Thank you for writing in! I see you’ve recreated the 1990s Fender Stat Plus Ultra, the sibling of the Tele Plus, though I’m sure you already knew that. Doubtless it sounds identical to a Tele Plus, since the wood and shape of a solid-body guitar do not affect tone in a significant way (the solid body doesn’t resonate enough to matter). So the extra features of a Strat must be a very nice bonus, especially if you like to rock the whammy bar!
A closeup of the Lace Sensor pickups on a Strat Plus Ultra (xhefriguitars).
And now that you mention it, adding a Lace Sensor Silver pickup seems like a great idea to try on any Tele Plus type build. The Lace Sensor Blue and Red pickups are both voiced to sound like humbuckers, so the “fat 70’s single coil sound” of the Silver pickup adds a sparkly contrast. It would be especially easy on guitars that already have a “bout routing”. It’s harder on a standard Tele, but it could work with a 5-way selector switch (a Super Switch may be needed, depending on the desired pickup combinations).
And for those who don’t know, the 1990s Tele Plus had another sibling: the 1990s Fender Strat Deluxe Plus. Fitted with a Lace Sensor Blue (neck), Silver (middle), and Red (bridge), it can also recreate most of the sounds of a Tele Plus. The single Red in the “Deluxe Plus” does sound a little different from the Red Dually in the “Plus Ultra”, but that’s partly because it’s mounted at an angle on the Plus. The Red is voiced as a hot humbucker, so when combined as a Dually it doesn’t change the sound as much as you’d think — it’s mainly just louder!
We don’t really recommend routing a standard Tele for humbuckers, since there’s lots of Teles with humbuckers, and Jonny is happy to play them. But if you really want those Lace Sensor sounds, following the Strat Ultra Plus or Strat Deluxe Plus designs are a great way to get those ultra-noiseless tones without taking a router to the guitar!
And a quick note about another Strat Plus sibling: the standard Strat Plus from the late-1980s and early-1990s. That guitar also featured Lace Sensors, but it had a trio of Gold pickups. The Gold is voiced as a “classic 50’s Style single coil”, not far from modern Fender Noiseless pickups which eventually replaced the Golds on most Fender guitars. They sound much brighter than the thick, humbuckery Blue and Red pickups. However, Ed seems to be a big fan of the Golds, which came stock on his Eric Clapton Signature Strats!