After reading many, many reviews on Lace Sensors here, on various guitar forums, and specific music supplier sites as well as listening to a bunch of video reviews and demos, I was torn. It seems like people are usually split down the middle with either very positive or negative opinions on these pickups. With hesitation, I decided to purchase these Hot Golds and try them out. I am so glad that I did.My gear/application: I play in an event/wedding band in Florida with a MIM Strat that has slowly turned into a Frankenstrat. The frontman of the band plays a PRS with massive humbuckers. We started to incorportate the strat to get different tones as we play a variety of music, but it just couldn't hold its own against the PRS. It used to sound like a toy next to the other guitar. (I was using MIM stock pickups previously). After playing an outdoor gig the previous week, my strings had corroded quite a bit in the humidity. For the sake of testing the pickups, I left the gross strings on after I installed the Hot Golds. All other settings on my pedalboard and the PA were left the same.My experience: These pickups were the single best thing that I ever did to my guitar. They completely transformed the sound. My strat went from sounding thin and mediocre to a real instrument with depth, color, and vibrancy. It really is like playing a whole different instrument. Most importantly to me, the tone from these Hot Golds makes me want to pick up the guitar and play all the time. I am constantly impressed by the amazing range of sound in the different pickup positions and keep finding new sweet spots for various types of music. The previous stock pickups were so unresponsive that I just played everything in the neck position and hoped for the best. With the Hot Golds, I am finding spots within songs to switch positions to get the colors and crunch that is needed. These pickups are just so versatile. My sustain has tripled (at least). I also don't have much use for my noise gate anymore. These pickups are crazy quiet. I used to have my noise gate turned to ten o'clock to kill the single-coil hum, but I'm not sure that I need it at all with the Hot Golds. I played a show last night and was able to turn on a tube screamer and an overdrive in tandem without getting any hum or hiss.Clean Tones: I just can't get over the clarity of these Hot Golds. The strat now has crystal tones that are lush and not brittle. The neck position is really smooth and mellow. If anything, it's a little too subdued. The middle position is actually my favorite - something I didn't expect at all. It's incredibly spanky and has that classic strat sound. It's also really responsive. Nuances in my playing and tone shine through with these pickups. The bridge position has a lot of bite. It's also spanky, but there's a layer of metallic cut that is added when playing clean. All positions work wonderfully with the clean effects that I'm using, in particular my phaser and wah.Dirty tones: There's actually crunch! My previous pickups sounded so mild compared to this. I play with an Ibanez Tube Screamer for solos, and with the Hot Golds, they sound massive. As mentioned before, the sustain is awesome. The neck position is really smooth with a slow burn. The middle is still really spanky, but in a good way. Using the bridge position with overdrive sounds really classic and punchy. The guitar cuts through the mix nicely and now can hold its own with the other instruments. Oddly, I'm finding that palm muting and really chugging tunes do best with the neck position and some distortion. All in all, these Hot Golds work equally well clean and with distortion.Response to most reviewers: A lot of reviewers complained that these pickups sound compressed, digitized, or overly modern. If that is true to them, it's not true to me. I really love the tone of these pickups. They are able to sound accurate with the songs that we play, and as stated, they are so crystal clear and spanky. I can't imagine that I will be changing these out for other pickups any time soon... or ever. Other reviewers complained of volume reduction when using the Hot Golds. This was not my experience. I actually had to turn down both of my distortion pedals after installing these pickups to get Unity Gain. Granted, my previous pickups were garbage. Other comments said that these pickups can be too quacky or fake-sounding. Let's be clear - they are definitely spanky, but I like that. They sound like a strat. I wouldn't recommend these if you are dead set on a fat humbucker sound. If you want a great, amazing strat sound with versatility, these pickups are for you.The bottom line: I would absolutely buy these again, and at a much higher price point. These Hot Golds transformed my sound and my playing. Immediately, everyone in the band noticed a difference. If you are on the fence like I was, take the leap and get these. If you don't love them, you will still have amazing sound and quality while you look for options that better fit your style. I will likely be a Lace user for life.I received these for Christmas after listing on my Wish List. I have installed them on a DIY Strat-like guitar using the standard wiring scheme. They sound tremendous, a huge upgrade over the pickups originally installed. Quite a bit stronger signal, bright but not thin, and, best of all, QUIET! My practice room at home is right next to our alley where there's a big transformer that makes single-coil guitars pretty much unusable in that room. These pick up just the barest amount of hum, even with amp gain up high.Great tones, pretty fat for single-coils, but still sounds like a Strat. Best bridge pickup sound I've had on a Strat.One sort of oddity, using these pickups with typical Strat wiring, the "in-between" switch settings are very sensitive to the relative heights of the three pickups. A slight adjustment on the middle pickup yields a different tone, so you need to fiddle with it a little to get the tone you would expect. But once you get it right, it sounds great.Best Strat single coils ever.My Fender was factory set up with the famous Texas Special pickups, I changed them for the Lace Sensor Gold which have been used by a lot of guitarplayers during more than two decades. Then Fender got rid of the Lace Sensor and they subtituted by the "noiseless" (nothing to do and not a remarkable pickups at all) Anywady the label Lace Sensor continued existing as an own brand. The HOT gold are a lot better than the original Lace Sensor Gold. They provides the classic Fender vintage sound with a wide range of tone and power. I use this set with the 3 pickups 6.0 k, intead the 6.0-6.0-18,0 they recommend, I don't like the mix-up. I really recommend these pickups Neck-Middle-Bridge 6.0.I have not dealt with this company before. I am actually an international customer, who has goods shipped to a Florida address for transshipment. This obviously has some time costs - and in this case - Hurricane Sandy!! The thing that puzzled me was this was the last item in a fairly lengthy list I put up over a few weeks. OK, here's the thing - they arrived first!! They we were packed and wiring instructions enclosed and the best price! The only thing not checked is whether they work - but that is a manufacturing issue - not the supplier. Well done I will use you any time you have anything relevant to my needs and recommend you high.Amazingly rich and clear tone, loads of dynamics. My Strat sings now, even through a cheapo Fender Frontman practice amp. Best yet - no hum from the pups; they seem just as quiet as the EMG-X set on my other Strat (partscaster, really). Gladly and unreservedly recommended.These strip easily. Lubricate your hardware before trying to install, and don't even think about over tightening. If you feel any resistance, back it out a bit and try again.With that said, these things sound amazing! They are perfect for that thick, bluesy sound I was after. Great clean, great dirty. The bridge pup is ok, but I don't spend a lot of time down there. If you need a big sound from your bridge, I'd recommend the hot gold w/ hot bridge, set.I put these pick ups in my Strat... The notes are screaming off the fretboard...These are AWESOME. They have all that thick, rich, warm, full of presence sound that single coil pickups are usually lacking, without any of the muddiness that humbuckers often have. Very Eric Clapton-esque for tone (not too shocking, since I understand Clapton plays Lace pickups).I am very please with these. The clarity and response of the pickups is exceptional. The bottom end is really nice and they have a very nice, chimy mid range response. I put them in my ‘75 strat and am very impressed. If you like to use some gain I found that they responded well without becoming mushy. I used them with my JVM in a live setting at stage volume and found that there is very little noise. I will buy these again to put in other strats I have.Sound verry well on my guitar FENDER STRAT 1998Las usé en una Squire Stratocaster y puedo decir que suena muy parecido a mi Fender Stratocaster (MX)Very very happy