Fender Gold Strat Lace Sensor

Passive single coil

I??ve bought an used, fully equipped pickguard from an older EC signature strat with these Golds in it (all positions), tbx and mid boost. I decided to build a versatile modern strat around that pickguard and I think the mission was completed succesfully. Alder body + RW board + active mid-boost + these Golds = IMO great all-purpose axe.

These Golds certainly do not sound like vintage strat single coils - I can say it honestly, because I am a lucky owner of a killer-sounding John Mayer strat with true single coils, which, of course, sounds truly vintage (see my review for that guitar). With the same distance from the strings, the Golds are noticeably hotter than the Mayer??s Big Dippers (Texas Special clones). Both guitars are made of lightweight alder, with maple neck/rosewood board, so the comparison is pretty fair, IMO. Golds tend to be (to my own surprise) much brighter than the dippers, and more balanced at the same time, but they still DO sound warm and they have great sustain. Dippers, on the other side, deliver much more vintage "dirt" and "vibe", you can feel that "fret mess" happening, but compared to the Gold-equipped guitar, the sustain is very short, almost like a banjo :-) Coupled with the mid-boost, the Golds are truly versatile. With the boost rolled off, you have gorgeous modern strat sound, with the boost engaged, you can either slam your amp??s front end to the natural overdrive, or, with true clean amp setting, you can succesfully mimic a semihollow jazzy 335-type sound (yeah, I know it, being a long time semihollow Gibson player). Golds, being rather neutral in response, allow you to do all these tricks with ease. And all this with minimal hum, considering these are true single coils.

Thinking of versatile modern all-purpose strat project, these Golds were the first choice for me. I have played several older Claptons and some Strats-plus from the nineties, so I knew what to expect from them. I would not recommend them to anyone trying to make his/her strat/tele/whatever sound vintage - in this case they simply do not deliver. On the other side, having tested GL Z-coils, Bill Lawrence??s L-200s and other noiseless pickups intended for strat use, I must say the Laces are the winner. Although not really noiseless, they can still do the strat thing very well. Lawrences are pretty good high quality pickups, but IMO they lack that "bell" and "quack", and Z-coils are more like sterile ear-piercing kind of thing, good for distortion, but a bit lacking in the clean department. Golds cannot do that vintage "mojo" thing (that??s why we have our vintage strats in our arsenal :-)), but at the gig where you are asked to play everything from jazz to hard rock with minimum of hum, the Golds deliver the goods. Oh, and they look cool, at least for me :-)

Pickup features: A classic 50's Style single coil sound with a classy bell
Impedance or other specs: Resistance; Resistance: 5.8k, Inductance: 2.4 henries, Peak Frequency: 3600 Hz

Model of guitar or bass: 96 Fender Deluxe Strat Plus
Position: Neck & Mid
Pickup being replaced: Silver & Blue Fender Lace Sensor
Other pickups on guitar: Moved Silver to Bridge position
Artists using this pickup: Not Important
You musical style(s): Modern Praise & Worship, Rock & Blues
Reason for pickup change: Guitar came with Red/Silver/Blue FLS PUs. Red & Blue were way to humbucker like and wanted the traditional Strat single coil sound but without the 60 cycle hum.

Perceived output level: 5.9k output and tone very similar output as regular 50's poll-piece single coils.
Tone: Great tone, works well with both tube & SS Amps and FX.
Sonic evaluation: Very well balanced with excellent tone This is your classic Strat sound with little or no noise. Neck PU has great bluesy tone. Great quack on position 4.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play modern worship music and rock & blues for which it is very well suited. Great for rock & blues. Definitely not for metal and shredder guitar.

Comments:
My Deluxe Strat Plus came with Red/Silver/Blue FLS and the Red & Blue were too humbucker like for me. The Red is more like an over wound Humbucker great for massive distortion while the Blue is more of a 57 humbucker leaning toward a jazz sound. I moved the Silver FLS to the Bridge and added two Gold FLS in the Neck/Mid positions. Now the tone is very similar to the CS54 Single Coils but without the hum. These are not totally noiseless but the overall hum is super-reduced without taking the life out of the pickups. Lace Sensors are true single coils unlike the Holy Grails, SCN, Noiseless, Kinmans, etc. which are all dual coils. I also did the TBX mod listed on the Blue Guitar website: http--www.blueguitar.org-new-schem-_gtr-tbx-mods_and_details.pdf. I highly recommend this simple and inexpensive mod as it replaces the 82k tone sucking series resistor to 120k parallel which allows the TBX to work flawlessly with passive pickups from 0 to 10. Now the guitar sounds incredible. This is how your Strat Plus is supposed to sound.

"A classic 50's Style single coil sound with a classy bell."


Resistance: 5.8k, Inductance: 2.4 henries, Peak Frequency: 3600 Hz

'96 Fender Deluxe Strat Plus

Neck & Mid

Silver & Blue FLS

Moved Silver to Bridge position

Not important

Guitar came with Red/Silver/Blue FLS PUs. Red & Blue were way to humbucker like and wanted the traditional Strat single coil sound but without the 60 cylcle hum.

5.9k output and tone very similar output as regular 50's poll-piece single coils.

Works well with tube & SS amps and FX.

Very well balanced with excellent tone This is your classic Strat sound with litte or no noise. Great quack on pos 4.

Great for modern worship music and rock & blues.

Not good for metal or shredder guitar.

My Deluxe Strat Plus came with Red/Silver/Blue FLS and the Red & Blue were too humbucker for me. The Red is more like an over wound Humbucker great for massive distortion while the Blue is more of a ???57 humbucker leaning toward a jazz sound. I moved the Silver FLS to the Bridge and added two Gold FLS in the Neck/Mid positions. The tone is very similar to the CS54???s but without the hum. These are not totally noiseless but the overall hum is super-reduced without taking the life out of the pickups. I also did the TBX mod listed on the Blue Guitar website: http--www.blueguitar.org-new-schem-_gtr-tbx-mods_and_details.pdf. This changes the 82k series resistor to 120k series parallel and allows the TBX to work flawlessly with passive pickups. Now this guitar sounds incredible. This is how your Strat Plus should sound. - See my review for the Silver FLS.

Single coil, passive.
46$ (Can) new from EBAY
Resistance is 5.8 K.
Peak Frequency: 3600
Inductance: 2.4 henries
White cover

Mexican Fender Standard Strat, rosewood fretboard.
Installed Gold Sensor in the neck position.
Replacing stock Fender single coil.

Middle is stock for now. (Soon to be Silver Lace)
Bridge is Seymore Duncan Hot Rails (Soon to be Red Lace)

A few years ago I played a beautiful American Standard that was outfitted with Gold, Silver and Red Lace Sensors. The sound has stuck with me and I always wanted these pickups for my Strat.

Output is close to stock pickup, but I would say it is quieter than the stock. This pickup is much more balanced and articulate. It is a very laid back, smooth pickup to me, but still will respond well to you when you drive it harder. I like this.

Amp is Peavy Ultra 112, which is a 6l6(Sovtek) 3 channel tube amp with 12AX7(Groovetube) preamp, 60 watts. Only effect box is a Boss GE-7 7 band equalizer. On the clean side with all settings at 5 and flat band this pickup has a beautiful tone. Each string has equal presence and is full with a slightly nuanced feel. This is why I call it laid back. This may be due to some compression of the sound but not in the way an active pickup is compressed. With the amp bright switch pressed it becomes a very bright pickup with spank, but not a particularly overly dramatic bright like a traditional Strat.

Pulling a slight bit of bass and highs and adding a bit of mids on the equalizer brings out an excellent clean rhythm tone. This pickup in the neck reponds well to some mids, perhaps in my case due to the rosewood fret board balancing out the brightness. It would be interesting to try with a maple fretboard.

Pumping the preamp on the equalizer adds a bit of grit to the sound but this pickup does not overdrive the tone like a humbucker or active would.

Going to the amps lead and crunch channels the pickup again responds well to added mids. I find this Peavy amp has pronounced mids in the Lead channel and with this pickup and some gain it gives a round sound. Not round like a humbucker but its a smooth soloing sound that sustains beautifully and gives a colored attachment when moving between notes. I give it a 9 as it is a bit quiet though volume wise so it might take some boosting etc to get your tone out in front of a band.

I would definately buy it again, and if I ever buy another Strat it will be a maple fretboard to see how this pickup responds to that.

I also own a Samick Formula FA2(tele) and an Ibanez RG321(string thru with EMG 89 and 81). I am building a Jackson Dinky H-S-S (maple fretboard).

I have been playing near 10 years, I love blues and classic rock all the way to metal styles as well. This pickup is a bluesy and classic sounding pickup but it does have a different feel from a tradtitional Strat sound (if there is such a thing!) I can't wait to pair it with the Silver and Red. As always amps, effects and different styles and situations will change the way you percieve the sound of a particular item. Give this one a try like I did, I fell in love with the sound and it works well for me.

Pickup features: passive "single coil"
Impedence or other specs: 5.8k resistance, peak frequency of 3600 and 2.4 induction

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Standard Fat Strat
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: stock pickup
Other pickups on guitar: Fender Lace Sensor Silver (neck position), Fender stock humbucker (bridge position)
Artists using this pickup: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy
You musical style(s): you name it
Reason for pickup change: Stock neck and middle pickups very unsatisfactory.

Perceived output level: Warmer than most, but not extremely hot
Tone: Clear, crisp, precise, clean but warm.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Vox Valvetronix amp currently. The original neck and bridge pickups in the (Mexico-made) Standard Fat Strat (now for some reason called the HSS) were dreadful. Strangely enough, the bridge humbucker is quite good, but the neck and middle pickups were utterly terrible - noisy and flat-sounding. The guitar didn't sound like a Strat. I replaced the neck pickup with a Silver Lace Sensor, which made a 100% improvement in the sound. A friend gave me a box of parts recently which included a Gold Lace Sensor, and I replaced the last stock pickup in the middle position with the Gold Lace Sensor. The difference was again amazing. The Gold Lace Sensor is clear, crisp and ringing, but there is also a warmth that is very rewarding to the ear. It also works well in the 2 and 4 positions on the 5 way switch, providing authentic Richard Thompson/Mark Knopfler "out of phase" tones. I am very pleased with the sound. As with the Silver Lace Sensor, the sound it provides is almost an idealized Strat sound. The Gold is not as "round" a sound as the Silver but this works well in the middle position. After I put it in, I found myself playing leads with the middle position pickup, something I have seldom done even with the other Strats I have owned. I definitely like these Lace Sensors.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mostly my own music, which is influenced by Richard Thompson, Velvets, Robyn Hitchcock, Kevin Ayers, Syd Barrett and other unknown weirdos from Britain (Ghod bless 'em all). The pickup might be too bright for the bridge position in a standard strat but otherwise I can't see why it wouldn't work all over the Strat.

Comments: This pickup is actually a few years old; the friend that gave it to me used it a few times and then removed it. I would certainly buy another one if something happened, although I can't see anything going wrong. I don't hate anything about it. It has a clear, clean sound that definitely has a vintage feel to it - without the 60-cycle hum. I chose the Lace Sensors originally because I was looking for something without the hum/buzz, and I had heard and read good reports on the pickup. The Gold Sensor lacks nothing, and I am quite satisfied with its sound in the middle position. Originally I was not all that pleased with the Mexican Standard Fat Strat but I find as I have replaced the front and middle pickups, it has become one of my favorite guitars. It's obvious that on the Mexi Standard Strats, they're cutting costs in the pickup department. If you have one of these guitars and are dissatisfied with the sound, drop these in it and you may find yourself quite pleased. I know I am.

Pickup features: single coil
Impedence or other specs: about 7 Kohm

Model of guitar or bass: Fender stratocaster Mexico
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Texas Specials in three positions
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Don't mind don't know
You musical style(s): Blues Bluesrock
Reason for pickup change: Wanted more pressure, sustain and fuller sound with no earpicking hights in it

Perceived output level: more than texas specials with much more pressure!
Tone: very balanced
Sonic evaluation: Fender strat Mexico then a POD2.0 and as amplifier a straight PA amp. with a 4" speaker line-array (ala Bose PAS)

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Blues Bluesrock suitable for all the pos.

Comments: I bought my guitar back in ?96. I wanted to play blues and after a study of reviews on the net I decided to put a set of Texas Specials in my guitar. So I played all these years with them. But all that time a few things were not so satisfying. The three highest strings didn?t sound so well. A bit harsh and little sustain and above the 12?th fret there was no sustain at all. The solo?s dropped dead and didn?t come throught the bandmix. The lower strings sounded pretty good but with a high frequency part in it that made the sound a bit aggresive. But I?ve learned to live with that and the high frequency parts,which I didn?t like, I filtered them out whith a notch filter. In the band, playing through my Line6 POD and several sort of amps, the sound was allways from far behind me. A kind of background guitarplaying. When I want to play a solo, I had to put the volume so loud that I couldn?t stand it. I allways put the blame on myself and the middle-quality guitar I have. Why I?m telling this. Because I accidentical played on a Fender strat Plus equiped with Lace Gold pickups in our rehearsalroom. I plugged the guitar in my POD and played a little. The sound jumped out of the amp. With high pressure. I coldn?t believe my ears (and the other bandmembers too). This was not backgroundguitarplaying anymore, this kicks a....! I prompt bought these pickups and put them in my strat MIM and whooaa, there was the pressure , the smack in your face sound I was looking for. The sound is wonderful deep, round and clean whith a great sustain (NO stringpull!!! And almost NO HUMMM). My guitar came to live with beautiful sustain, even clean, above the 12?th frett and higher. The lower register is warm full etc. You can play SRV, JH, Hank B M etc etc with it. They do have the glassy bellsounds that made Fender famous. Some say they are steriel and plastic sounding, but I think they produce the sound, in a very accurate way, that YOU make with YOUR fingers. This is a fantastic piece of equipment, with very good defenition and pressure. The clean sounds are a joy to hear and overdrive sounds are to die for, great singing sustain. I put at the neck and middle a Lace Gold and at the bridge a Lace Silver. The in-between sounds (2 and 4) have the beautiful quack in it and I finally can USE the bridge element. Sounds very good and no earpicking hights anymore! Cuts beautiful through the mix of the band. I?m very glad with these pickups and ordered three more for my backup-guitar (see a review on Collins). I?ve tried them straight in a Vox solid state, a Fender Hybride and the results were the same. I sold my all tube Fender(almost broken back!) so I cannot tell if its the same, but I think it will be
.Highly recomended!

Pickup features: singe coil, passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Mexican Strat
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: red lace sensor - bridge, blue lace sensor - neck
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): punk, rock, classical (weird, I know), blues
Reason for pickup change: Stock pickups sounded bad, hummed a lot too

Perceived output level:
Tone: nicely balanced, I especially like the highs, really does sound "bell-like"
Sonic evaluation: I play a Strat through some old Fender Sidekick Reverbs. I usually use the middle setting for clean stuff. Sounds excellent. Although, the pickup sounds a little weak compared to the blue and red lace sensors. Not a big fan of using this pickup distorted, gets too muddy for my taste.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I'd recommend this pickup for any music that requires a clean setting, and maybe a little overdrive.

Comments: If it were destroyed, I'd try out the lace sensor Hot Golds, supposedly they sound like the original golds but have more presence due to increased mids. I've used this pickup for the past 6 or 7 years, and it really hasn't disappointed me that much, if at all. Great value.

Pickup features: single coil, passive
Impedence or other specs: ??

Model of guitar or bass: Squier Fat Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: Seymor Duncan SH-8 humbucker on bridge, fender silver lace in middle
Artists using this pickup: claptons the only one im certain of
You musical style(s): some punk, alternative, blues, rock n roll
Reason for pickup change: dissatisfied with previous pickups, littlest possible output with no clarity.

Perceived output level: not that hot, though a fair bit hotter than the stock pickups
Tone: kinda trebly, but that can be changed slightly. but i dont know why you'd change it, sounds great
Sonic evaluation: squier strat into a marshall JCM 800 cut in half. boss overdrive and distortion w/ Vox wah-wah. in process of building own amp with my uncle. gonna be HUUUUUGE

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: suits the blues and old rock well at the neck pos. for punk and modern distortion, its not that flash, does ok under mild overdrive or a blues driver.

Comments: if stolen, i may look around a bit, i kinda rushed into buying it and only bought it coz i knew the tone and knew it was cheapish. but i've already been looking around and its probably the best thing around for my style of playing. ive been playing for 4 years and i own a small 12-watt practice amp, a half made amp, marshall valve amp, old samick guitar thats sounds not half bad with the right pickups and my squier. afew pedals, wah, dist., o.d.
ive compared it to some emg stuff thats a little bit more pricey, but this ones right up there and in my opinion better. fender make quality everything. i wish it had a free rocket ship with it, coz thats all that could make it better. im quite satisfied, it does its job, but not much else. not many products qualify for a 10. im a tough customer, but if this pickup were a bit more versatile, but still kept its sound, it would get one!

Pickup features: Passive single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender '68 re-issue MIJ Lefty
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Fender Vintage Toneless uh Noiseless
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Clapton
You musical style(s): Classic rock and blues
Reason for pickup change: I made the mistake of replacing the original bogus pickups with the equally bogus noiseless pickups. The vintage noiseless pickup is simply weak and has no character. I am far more pleased with the Lace sensors. I am not looking to emulate anybody else's tone, so I don't worry if I can't sound exactly like Stevie Ray or anyone else for that matter with these pickups. For me, they provide the warmth, the punch and the clarity that I found lacking in the Vintage Toneless pickups.

Perceived output level: To me, these have noticeably more output than the noiseless.
Tone: warm and sparkling. great all around tone.
Sonic evaluation: '68 lefty re-issue strat into a Hot Rod Deluxe with a celestion vintage 30, budda wah, morley emerald echo, fulltone '70 pedal, Boss CE2, Korg 105OD. Everything sounds better with these pickups. My sound is so more defined, cutting,etc. A vast improvement.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These are perfect for the classic rock and blues I play.

Comments: I've been playing for 14 years now, and I finally have the strat tone I've been seeking. I can't believe that Fender has adopted those vintage toneless pieces of crap as their standard pickup. They simply have no tone when compared to the lace sensor.

Pickup features: Passive, single-coil, transducer (i think) pickup
Impedence or other specs: ??

Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock pickups, also replaced tone controls with TBX and EMG-SPC
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Clapton !!
You musical style(s): "Classic Rock" (Pink Floyd, The Who)
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a crystal-like tone and didn't have the money for EMG-SA's !

Perceived output level: Slightly hotter than stock pickups, MUCH brighter
Tone: fairly balanced, has enough treble to cut through the mix
Sonic evaluation: Using my friends HIWATT (Oh yeah) and my Marshall DSL50 it sounds VERY Floyd and Clapton

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Not good for metal/thrash or anything too heavy. It does distortion but could be better

Comments: The people who reviewed this and said "they sounded like mosquito's on drugs" and "doesn't matter what your music style is, they sound crap" wouldn't know good tone if it raped their wives and stole their cattle. I've been playing 10 years and work in a recording studio (i have good ears). These are some of the best pickups for the price. If they were stolen, i'd be pissed about the guitar being stolen too. I'd collect the insurance and buy the EMG-DG20 system. I'm giving it a 9 'cos theyr'e a bit quiet, i should get a preamp and then it'd be a 10