Bill Lawrence pickups

[spauldingrules]

Ok, now the talk has got me wondering - should I get a Bill Lawrence pickup for my new guit?  I definitely DO NOT want a thrash metal pickup, and everyone says Pantera used one, so maybe it's not for me.  But from looking at the old fartknocker I can't imagine the pickups are that distorted!  I would really like to support that type of business, though.  SOOO - what do his HBs sound like?  And will they fit in a standard HB to wood route?

Thanks!

TS

 

[CD]

Nuno Bettencourt uses them in his Washburn N4s.

 

[Crappy]

Which Bill Lawrence pickup are you looking for? And What Type of sound?
Dimebag used a L500XL pickup which is a very hot clean sounding pickup in the L500 line.
If thats not the sound you are looking for you can try a L500L or L500R.
I use the L500L for the bridge in my strats and use the L500R bridge and L500C neck in my LP

 

[spauldingrules]

So what do they sound like?  PAFs?

 

[Rick]

Never used one of  his HBs, but I will vouch that his tele bridge pup is GREAT!

 

[stubhead]

I'm not even sure what a thrash metal pickup is.... No pickup is ever really distorted, unless it's malfunctioning. High-powered pickups used to be called distortion pickups because in theory they overloaded the tube preamp section of your amp. Some few people now use effects boxes, and even solid-state devices! Horrors... Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly used the same type of pickups, for what it's worth - that's why "Peggy Sue" and "Purple Haze" had the same guitar tone. :help:

The Lawrence L500 series is an exceptionally bright-sounding humbucker, Lawrence fiddled with the induction and other guts stuff so that you can get single coil-like clarity without it humming. An L500XL is the highest power, then the L500L, then the R then the C. You can always turn down the volume knob and '"trick" a high-powered pickup into acting like a less-powered pickup.... tone knobs work too!  :headbang:
The advantage to me for using a higher powered pickup is if you're going to be using a parallel switch or even more importantly a coil tap, the extra power still gives you enough volume that you can balance the tapped pickup with the other one - this might not be important to you, but I tend to like to keep both pickups on and play with my knobs.  :toothy11:

If you want a "creamier" PAF tone the Lawrence L450 or L600 (or whatever he's calling them this year) might be a better bet. He makes them in different strengths, widths and stuff, so you have to read a bit before ordering. There's some stuff here about using particular caps and 250K pots to trick Lawrence pickups into sounding as bland (ahem, "creamy") as PAF's:
http://p082.ezboard.com/fguitarsbyfenderfrm8.showMessage?topicID=298.topic

My personal feeling is, it's always easier to roll off highs that are there, than to wish that they were there and not have them at all.... :hello2: There's a fairly complicated difference between feeding a preamp a full spectrum signal and then rolling off the highs, vs. feeding a preamp a signal with the highs already rolled off - I prefer the former, but it's something to be fidgeted with over the years for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGpr-Zy_wRs&feature=related

 

[-CB-]

The real Bill Lawrence pickups are outrageous.  Each great at what it does.  All are even toned, all are just... nice pickups.

The pickups from the guy who rooked Bill out of the use of his own name... are looked at with disdain.  These were marketed by companies like StewMac... low budget, low performance pickups.

I've got the real thing in my one L6s.. and they sing.  His Q filters are great too.

 

[guitlouie]

That Kirchen vid is great!

 

[neilium]

I just ordered a 290 and q-filter for a single-pickup Esquire-ish thing I'm putting together. Will report my findings.

 

[Crappy]

I wish he would make the old L250 pickups again.

I can only find the fake ones made by the other guy.

 

[-CB-]

Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly used the same type of pickups, for what it's worth - that's why "Peggy Sue" and "Purple Haze" had the same guitar tone. :help:

The Lawrence L500 series is an exceptionally bright-sounding humbucker, Lawrence fiddled with the induction

a.  Nope, there were different be a good amount.
b.  Impedance, not inductance.

 

[dbw]

Well they both played Fender Strat coils... maybe there were differences but stubhead makes a good point, which is that it almost doesn't matter what pickups you play.

Unless you're in a cover band or something.