Lace Music Products Lace Sensor Light Blue

This is technically a single coil pickup, but it uses 32 smaller magnets to accomplish little to no hum depending on the atmosphere in which one is playing. The technical specs. are:

Resistance: 8.0k
Peack Frequency: 2984
Inductance: 8.0 henries

Guitar: Fender Limited Edition Koa Stratocaster (Korean Made)
Position(s): Neck
Replacing: Seymour Duncan Staggered APS-1n
Other Pickups: Lace Sensor Burgundy (bridge), Lace Sensor Gold (middle).

Artists using this pickup: no one is listed on the site. It doesn't matter to me at all, anyway. If it sounds good, it sounds good.

Reason for changing pickup(s): The APS-1 pickups are suprisingly loud for being "hum-canceling," and were very harsh and shrill. I was looking for a much smoother, warmer, and fatter neck pickup, and after doing a bit of research, I found that the Light Blue would be perfect. So, I put it in, adjusted it, and was blown away. It's about as fat as a P-90, but with a bit more clarity, unless the tone knob is rolled down. Perfect for a nice jazzy blues, screaming blues, progressive rock, and even some standard rock. Combined with the Gold it produces a very nice, extremely clean Strat sound. Overall this is a great pickup if you play any genre except loud, punishing rock, or want a edgier sound.

The output is much higher than the APS-1 pickups, and definitely moreso than standard Strat pickups. I'm running this through an Orange 30 watt combo, and it sounds phenomenal. I don't use many effects, but when I do, it's an EH Double Muff (sometimes you've got to be heavy), or a condenser. The pickup is pretty tonally even, maybe leaning a bit towards being bassy. It's only muddy when it's ran through mud.

As for using it in the bridge, I suppose it would work if you wanted a great jazz Strat, but I was looking for a prog., jazzy blues, and early doom guitar.

I've had this current setup in the guitar for about 3 months now, and I keep finding new sounds, and all of them are usable. The light blue is a great pickup, and I would recommend highly to anyone interested in the type of sound I described.

Pickup features: Single coil
Impedence or other specs: 8K

Model of guitar or bass: Parts Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Lace Holy Grail
Other pickups on guitar: Lace sensor Silver (middle), Lace Sensor Burgundy (bridge)
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Jazz, blues, rock, country
Reason for pickup change: Holy Grails had too many performance issues related to excessively strong magnets.

Perceived output level: Hotter than standard stock, less than humbucker
Tone: Very well balanced, warm but with good highs
Sonic evaluation: Parts Strat w/ Warmoth neck, basswood body. These pups have sounded fabulous in every amp I've tried. Can't make 'em sound bad!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Perfect for me. Exactly what I was looking for.

Comments: These are keepers. Great sound, low noise, high output, and no performance issues due to pole pieces (loss of sustain, uneven volume string to string, loss of volume when bending notes, etc). This Light Blue is a welcome addition to the Sensor line. It's a bit hotter and warmer sounding than the Hot Gold, but it still has bite. Think David Gilmore's tone on his solo on "The Wall". Great match with a Silver middle for quack position. The Burgundy in the bridge is also a perfect match for the Light Blue and the Silver. The Burgundy has a great Tele bite and growl, and also has wonderful quack with the Silver. I could not be happier.

Pickup features: Passive single coil w/radiant magnetic field barrier
Impedence or other specs: 8.0k

Model of guitar or bass: '99 Fender Deluxe Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Fender Vintage Noiseless
Other pickups on guitar: Lace Gold (mid) and Lace Burgandy (bridge)
Artists using this pickup: Don't know. Love to find out.
You musical style(s): Blues-Rock, Rockin' Blues, whatever.
Reason for pickup change: The Fender pickups had to go. Dull, lifeless, not good. Needed a noiseless pickup setup to replace the Fenders. Tried SD Hot Rails, Lawrence L-250s, full-sized humbuckers and was never satisfied. I wanted a real single-coil sound but noiseless so I could use this guitar in a computer-based recording environment.

Perceived output level: Louder than a typical single-coil, but not so loud or distorted as to make you believe you're using a full sized or dual-rail pickup. The increace in volume is percieved as more "push" rather than a harsh overdrive. Very much like a P-90 as Lace advertises, but with a tad more high-end shimmer.
Tone: I'd say this PU sounds like a typical loud single coil in the neck position but without much of the noise. Definately much more single-coil like than the regular Lace Blue (Which is also a very good PU, btw).
Sonic evaluation: I use all kinds of amps, effects and processors. I use all kinds of sounds, from super-clean solid state through Fender tube clean sounds to high-gain Mesa sounds. I generally use this guitar through a Yamaha DG Stomp directly into a board for recording purposes. This pickup works very well with live and studio environment when you can't have any noise.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This PU could be used in just about any musical situation I can think of. It is very versitle, and loud enough to cut through a busy mix. It will mimmic Blackmore, Vaughn, Hendrix, Trower and Gilmore sounds with no problem whatsoever. And with amost no noise! Neat.

Comments: I am really liking this guitar with this Lace Burgandy - Gold - Lt. Blue set in it. The more I use this set, the more it grows on me. I have yet to use it live, but if the sound I'm getting in rehearsals is any indication, these PUs will sound great. I wired this set using a Megaswitch E-model from StewMac.com. This switch gives you all of the typical 5-way Strat sounds, with the exception of position 3 which combines the bridge and neck PUs togeter in series, like a Tele. That is a very usefull setup, absolutley. Also, the radial magnetic field of Lace PUs do not exibit the usual polarity problems you would have to deal with when wiring up single coils. No need to worry about making sure your middle PU is Reverse Wound Reverse Polarity from your neck and bridge PU as you normally would. Just plug 'n' play, as it were! Yes, I would buy these PUs again. I think however I will try a set of Hot Golds for another Strat. I want to see what all of the fuss is about those PUs.

Pickup features: single coil, passive, noise reducing
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Mexican Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: blue fender lace sensor
Other pickups on guitar: hot gold, burgundy lace sensor
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): punk, rock, classical (weird, I know), blues, jazz
Reason for pickup change: The blue lace sensor was too muddy and had no highs whatsoever.

Perceived output level: Has a bit less output than the blue lace sensor, but actually has high-end! Sounds much clearer and more defined, but there's still some muddiness.
Tone: This is a very balanced pickup, neither bass or mids or treble are overpowering. A small hint of mud, nice smokey blues sound.
Sonic evaluation: I'm playing through a fender blues junior.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This pickup is good for jazz, blues, classical music, maybe even some darker country.

Comments: Very nice sounding pickup with a soft punch. Is mellow but with nice soft highs. Sounds decent with overdrive as well.