Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

For help with setups and other technical issues.
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cdwillis
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Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by cdwillis » Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:48 am

I'm looking for some advice for anybody that has experience with Lace Sensors. I want to swap the stock single coils out of my Fender Player Mustang. I like the idea of the Lace Sensors due to the association with Smashing Pumpkins, even though I'm not trying to cop that exact tone, plus they'll look close to stock.

The stock pickups are low output at about 6.12 in the neck and 6.23 in the bridge. I'd like a little more output, a little more warmth in the bridge (but not dull), and less noise. Red bridge and blue neck seems like the classic combo, but I'm worried it'll be a little bit too much midrange and too warm. Purple and Emerald seem like the newer option. I've heard the emerald in the neck does a good Texas blues single coil sound so I'm anticipating liking it, but the Purple is kind of a toss up. Does anyone know how it compares to a Red?

I've listened to a couple YouTube demos, but you know how YouTube compression and laptop speakers/headphones do to the actual sound of a recording.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by Kent » Fri Aug 14, 2020 8:37 am

I’m a big fan of Lace Sensors. I first encountered them in my 1st year Eric Clapton Signature Strat. It has all Gold Laces. I used to own the Johnny Greenwood OG Tele Deluxe with the Dual Red Lace Sensors and the Blue in the neck. I’ve also played the Silver ones.

I’ve found that a lot of this ‘takes pedals well’ and similar nonsense to be largely white noise. However, I think that Lace Sensors pair very well with pedals and drive them quite nicely, perhaps partially being due the fact that they are rather low noise.

I found the Red Sensors to be a bit unidimensional to my liking. IIRC, it was too much midrange thrust.

If I were doing your project, I’d go for the more Strat-like pickups like the Gold, Silver, the Emerald that you mentioned and perhaps the Blue for the neck. It really depends upon you and I’d experiment. I would drop the tone control in stick in the 22dB boost from the Clapton Strat. It is available as a stock part from Fender and is a glorious thing.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by alexpigment » Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:25 pm

Kent wrote:
Fri Aug 14, 2020 8:37 am
I would drop the tone control in stick in the 22dB boost from the Clapton Strat. It is available as a stock part from Fender and is a glorious thing.
I had a 98 Fender Powerhouse strat, which was basically the MIM version of the Clapton but with the boost artificially limited to 12dB. The circuit boards are non-trivial size-wise and require a battery, so you're talking about a major routing job, and most likely impossible to fit under the Mustang pickguard. Don't get me wrong, I believe in dreaming big - this just may be too big of a dream ;)

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by krossfader » Sat Aug 15, 2020 12:15 am

I have an '89 Strat Plus with 2 silvers and a blue in the bridge. "Too warm" is not how I would characterize the blue but I have no experience with the red. Silver is a good all-arounder and I know most people like the gold. This sounds like a cool project.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by cdwillis » Sat Aug 15, 2020 11:37 am

I found a Purple and an Emerald on Reverb for the same price as the other more easily found ones, so I grabbed them. They're all pretty cheap so if I want to tweak things it'll be easy to swap in one of the others.

Here's a little chart I put together of the specs of the various Lace Sensors in case anyone comes across this searching for info.

Image

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by lunaticjaguar » Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:33 pm

i had a(light?) blue lace in the neck of a Mustang and I liked it quite nicely.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by cdwillis » Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:00 pm

Got them installed just a little bit ago.

Image


They're very quiet. The 60 cycle hum is gone. I'm honestly really impressed. I shielded the pickguard and parts of the cavities that weren't covered in shielding paint, so I'm sure that helped too.

They're a little warmer than the stock pickups with a little more output. Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. Maybe if I could instantly A/B them back and forth with a standard construction single I would notice a difference in the high end, but still sound like single coils to me. I need to look up what Lace recommends for the heights and tweak a little still.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by Ratafia » Mon Aug 24, 2020 7:30 am

If I remember correctly, they say you can place them nearly in contact with the strings due to the location of the magnetic fields, but I'd advise just trying out different positions until you're happy. I run Chrome Domes (a variety of gold sensors) in a strat and I have them fairly close, but not almost touching.



Edit: this is from their website:

For Optimal Tone: Use our suggested pickup heights. These measurements are good for any of our pickups. Start with these measurements and adjust height to preference.

String distance from the pickup, fretted at 21st fret:

High “E”:
-NECK: 1.5mm
-MID: 2.0mm
-BRIDGE: 1.0mm

String distance from the pickup, fretted at 21st fret:

Low “E”:
-Neck: 2.5mm
-Mid: 3.5mm
-Bridge: 2.0mm

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by tdksa90 » Wed Oct 14, 2020 12:47 pm

cdwillis wrote:
Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:00 pm
Got them installed just a little bit ago.

Image


They're very quiet. The 60 cycle hum is gone. I'm honestly really impressed. I shielded the pickguard and parts of the cavities that weren't covered in shielding paint, so I'm sure that helped too.

They're a little warmer than the stock pickups with a little more output. Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. Maybe if I could instantly A/B them back and forth with a standard construction single I would notice a difference in the high end, but still sound like single coils to me. I need to look up what Lace recommends for the heights and tweak a little still.
I'm curious how you like this combination a few months after installing them. I'm attracted to the Lace Sensor option. I currently own a Squier Classic Vibe Mustang with Novak Duo-Sonic/Mustang pickups. I dig them, but I'm looking for a little shimmer. So now I'm starting a DIY Mustang build and want to look at all my options.

I love Strat sounds and I wouldn't mind a little more output but don't want to lose high end either. Think Cocteau Twins with a little bit of twang, as opposed to Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, etc.

Judging from the descriptions on their website, I might like an Emerald in the neck and maybe a Burgandy in the bridge.
My Music: https://keithhanlon.bandcamp.com/

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by Johnnytheboy72 » Sun Oct 25, 2020 6:00 am

I bought a MIJ MG-65 Mustang, which came with the full lace sensor ensemble fitted by previous owner. Blue 12.8k in the bridge, and Silver 7.1k in the neck, and Red 14.5k still in the box! I thought about swapping Blue for Red, but in all honesty it works perfectly well as it is! It's more of a better balance between the two as is, and would probably be too much of a difference with Red in the bridge position. As is, the Silver is perfect In the neck. To get close to Corgans tones would be somewhat of an achievement, although its most definitely all in the fingers! I would highly recommend anyone to try lace, if they haven't already.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by cdwillis » Mon Oct 26, 2020 1:03 pm

tdksa90 wrote:
Wed Oct 14, 2020 12:47 pm
cdwillis wrote:
Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:00 pm
Got them installed just a little bit ago.

Image


They're very quiet. The 60 cycle hum is gone. I'm honestly really impressed. I shielded the pickguard and parts of the cavities that weren't covered in shielding paint, so I'm sure that helped too.

They're a little warmer than the stock pickups with a little more output. Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. Maybe if I could instantly A/B them back and forth with a standard construction single I would notice a difference in the high end, but still sound like single coils to me. I need to look up what Lace recommends for the heights and tweak a little still.
I'm curious how you like this combination a few months after installing them. I'm attracted to the Lace Sensor option. I currently own a Squier Classic Vibe Mustang with Novak Duo-Sonic/Mustang pickups. I dig them, but I'm looking for a little shimmer. So now I'm starting a DIY Mustang build and want to look at all my options.

I love Strat sounds and I wouldn't mind a little more output but don't want to lose high end either. Think Cocteau Twins with a little bit of twang, as opposed to Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, etc.

Judging from the descriptions on their website, I might like an Emerald in the neck and maybe a Burgandy in the bridge.
I still dig it. It's my go to guitar and I haven't thought about changing the pickups again. With a fresh set of strings it's spanky, but right now it's mellowed out a bit from having the same set on for a bit. The reason I went with the lower output Laces was because I thought with the Red/Blue or Red/Silver I'd lose the single coil sound. Maybe down the road I'll try those once I get another mustang, but these are staying in this one.

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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by HNB » Mon Oct 26, 2020 1:09 pm

Lace Gold have a very traditional strat sound to them. They are my favorite Lace. I have red and blue ones also, but gold is my personal favorite. :)
Christopher
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Re: Lace Sensor Red/Blue or Purple/Emerald for Player Mustang

Post by tdksa90 » Mon Nov 02, 2020 3:58 pm

cdwillis wrote:
Mon Oct 26, 2020 1:03 pm
I still dig it. It's my go to guitar and I haven't thought about changing the pickups again. With a fresh set of strings it's spanky, but right now it's mellowed out a bit from having the same set on for a bit. The reason I went with the lower output Laces was because I thought with the Red/Blue or Red/Silver I'd lose the single coil sound. Maybe down the road I'll try those once I get another mustang, but these are staying in this one.
I spoke to Lace today, and they recommended that I try the Burgundy in the bridge position instead of Purple. The Purple would probably be too hot for my needs... glad I asked because I almost changed my mind and ordered the Purple! :)
My Music: https://keithhanlon.bandcamp.com/

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