The Steel Guitar Forum

What are the pros and cons of the Lace pickup.
Both E9 and C6
Don

Don,
Just recently installed Alumitones on my two LeGrandes. They are great. a very small adjustments to the Trans TubeFex, and they are much quieter than humbuckers. Go here for pictures.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 7&start=75
Regards, Jay Thompson

pros: great tone, no buzz, look good.

cons: very hot pickup, I had to drastically alter my picking style and v-pedal technique to compensate.

Over all I love mine.

Love 'em. Nice clean powerful sound. Not dead quiet, but compared to single coils, hardly noticeable noise at wide open pedal with similar tone. Cons I know of: Not mount friendly on some guitars. Fabricated plates or alternate methods may be required. Also, can have clearance problems height wise.

Once these problems were solved, I'm very happy with mine.

Don

Pros: Low Impedance
High Output
Very wide and flat frequency response
Very light

Cons: Doesn't look like the traditional pickup ????
Produces a slightly different sound
on the 5,6,7 strings at 17th fret up (IMO)
May require mods to be mounted depending on guitar

Most pickups are actually refinements on an old idea - these are the closest thing to an actual new idea but they're still only one 'link in the chain'.
I use an Alumitone on a GFI and it works pretty well especially live playing. For recording the flat response trait makes it easy to EQ as required.
I find the Alumitone produces (I can only describe it as) a "pianoee" tone at the above mentioned area of the fretboard. It doesn't get a "ting a ling" sound
like a Truetone (single coil) but that is probably the guitar not the pickup.
I agree with Steve about altering your playing style, I know I had to. Also had to put more bend on the finger picks to reduce their attack and work on blocking more.
Some players will be put off by the look of them - that has already been discussed on the forum. New ideas tend to have acceptance difficulties in some areas of the steel guitar world as it's pretty "trad" I think (me included).

I guess I was lucky when I changed pick ups on my LeGrande's. Milling an 1/8 inch off the forward arm of the changer pillow blocks was necessary, but was not a difficult task, and accomplished without removing any pull rods. Once installed, slight adjustment to the "high" pot on the Trans TubeFex was all that was necessary to acheive the tone I was looking for. With the volume pedal full on, hum is minimal, less than Emmons 108n or Tone Aligner humbuckers. No change in picks or string attack was necessary here, nor adjustment in the pre or post gain controls. Apparently backing off the volume pedal was adequate. No longer looking for a better pick up. Found 'em. Regards, Jay Thompson

I have the Alumitones on both of my Rittenberry's
and love the nice clean sound with no noise or hum.

I switched from an E66. Now have a better tone and I think they look better - love the chrome, goes good with the look of a steel (vs a back plastic cover).

Hotter a bit on the output, and I had to mess around getting them installed...took a little thought process. Sounds even cleaner when using a Hilton pedal.