Bill Lawrence and TV Jones Routing

[rgand]

I believe Warmoth offers TV Jones routing and TV Jones pickups. It would be nice to see that on the guitar and pickguard builders.

Also, it would help to also add routing for Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups. It's much like a fat humbucker route only slightly wider and slightly shorter. I'll be glad to send you a spare mounting plate for one if it'll help you with the size.


EDIT: I misspelled "Lawrence" in the title. That's now corrected.

 

[stubhead]

Are you taking about direct mounting them without a ring, or a properly-sized cutout in a pickguard? I concur! I con...mmmm. I am a huge, dedicated, fiendishly-devout user of the L500's. I've used their supplied mounting ring bolted through a pickguard with... 4-40 flathead screws, looks like. Or mebbe 6-32's, it's a dark corner...? I've also cut a few holes in virgin pickguards to use them straight - no chaser. Direct wood mount would need some cosmetic fiddling for sure.

BUT: Mr.  Lawrence is now deceased. And Becky, bless her heart, is still rolling them out in a corner of the LACE factory, still using some of Bill's proprietary tools & processes. But: I'm afraid everybody's kinda holding their breath to see how long THAT'S gonna last, and whether there's going to be a gradual movement towards LACE themselves taking over there -> focusing on a few "key" models, -> then sort-of, umm, assimilating and engulfing the designs. The reason they ended up in the LACE building in the first place was because Bill thought the Laces (dey humans!) were chasing the RIGHT stuff down with the Sensors and then the Alumitones; the right stuff being, the sorts of innovation & quality of sound you get by throwing out the moldy-oldies. And the wrong stuff being when you drift into debating 42 vs 43 gauge wire, alnico vs. ceramic etc. and end up with just tiny, incremental changes in a SIXTY-YEAR-OLD design. Paul Reed Smith found a secret, cold-war stash of some X-tra special, rare 'n' valuable weapons-grade WIRE in an old Soviet warehouse? Oh puh-leeeze. 

Have you ever LOOKED inside an Alumitone? they're like... running on ghost-power, there's nothing IN there! Except a high quantity of high-quality, clean & accurate bass, midrange & treble. Not to be mean, but they MAY even be the further, next, evolution over the Lawrences. But if one were feeling mercenary & had spare money, this MIGHT not be a bad time to to snorf up some L-500XL's, as people are far more likely to want them after you tell them they can't HAVE them. :laughing3:
Take the "J" outta "MOJO" and you end up with "MOO... MOO...."

 

[rgand]

I end up cutting pickguards to fit. It should be nice to have a wood-mount that was the proper size, although I would just use the mounting rings, myself. They cover a lot.

I don't get rid of Bill Lawrence pickups. If I sell a guitar, it gets different pickups. A couple of mine are from the mid-70's. The tone can't be beat. I like the way I can dial the tone dark and the pickup doesn't get muddy. I put one of the new ones in my latest build and it is amazing, too. I hope they stay that way.

 

[Re-Pete]

Sorry for necroposting this.

I did a pickguard, probably 12 months ago from Warmoth, with their Fat Humbucker (No Cover) pickup routing option. Fitted perfectly for the Bill Lawrence L500 pickups I installed. Snug as a bug in a rug. :icon_thumright:

 

[rgand]

That's interesting. Are you sure you have a Bill Lawrence? I just measured one of my L-500's and it is 1.35"x2.78". I also measured a Warmoth fat humbucker route and it was 2.75"x1.46". With an L-500, that leaves quite an unsightly gap top and bottom. Even then, I'd still have to file the opening a little wider to allow free height adjustment.

 

[Re-Pete]

That's interesting. Are you sure you have a Bill Lawrence? I just measured one of my L-500's and it is 1.35"x2.78". I also measured a Warmoth fat humbucker route and it was 2.75"x1.46". With an L-500, that leaves quite an unsightly gap top and bottom. Even then, I'd still have to file the opening a little wider to allow free height adjustment.

Am I sure about the provenance of the pickups? Yep. I bought the neck pickup L500 when Bill was still running Bill Lawrence USA In the late 1970s/1980s.  I then bought the bridge pickup L500XL from Wilde Pickups.

Go to this link on my Twitter account. I've posted a closeup of the pickguard there. Fits as well as many a standard humbucker, mounted on pickup rings, as I have seen. :icon_thumright:

https://twitter.com/AussiePeteC/status/627618695120982016

 

[rgand]

Am I sure about the provenance of the pickups? Yep. I bought the neck pickup L500 when Bill was still running Bill Lawrence USA In the late 1970s/1980s.  I then bought the bridge pickup L500XL from Wilde Pickups.

Go to this link on my Twitter account. I've posted a closeup of the pickguard there. Fits as well as many a standard humbucker, mounted on pickup rings, as I have seen. :icon_thumright:

https://twitter.com/AussiePeteC/status/627618695120982016

That's interesting. When I got my pickguard, it had a fat humbucker route and a Strat route with no mounting holes (ordered that way so I could open it up). I tried the L-500 in the fat humbucker opening just out of curiosity and would have had to force it into the opening or file the ends of the route more. In fact, I tried to but it started to warp the pickguard just to let it in. There was at least 1/8" extra room top and bottom. I see what might be a little extra on yours but not anything like I saw with mine. That's an acceptable fit. The pickup I tried was a newer one but as I recall it has the same dimensions as my late 70's L-500. I wonder if there's some variation in the early Lawrence pickups.

It looks like a nice guitar. Do you have a full photo of it?

 

[Re-Pete]

All I could suggest is that you opted for the wrong option. Maybe you went for the humbucker rout instead of fat humbucker (no cover) option?
Agree that the standard humbucker rout is cavernous for Bill Lawrence L500.
I had the older L500 installed in an old LP Special copy for years and it looked butt ugly mounted into a standard humbucker pickup mounting ring (I had long lost the BL mounting ring that came with it).

I compared the old and new L500 pickups I have, when I got the new one from Wilde Pickups. It amazed me that 30 years on, Bill could still make a pickup almost identical to what he built all those years before. The consistency was astonishing.

Here's a new Tweet with a full pic of guitar in question. Weighs as much as P Bass, Maple Body, Maple neck/Ebony fretboard, 24.75" Conversion Neck, Block Inlays (overhanging fret sawn off by tech for easier access to pickguard), Side adjust truss trim, Wilkinson Trem, Bill Lawrence L500 pickups running through EMG-ABC Blend control (Chickenhead knob) then onto EMG- BTC (?) equalising Treble & Bass controls (+/- 6dB with adjustable EQ curve), then 25K volume.

https://twitter.com/AussiePeteC/status/627643176124190720

 

[rgand]

Yep, I like your Jazzmonster. Very nice work. Sounds like fun to play.

I definitely got the fat humbucker option. Here is the pickguard and pickups (L-500 is one).

 

[Re-Pete]

You might want to check out the link below to establish the type of L500 you have.

http://billlawrencereview.com/l-500?page=0,0

Mine have the chrome housing and no logo on the front of the pickup.

 

[rgand]

The L-500 in my Tele is one of the first vintage. Chrome housing, no logo on the front, no bottom imprint and the fat, crowned blades. The one in the picture I posted earlier is a new one.

 

[ChristopherG]

Have you ever LOOKED inside an Alumitone? they're like... running on ghost-power, there's nothing IN there! Except a high quantity of high-quality, clean & accurate bass, midrange & treble. Not to be mean, but they MAY even be the further, next, evolution over the Lawrences. But if one were feeling mercenary & had spare money, this MIGHT not be a bad time to to snorf up some L-500XL's, as people are far more likely to want them after you tell them they can't HAVE them. :laughing3:
Take the "J" outta "MOJO" and you end up with "MOO... MOO...."

I remember reading that Bill absolutely flipped for the first generation of Alumitone's and they weren't a patch on the current itteration. I can't wait to re-wire my Ibanez AX-7 which will be getting a Lumi Deathbucker/Humbucker combo and a Altec 3 band EQ.