Thinking of ditching Lace Sensor's in my PlusDlx

[SurfsUp]

I own what (I can gather) is a fairly rare-ish first gen Strat Plus Deluxe in Graffiti Yellow. It's unmolested and all original, with Silver Silver Blue Lace Sensor pickups.

The Blue sounds great, but I simply cannot for the life of me, get the Silver's outta the mud bank and brighten up. I'd exhausted all my abilities. Pegging the EQs on my amp. I've a EQ pedal that honestly I haven't tried yet, but that's due to pure frustration.

So, there it hangs on my wall, like art. It plays great. Looks so cool, but sounds so dull.

I've tried different strings. Not much happening there.

So here's my predicament. Do I just leave it be, and play the other guitars I got and be happy, knowing that it's a "survivor" I mean, not that it matters an iota but according to Xhefri's Guitars it had that "Bob Body" too......ya ya lol....anyway.

Or do I slap a loaded pick guard in it and play the snot outta it?

Pics for pleasure:

 

[T Bone Slort]

Wow that's a beauty!
My 91 which I guess is a second gen has a Blue neck, Silver mid and Red bridge and
I love the tones from all 5 positions.
Perhaps that is an option.

 

[SurfsUp]

Wow that's a beauty!
My 91 which I guess is a second gen has a Blue neck, Silver mid and Red bridge and
I love the tones from all 5 positions.
Perhaps that is an option.

I also have a '93 with those Lace Sensor's. Truth be told, I replaced them recently with Tonerider Classic Blues, but I still have them. But that guitar has been a pickup prostitute for years now so I've no 'attachment" in keeping it original.

 

[therevyevot]

Or option 3: sell it to me and find something you like the sound of

 

[FireFunkRevival]

I have all gold. I'd suggest that. Sounds so good. Get those I there or even just one.

 

[Bladesg]

I’d swap loaded pickguards and play the thing.

 

[stylemessiah]

I had all Gold Laces in a Strat i sold to pay for a concrete slab when building a garage conversion into a studio to live in.... and to this day i still miss those pickups over all the others...even the Klein Epic's in my SRV Strat... and those were phenomenal

 

[Minerva]

I own what (I can gather) is a fairly rare-ish first gen Strat Plus Deluxe in Graffiti Yellow. It's unmolested and all original, with Silver Silver Blue Lace Sensor pickups.

The Blue sounds great, but I simply cannot for the life of me, get the Silver's outta the mud bank and brighten up. I'd exhausted all my abilities. Pegging the EQs on my amp. I've a EQ pedal that honestly I haven't tried yet, but that's due to pure frustration.

So, there it hangs on my wall, like art. It plays great. Looks so cool, but sounds so dull.

I've tried different strings. Not much happening there.

So here's my predicament. Do I just leave it be, and play the other guitars I got and be happy, knowing that it's a "survivor" I mean, not that it matters an iota but according to Xhefri's Guitars it had that "Bob Body" too......ya ya lol....anyway.

Or do I slap a loaded pick guard in it and play the snot outta it?

Pics for pleasure: View attachment 624851 View attachment 624852 View attachment 624853

Bruh,

Don’t underestimate how effective an EQ pedal can be. For years, I was disappointed in my Gibson SG tones. Swapped pickups twice each new set was expensive.
Thought that I needed new a speaker cab. Hardly helped. Swapped speakers. Sounded worse. Bought new Fender Strat and Jazzmaster. Definitely helped, but the tones were never quite right for me.
Finally broke down and tried an MXR ten band EQ pedal. Bought it about a year ago but never tried until this week. For all of my guitars, including my Strat, the tonal improvement was dramatic. I can finally hear my tones through delay effects! No more muddy tones!

The MXR ten band is about $150 new. Has surprising headroom, volume boost, and gain boost. Also has two output jacks. The six band pedal is $100 new. The BOSS GE-7 pedal is about $120 new. The fancy BOSS 200 series has programmable presets and stereo outputs for around $250. The Source Audio EQ2 has even more features for around $250.

All of the EQ pedals are less expensive and more effective tha swapping out pickups. Henceforth, I will only upgrade pickups if the stock ones are crap. EQ pedals offer the most bang for your buck.

Check YouTube for examples.

 

[Minerva]

Bruh,

Don’t underestimate how effective an EQ pedal can be. For years, I was disappointed in my Gibson SG tones. Swapped pickups twice each new set was expensive.
Thought that I needed new a speaker cab. Hardly helped. Swapped speakers. Sounded worse. Bought new Fender Strat and Jazzmaster. Definitely helped, but the tones were never quite right for me.
Finally broke down and tried an MXR ten band EQ pedal. Bought it about a year ago but never tried until this week. For all of my guitars, including my Strat, the tonal improvement was dramatic. I can finally hear my tones through delay effects! No more muddy tones!

The MXR ten band is about $150 new. Has surprising headroom, volume boost, and gain boost. Also has two output jacks. The six band pedal is $100 new. The BOSS GE-7 pedal is about $120 new. The fancy BOSS 200 series has programmable presets and stereo outputs for around $250. The Source Audio EQ2 has even more features for around $250.

All of the EQ pedals are less expensive and more effective tha swapping out pickups. Henceforth, I will only upgrade pickups if the stock ones are crap. EQ pedals offer the most bang for your buck.

Check YouTube for examples.

Also, my two new amps did help with mud tones. But the EQ pedal was the most effective, simplest, and least expensive solution. I plan on getting another for sculpting pre- and post-preamp. Maybe even a stereo EQ pedal for a stereo amp setup.

 

[albala]

That guitar was meant to be played, and Lace Sensors are not the most exciting pickups out there.

I have Strat Pluses with Areas, Duncan Classic stacks (older set from the '90s and also a newer set of STK4s), and a couple of others.

You could put Duncan SSLs or Fender 57/62s and they would sound way better than Laces

 

[jayoldschool]

I have a complete DG 20 EMG setup in my Plus. But it had the wrong pickups when I got it. I would have kept it stock if it still had the Laces. Your call, it's your guitar. But it's pretty nice, and pretty rare...

 

[GlockandRoll]

Keep the original guard and put build an HSS guard.
To me, nothing sounds better than a low-output PAF-sounding bridge humbucker paired with higher-output singles, like Texas specials. And a nickel cover looks great and helps the sound balance even better.
This is an example of the tone:


Here is my HSS partscaster built with a 23-year-old real flame MIM Fender neck and MJT body.

 

[Dick Blackmore]

I own a 1990 in Crimson Frost original owner. I would leave that pickgaurd intact and swap in a loaded pickgaurd. I put YJM's in mine and it sounds incredible.

 

[LeftCoast]

That's a work of art, as-is!

 

[BluesDudeWA]

Cool ! My first partcaster was graffiti yellow, dark rosewood board - I think I like the maple better for appearance. Fond memories. I like the idea of just getting another loaded pick guard. I've started putting quick connects on my wiring so I can swap back a pick guard at any time. I like the blue lace sensors, the red are okay, didn't care for the silver or gold. My personal favorites are the emerald and purple lace sensors. Maybe try those if you like Lace / noiseless (but be sure and keep the OEM ones.) There's some King Tone Bluebird J1 pickups available on Reverb. Excellent tone. House of Tone, Radioshop, Sliders, Vineham . . . skies the limit on trying something else as far as pickups go and get that guitar off the wall.

 

[khan]

You didn't mention anything about playing around with pickup height. A trick I've learned when I'm struggling with pickup tones, I raise the pickups until they're too high. Just go as high as you can go w/o the strings hitting the pickups when fretted high up on the neck. Then, play a little bit. Drop the pickup height a turn or two and play some more. See if you can find a better tone by adjusting pickup height. If you have't already done this, it's worth a try before getting more invasive. If nothing flies for you, then I would swap out with another loaded pickguard, as others suggested, You can always return it to stock later on should you choose to part with it.

 

[SurfsUp]

You didn't mention anything about playing around with pickup height. A trick I've learned when I'm struggling with pickup tones, I raise the pickups until they're too high. Just go as high as you can go w/o the strings hitting the pickups when fretted high up on the neck. Then, play a little bit. Drop the pickup height a turn or two and play some more. See if you can find a better tone by adjusting pickup height. If you have't already done this, it's worth a try before getting more invasive. If nothing flies for you, then I would swap out with another loaded pickguard, as others suggested, You can always return it to stock later on should you choose to part with it.

This and as @Minerva mentioned, and EQ......I've a Boss GE-7 doing nothing ATM. Gonna dust that off and seriously mess with pup heights this week.

Thank you all for the advice, that is what makes this place so great.
For now, at least ~ they live to see another day. I really do wanna love the sound as the guitar as a whole plays KILLER. It's a dream of a neck.

As for those who mentioned Gold Sensor's......I have those in my 1991 Clapton Strat, I do love them too!

Cheers

 

[6th Stringer]

I have always thought that unprocessed Lace Sensors sound flat and lifeless. I think the Purple ones are my favorite that I have heard so far. They are a P90 sound. I HATE the regular Blue ones. My 1993 Plus has triple Silver, and its sounds ok, but could be better.

 

[SurfsUp]

I have always thought that unprocessed Lace Sensors sound flat and lifeless. I think the Purple ones are my favorite that I have heard so far. They are a P90 sound. I HATE the regular Blue ones. My 1993 Plus has triple Silver, and its sounds ok, but could be better.
View attachment 625009

I actually don't mind the Blue. I did replace the B/S/R in my '93 PlDlx however. The Blue in the bridge of this yellow one is better than the Silvers that's for sure.

Nice rig you have there!

 

[Badscrew]

Lace Gold have no mud in them