Lace pickups

Bill Duncan · From: Lenoir, North Carolina, USA

I saw a video of someone who does pickup rewinds and considers himself somewhat of a tone expert. He was giving an explanation of the workings of the Alumitone and explained it well. He commented that Lace are cheaply made pickups and that the Alumitone is extremely cheap to make and the profits to investments on it were great. He also said that he liked "noise" in his pickups and the Alumitone has none. I am not sure what sense that makes.

I know there are always folks ready to defame anything, and that is their right. I just installed an Alumitone and I like it. It is well made, good looking, very clean and sounds very good. I have also used other Lace pickups on guitars and like them as well. I have never considered Lace a cheap made or priced pickup in any sense of the word.

That is my rant and opinions. My right too.

I wonder what other folks opinion on Lace is?

ajm · From: Los Angeles

I'm not sure how much I can add to the discussion, but here goes.

This is from a 6 string perspective.

I have an older (2001?) Fender Clapton Strat that came stock at the time with the Lace Sensor Golds.
I played it for years and thought it sounded fine, but I'm probably not as picky as some other people. I expect a good sound and tone (whatever that means) and I also accept the fact that guitars can and do sound different.

FWIW I have never heard of the term "cheap" used to describe Lace pickups.

In addition to the Clapton Strat. I also have an old house with OLD wiring that has so much noise that you can probably see it glowing from the Space Station.

At one point I started to do more recording.
Keep in mind that the Lace Golds are still single coils and are noise REDUCED, not noise CANCELLING.
Therefore, the constant BZZZZ started getting on my nerves.

I did a lot of research on pickups and settled on the Dimarzio Areas. I am not sure technically if they are touted as noise "cancelling" or noise "reduced", but whatever.

When I went to buy them the store only had an Area 58 and an Area 61. They went in the N and B slots respectively.
So, for about a week, I had two Areas along with a Lace Gold in the M slot. Therefore, they were all sitting next to each other at the same time, allowing for instant comparisons.
I can tell you without a doubt that the Areas were WAY more quiet than the Lace.

Did the Laces ever sound "bad"? Not to my ears.
But for those with noise issues, this data may be of some help.

One more thing...........

People tend to mix up the terms "hum" and "noise".
They are not the same thing.
In my experience there are very few actual "hum" problems, and the thing that is usually the PITA is noise.

Marshall Woodall · From: New York, USA

Hey Bill, I will second your praise of the Lace Alumitone. I swapped out a BL705 in a Hudson PR10 that I recently purchased and it made a huge difference. The noise floor of the Lawrence pickup was on the edge of intolerable for a recording project I was working on. The Alumitone pickup was noticeably brighter on it’s own but really shines with a buffer at the output jack before a passive volume pedal. If you need absolute silence from your guitar’s electronics this is a great way to go.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I have had Alumitones in both my steels from new and I never think about them, which tells you something.
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Scott Denniston · From: Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA

I recently put two Alumitones on my D-12 Dekley. I was thrilled with the tone I got with LXR 16s but the Dekley string spacing is such that the pickup was way off on one end or the other with no way to really split the difference. The volume seemed uneven across the strings. Now with the Alumitone I've solved that problem AND the way it drops into my slightly modified Dekley cavities I can now adjust from the top. Very Happy

I need to work with it awhile and dial in my tone as it's quite different from the Lawrence. I like it though.

Jeff Highland · From: New South Wales, Australia

Yes I saw that video too and disagree with it. There is nothing cheap about the Lace Alumitone, it's just different.
I have one in the neck position on my Duesenberg.
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Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

I have Alumitones in almost all of my guitars and really like the tone. I have several other brands of pickups for my interchangeable MSA's but always come back to the Alumitone.
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Per Berner · From: Skovde, Sweden

Being cheap to manufacture and being "cheaply made" are two very different things, which the guy in the videos probably has got mixed up. Naturally, the Alumitones would be less expensive to build than a conventional pickup – but the development costs must have been quite high, with no off-the-shelf parts.

BTW, whether the Lace Gold Sensors in a strat are nosieless or not is not relevant to this discussion, the Alumitones are a totally different design.

Bill Duncan · From: Lenoir, North Carolina, USA

I like my new Alumitone so much I am going to order two more to replace the E66s on my D10. The Alumitone is much cleaner and clearer than the E66. Leaving amp settings the same the difference is day and night. The Alumitone has more output as well.

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