Can you save my STRAT?

[everglass]

I have a 1992 Fender Strat with Lace Sensor pick-ups as my "other" guitar. I do not like the sound of it much at all.

 

Can I change the pickups and give it a new life or is there no hope for it?

 

What pick ups are going to sound good.

 

My other guitars are a 62 strat re-issue (love it) and a 62 les-paul Custom. I want the 92 strat to have fairly quiet pick ups, but I want something with some VIBE. The lace sensors lack spunk!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Gabriel E.]

How do your two Strats compare when played acoustically? If the '92 sounds as good then there's hope. If it sounds dull and lifeless unplugged, no ampount of pickup swapping will help.

[TurboDog]

I've always found lace sensors to be uninspiring as well. Surely you can do a pickup change and get completely new sounds.

 

There are so many pickup options available to you. Seymour Duncan's website walks you thru all their pups and their tonal ranges. DiMarzio has a ton of pups too. It may cost you a little cash (maybe your local guitar shop has some used ones) but it's fun to play with and fairly easy to wire.

 

I have 2 classic sounding pups in the neck and middle position and a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge position.

[timrocker]

Everglass;

I'm not surprised to hear about your '92 Strat with Laces being a disappoint. I have a '91 that sounded similar. I changed out the Laces for a Fender DH-1 humbucker in the bridge and a pair of Fender singles in the other two slots. It was a huge step up. Fender's parts supplier sold me a pickguard with all the pickups and controls already mounted. They are called smartparts, are based in Chicago, and seemed very helpful when I dealt with them. Hope this helps.

[michael saulnier]

Kinman pickups are highly regarded as vintage sounding, but quiet.

 

http://www.kinman.com

 

and he's right there in AZ.

 

Check out the sound samples, or give him a call.

 

guitplayer

[Wickerman]

I've always been quite partial to DiMarzio Red Velvets.

[Gator Wing]

What guitplayer said. My guit teacher put a set in his Strat; sounds great!

[baronedo]

I am in the same exact position. I have a Strat Plus with Lace Sensor pups and hate them. I am going to replace them. I've done much research on this and here's what I recommend:

 

If you want quiet pickups, get a set of Kinman's. I am going to get the AVn Blues set as they are a little fatter, but still retain the Strat sound. The Kinmans pups are way better than other "quiet" stacked pickups such as the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage which are in reality stacked humbuckers. The problem with Stacked humbuckers is that you get too much compression which moves away from the Strat tone.

 

If you don't mind the noise, I recommend a calibrated set of Seymour Duncan SSL-5 single coils (they're vintage staggered single coils that are slightly hot and which will fatten your sound and retain the Strat tone).

 

I done my research and this is what I recommend.

[Binky_dup1]

I like the rio Grandes, and the Fender Texas Specials.