GUITAR- Lace Cybercaster ...21st Century Fender with a dash of Gibson

 THE LACE CYBERCASTER 

I now own a single PU 2015 Lace Cybercaster s345.

It has a Fender C shaped neck but with a 12" radius like a Gibson. A one piece ash body and a Lace Alumitone humbucker at the bridge.

The pickup has a ridiculous frequency response and is stone cold silent yet it is a totally passive PU.
The PU uses a transformer pushing a single coil of wire. All this is aluminum NOT copper as the aluminum create more current. 
Think of it as a preamp that works without a battery.
The PU is 90% aluminum and only 10% copper.
The aluminum creates the primary sound. 
A second tiny conventional 1/4"x1/2" coil wound with copper wire in the traditional way is there to convert the primary sound to a high impedance so that you get the standard output found out of all 
electric guitar PU's. 
It is really like using an EMG with a preamp that creates it's own battery.
But you neither have to have you guitar carved out to create all that junk ...nor do you have to replace a battery. They make many different models and cover every popular guitar out there. Oddly enough companies like Fender also sell PU's But Lace sell PU's but even odder sell a guitar...yes 1 guitar ...LOL

Lace tried to get the guitar thing to fly in 2003. After a few years it fizzled and by 2006 only custom orders were made. Again in 2015 they tried again. In 2018 they went to NAMM but only a year later they seem to have backed off again.

2003 to 2006

THE LACE GUITAR CUSTOM SHOP
You can order just about anything you want in a Cybercaster from the Lace custom shop. These guitars sell from $2500.00 USD to $6200.00 USD. They are hand made by Grover Jackson and his team ...& yes I know    the Friedman guitars are made there too. Unlike Suhr & others Friedman are not made by Friedman.

The standard Cybercaster like PRS SE models are made in Asia with a similar very high attention to sound and detail as PRS. For example the used guitar I just ordered has a one piece ash body.
You do not need to do that to sell a budget price guitar.
The pickups and hardware are Lace design and made in the U.S.A.
In short quality parts, fit, finish and build.

new $1200.00 USD
with gig bag
$1265.00 USD

paid $500.00 USD 
gig bag free

My single PU Lace was sold as used but not even
the plastic film on the pickguard had been removed. It is brand new old stock!!! The guitar was made in 2015 and as long as Lace still offered it in their line it served a purpose to keep it in the stores inventory.
Lace no longer offer a single PU model.

I am more then pleased!!! 
Great price... the rarity of a single PU model. The
one piece ash body appears to me to have been cherry picked as the grain pattern is spectacular.
I expect it was ordered in 2015 to represent this model
for a floor model ....I also suspect that the curious
players that tried or even bought a Lace put their hands on the now only choice ...the 2 PU model.
We all know that the single PU Gibson LP Junior sells for a lot more then the two PU ...LP Special even though the only difference are the number of PU's
So I feel in the long term my guitar will increase in value even if Lace gets out of the guitar market.
try and buy a Parker Fly ...even the Korean ones are getting stupidly high prices.

QUESTION ???
 Someone should explain why so many players 
say to themselves that they are going to hustle 
and do what it takes to make it big time. 
To stand out from the crowd!!! 

...BUT 
they play some sort of guitar 
that the first thing one thinks of 
when they see it is a
'STRAT' or 'TELE' or 'LES PAUL' or 'JEM' 
or reasonable facsimile
even players that are currently riding high that play them
will soon fall out of fashion. Yet players making often simpler but fresh sounds
on  other guitars end up as permanent Rock Icons

Think about it!!! 

CONCLUSION

Well having played it I find in spite of the Fender overall look it feels more like a Gibson.

As for the pickup it is indeed dead quiet. The sound is very much like an EMG ...very clean and really tight. There is not an Oh wow ! Nor is there a what the F. were they thinking of...to the sound. In other words I may well change it at some point but I would like to play it for awhile. If I do I am thru experimenting I will put yet anothe Duncan PAF Pearly Gates into it. 

It has a meaty weight ...just enough to let it sit dead in it's spot but nothing uncomfortable.

So ... I know it does not sound like it's special. 

The cool thing is it feels like an old friend and that means a lot.

The neck is little fat but very comfortable. It just does not slow me down and I can glide from the highest to the lowest notes with ease.

Comfortable ...really playable ...with a familiar and great tone and a look that turns heads and a fit and finish second to none that turns mine.
One last thing ...the gig bag fits like a glove and is about as heavy duty as it gets. Nice touch!!!

SIX WEEKS LATER
So after playing this guitar in rotation with my other 6 guitars I find that my favourite 3 guitars all have a Seymour Duncan in the bridge position. So I ordered another Duncan.


Yes in fact my favorite Duncan with added steroids. LOL
The Duncan custom shop makes hand wounds for Billie Gibbons of the Pearly Gates that he puts in many guitars ...often new ones that some Gourmet hand made builder does for him ...often as not
pretty flash looking stuff.So I am getting one in red without the Duncan name slapped on it.I have found some matching knobs
but I think they are push ons and mine are held on with a small machine screw.
My music has elements of classic metal but not modern metal. The Alumitone is perfect for that but for a humbucker going thru a Marshall Plexi nothing beats a PAF. Sooooo....lol
The guitar itself is stellar great action and easy access to the highest frets. My very fav guitar for sound is my Airline and it also has an ash body and maple neck. I have high hopes that this will be #1 shredder!!!!

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