on my Bronco Bass, which I still love and would never change on that instrument.

I really liked Lace Sensors for a long time but I think I just kind of grew different tastes. For a long time, I didn't really gig all that much, and then once I started gigging, I think my tastes changed. If I still did a lot of DI recording, I'd probably love the Lace pickups a lot, but I tend to prefer other things now.

One day during a show, I was playing a Mustang with a pair of DiMarzio Area pickups and it just felt so good, just right, I felt like things just sounded more in there and more present. Going back to my Mustang with Lace Sensors, I kind of wanted a little extra. That's also when I realized that I can sort of fit the Fender Mustang covers on the DiMarzio Area covers to make them look more like a Mustang pickup (it's a tight fit, but it works enough). One of the reasons I always liked Lace was also because they looked more stock, and so I just decided, eh, whatever, and took my Lace pickups out of my white Mustang and put back in some Fender stock Mustang pickups. I ended up really liking them and that's what's in there now. That's also when I realized I don't really need noiseless all the time. On most of my Mustangs, I use both pickups at the same time, so even with real single coils, I rarely have hum, so I have another Mustang with Fralin Hot Blues in it, and that also sounds fantastic. My third Mustang is my only noiseless one and has the DiMarzio Area 61 + 67 combination, they're custom ordered to be flat poles underneath the Mustang pickup cover. All of them are wired with my favorite wiring mod and 250k volume pot, 500k tone pot, .022 uF cap.

That said, I can give you a quick overview.

Red is hottest. However, it doesn't really sound like a humbucker, it just sounds overwound. I'd imagine it's really good for distortion, but it's not for me. Love it as a bass pickup.

Blue is very nice. Works nicely in all positions.

Purple was my favorite bridge position pickup. Not that hot but combines well with others.

Silver was always my favorite neck pickup (I like a warm neck sound). Available in reverse winding for even less noise, and that's what I personally used in my favorite Mustang for a while.

Gold is the original and probably what people think of when they think of Lace but I find it a bit... boring, I guess.

Emerald is a fantastic classic sounding pickup. Combines magically with a bridge humbucker and sounded very good on my Kurt Cobain Mustang (which I don't have anymore).

Hot Gold is probably their best pickup for emulating a Fender sound. Hot Gold Hot Bridge is a juiced up version for those who want to match bridge output. I used to have a pair of these (regular Hot Golds) in my MG65, which was kind of a magical combo.

Chrome Domes are Sensors encased in chrome covers. They sounded like regular Sensors, but a bit worse.

They also made some Sensors with fake poles. They sounded exactly like Golds to me.

Thanks for all of that info. I might do a purple/silver set in one of my Mustangs.

And actually if you yanked a silver and purple set and want to unload them let me know. I for sure want to try them and getting used would be a less costly experiment.

Yeah thanks for the overview.

Johnny Alien wrote:And actually if you yanked a silver and purple set and want to unload them let me know. I for sure want to try them and getting used would be a less costly experiment.

Already sold a few months back. Sorry.