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Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:48 am

I'm about to do business with Nude Guitars, and was on the verge of deciding on a set of Bare Knuckle Stockholm HSP90's in the neck and bridge with an EGC humbucker in the middle. And then Lace Alumitones came into view. Anyone here have any experience with Bare Knuckle vs. Alumitone pickups? What is this current-instead-of-voltage driven thing I read on their website?
Bare Knuckle's Stockholm product page explicitly states being able to drive long chains of effects, but how do the Laces fare in this regard? Will Alumitones further bring out the aluminum tone of the Nude Guitar's neck or is this just a coinkidink in the name? :idk:

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:05 pm

This is relevant to my interests.
No good demos of alumitones anywhere, lots of old hearsay threads from like 2010 on various forums...
I know Ryan (Dr Scientist) loves his alumitones and gets some great heavy sounds.
I'll probably pick up BKPs just because I want to get pink and orange pickups.
:idk:

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Wed Nov 29, 2017 6:45 am

I have no idea about the other ones, but i have an alumitone in my bridge of my squire strat. I love it. But i don't think they are for everyone. I have a really strange setup that i love, it has the alumitone (it is a deathbucker, which i only ever use in the humbucker mode) in the bridge, and then lace golds in the middle and neck. I did this specifically because it gives me a complete range of sounds for recordings. The Alumitones IMO don't shine by themselves as much as they do when paired with overdrive/distortion (where the golds are kind of the opposite in a way). That isn't to say they aren't good by themselves, i am just saying that they love to have some heat on them or push your amp. They are GREAT for pairing with overdrive, fuzz, and whatever other distortion you want and depending on how you set the height, they can totally rip and destroy. The lace golds are super creaming and rich sounding, which is about the opposite of the alumitones which are hi-fi and defined. Like goroth said, when i bought mine it was a huge gamble for me because there is nothing but blues riffs for demos about these pickups (which isn't what i play). If i had to go back and make the same decision again, i would buy the lace pickups again in a heartbeat. Another plus about them besides their tone is that they are 100% silent. I mean, SILENT. If you care about recording and have a less than ideal setup, this aspect alone can really help out in more ways than i will type here.

Honestly, the only other pickups i am even remotely interested in trying at this point are the EGC humbuckers that you said you already have. If you have any other questions about the alumitones, feel free to ask. I don't know what type of rig you are using and what pedals you are using now, but i think that would also be a pretty big deciding point on what you would want to buy too. For real life recordings reference, i changed out and used the alumitones and golds specifically for this entire album -> https://aworldwonderedfull.bandcamp.com

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:50 pm

I'm actually pretty curious about this too. I've been thinking about getting alumitones for a bass I'm fretlesstizing.

Is the current thing that they vary current rather than voltage to make the signal?
Which doesn't make sense really now that I type that out since current and voltage will covary assuming a fixed impedance. And aren't they still picking up the sound using induction in copper wire around magnets?

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:36 pm

I don't have much to add other than I have a single-coil Alumitone in the neck position of my main guitar and it's perfect.

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Thu Nov 30, 2017 1:52 am

Betteroffshred is a fan I think?

Thanks for the thoughts Ibarakishi!

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Mon Dec 18, 2017 5:12 am

I have two Alumitone P90s in my Bass VI. Best pickups ever.

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Mon Dec 18, 2017 5:30 am

Have you had other pickups in the Bass VI before the Alumitones, and if yes, how do they compare?

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Mon Dec 18, 2017 7:22 am

oscillofuzz wrote:Have you had other pickups in the Bass VI before the Alumitones, and if yes, how do they compare?


I had Seymour Duncan P90s that had more output, but Alumitones have three times more clarity and definition, which is really important when you play a shortscale bass with a lot of OD, fuzz and other effects.

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Mon Dec 18, 2017 10:17 am

Bon Hoga wrote:which is really important when you play a shortscale bass with a lot of OD, fuzz and other effects.


Personally I left the stock pick ups in the Pawnshop Bass VI and like how raunchy the bridge humbucker is, and also dig the Jaguar single coil in the neck. But since I'm going custom with Nude everything is possible and I'm looking for the right pickup to pair with the alu neck-thru to get maximum resonance and chime from the aluminium.

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:27 am

I have a bridge alumitone on one of my telemasters and a couple alumitones on a bass.

Crazy good pickups. A very hifi lotsa lows clear highs sound.

Skully is a huge advocate for them too.

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:00 pm

oscillofuzz wrote:I'm about to do business with Nude Guitars, and was on the verge of deciding on a set of Bare Knuckle Stockholm HSP90's in the neck and bridge with an EGC humbucker in the middle. And then Lace Alumitones came into view. Anyone here have any experience with Bare Knuckle vs. Alumitone pickups? What is this current-instead-of-voltage driven thing I read on their website?
Bare Knuckle's Stockholm product page explicitly states being able to drive long chains of effects, but how do the Laces fare in this regard? Will Alumitones further bring out the aluminum tone of the Nude Guitar's neck or is this just a coinkidink in the name? :idk:


Hello! here Gila from Switzerland.
I have a Nude guitar with a set of BK Nailbombs (N+B): it's an amazing guitar!! Go for it!!!

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:03 pm

oscillofuzz wrote:
Bon Hoga wrote:which is really important when you play a shortscale bass with a lot of OD, fuzz and other effects.


Personally I left the stock pick ups in the Pawnshop Bass VI and like how raunchy the bridge humbucker is, and also dig the Jaguar single coil in the neck. But since I'm going custom with Nude everything is possible and I'm looking for the right pickup to pair with the alu neck-thru to get maximum resonance and chime from the aluminium.


I imagine Alumitones would shine in an alu-neck instrument. FWIW, the EGC guy praises them and installs them in his guitars regularly, I'd think he knows a thing or two about alu guitars.

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:46 am

Ultimately I have decided after discussing with Gabo from Nude to go with Bare Knuckle P90's in neck and bridge and humbucker in the middle position on my to-be-built Nude 30" baritone, as he frequently uses Bare Knuckle pickups in his guitars and is very satisfied with them.

I am also in talks with Anthony from Harvester and we are both curious about going with an Alumitone and a Curtis Novak Goldfoil, just haven't decided on the placement yet...

Re: Can someone school me on Lace Alumitone pickups?

Mon Dec 25, 2017 12:06 pm

after getting alumitones, you are just one step away from entering the Clang Gang.
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