|
Hi. I've
been a reader of the TDPRI for a little while now because I love
getting all
kinds of information about guitars and teles and everything related.
Your posts have
been the most educational things I've ever read on a web-community
like that, and I
just wanted to send a note to let you know that I appreciate it.
I studied engineering for
two years, so the science you describe is not over my head at all
and always explains
things I've wondered about. I just wish that you weren't able to
logically defeat the use
of metal pickup covers, I love the look!
I've never
quite gotten the sound from my tele that I wanted and have considered
re-
placing the pickups, I just never knew what to get. Then I read
the notes on your page
about pickup height and adjusted my pickups at the next chance.
The difference is small,
but incredible. I'm no ace player, so everytime I start to embark
on another project I
feel like I shouldn't be worrying about my sound so much. Now I've
got a sound that gets
me closer to what I really want, and now I can probably wait until
I'm a better player
(with a better ear!) until I start concentrating on my gear again.
All best,
E.G.
__________________________________________________________________
Hello Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence,
Thank you for a great product. I just installed your L-500XL and
L-250HP in my
brother's guitar. The tone is incredible. Great bite and "sparkle"
in the high end
with a super low end. We both own the same model of guitar so I
decided to do an
A/B test. I installed various models from Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan,
EMG, and
Carvin in my guitar and compared them to the Lawrences in his guitar.
We both
agreed your pickups sounded the best. Don't get me wrong. The other
pickups
sounded very good too, but yours have a little something extra,
a certain "feel"
to them that is great.
Thanks again.
Sincerely,
H.Canez
__________________________________________________________________
My topic post on TDPRI ...
Posted by stratNtele on September 27, 2000 at 20:16:11:
Finally got to finishing and setting up the newly
assembled Warmoth Strat (hollow cham-
bered ash body w/flame cap, modern vintage flame maple neck, Gotoh
twin post trem) and
wired in a set of L280's onto the white pearl pickguard. Plugged
into the '65 Princeton ...
whoa! holy moly! GREAT tone! Having owned a set of Kinman's on my
last Strat, I've
gotta say these L280's are just as fantastic, if not better! And
no noise, too! And for
$125/set delivered, that sure beats $260/set delivered (Kinman's).
I just ordered the L280 Tele set for the new korina Tele Thinline
for $85 all up. Bill Lawrence, you da pickup man!
Yeeha! Rob.
__________________________________________________________________
Dear Bill,
I just want to say thank you for producing such a quality pickup
as the ones I just recently
purchaced for my Tele.....280's if I remember right.... Anyway,
these pickups are every-
thing you said they'd be....and more!!! I'm extreemly impressed
with the way they handle
the string moving across the pickup on an extreem bend...WITHOUT
DECAYING
THE NOTE!!!! Also, the silence that hummbuckers only dream about.
The quality of the
sound produced.... Suffice to say...WOW!!!!! I LOVE 'EM! Keep up
the good work.
Sincerely,
B. Louvat
__________________________________________________________________
Hi, My name is Clark from Massachusetts. I had a 500xl
in the eighties, where I grew
up listening to Van Halen. I got the idea from Nuno Bettencourt,
who lived a couple of
towns away. I started playing guitar again recently, after not playing
for about 7 years.
I now collect Charvel Jackson American guitars from the eighties.
I just ordered the
500 xl from you, and now remembered why I liked it so much in the
first place.I just
want to say that while most pickups don't sound that much different...that
500xl absolutely
smokes anything I have ever heard! I could tell right away....it
almost sounds to me like
I am playing with a wah just barley cracked open....very fat! I
just wanted to say that I will be ordering more for all of my guitars,
and thanks for a fat warm sounding pickup.
___________________________________________________________________
Hi Bill, I hope this message will get to Bill, although it certainly
pertains to "Bill Lawrence, the Company" as well as "Bill Lawrence,
the Person". I just wanted to say thank you so much for the time
we spent on the phone today. I called hoping I could get some questions
about Lawrence steel guitar pickups answered straight "from the
source". I have to tell you that aside from practice time and playing
gigs, this was the best time I've spent as a steel player. I hope
you came away from the conversation feeling as though he'd talked
to a "player". I'm just an average steel player, but I am a "player"
not a gear head. Aside from wanting to have good quality, durable
equipment, my personal feeling is that the best thing I can do for
myself as a musician is play my instrument and tweek at little things
like my amp settings and my guitar, so that I can bring out the
best sound I can possibly make. I don't think a huge investment
in a big rack system or spending thousands of dollars buying every
different guitar I can find will make that kind of difference for
me. Whether it's on stage with a band, in the studio, or in my practice
room, I just want to sound the way I want to sound so I'll play
confidently and enthusiastically. I got the idea from our conversation
that we think alike in this regard, and I am pleased that we had
a chance to connect on this issue. I'll be looking forward to getting
a Lawrence 910 "sweet" pickup for the E9 neck of my Fessenden steel.
Thanks again for your time and the wonderfully informative conversation.
Cliff
___________________________________________________________________
hello becky and bill! i bought a pair of what bill described as
sidewinder pickups recently and i realley like them.what an improvement
over what came stock,in my heritage 535.could you supply me with
details about them.they are humbuckers arn't they?or are they single
coils? are they similar to gibsons p94,a single coil in a humbucker
body?any info would help,as i'm curious and friends who have played
them are also.may i also say how pleasent it was to do business
w/you.you were both so helpful and patient! have a great 2000!!
a new satisfied loyal customer,
john
___________________________________________________________________
Hi Bill & Becky!!....thank you , thank you , THANK YOU!!!....My
visit with you folks made me feel "right at home"!...furthermore
it truly was an Honor to listen to Bill PLAY!!!...Well, to the pick-ups
/ BRAVO!!!....The pick-ups are BETTER than I had expected!....TRULY!....I'll
be installing your outstanding pickups in ALL of my guitars from
now on!....Sincerily Frank...
__________________________________________________________________
Thanks for the card you sent with the pickups I ordered. It's nice
to know someone backs their product and cares about their customers.
I had no probem installing the pickups. They work great!
Thanks- J. Wholey
__________________________________________________________________
Bill and Becky---I wanted to thank you for this article.
(OHMS, OHMS, OHMS by Bill Lawrence) I have a friend who has a small
pickup company, and he, like so many others, still goes by the old
"resistance equals output" nonsense. I have tried to tell him that
that doesn't hold water, but he won't listen. Oh, well...Some folks
just can't be bothered with the truth! Keep up the good work, and
I'm going to tell my friend about this article. Maybe he can be
swayed from the "dark side"!! M. Richardson
__________________________________________________________________
Again I am blown away by your handiwork. We installed the L-280N
pickup into my housemate's Telecaster and it sounds so good the
standard bridge pickup sounds BROKEN in comparison. Thanks again,
I am proud to say I have bought 6 pickups from you this year and
you've never let me down. I'll continue to spread the word as well.
P.H.
Dear Bill,
The 280's were in my mailbox when I got home from work Tuesday and
I put them in right away.(Becky- you were right about how easy it
would be, this was the first time I've ever done anything like this
and it was a snap.)I can't believe my ears. I don't have a fancy
Telecaster; it's a MIM standard, and it sounds FANTASTIC now.
I've read some of the testimonials that you have
on your website and can't really add anything, but honestly, I had
no idea what a difference these would make. It's brighter, snappier,
more substantial and full sounding and growls like hell when I turn
up that little Vibro Champ. You are a magician. Hey! I sound better!
Thank you so much for your efforts and obvious dedication. I really
love to play and I love these pickups.
Bruce H.
____________________________________________________________________
Hi Becky,
Yes, I got my 910's , I put them in my Zum and I LOVE them !!!!!
Wonderful string separation and clear tone. Thanks for making such
a great sounding pick up.
Richard C.
____________________________________________________________________
Greetings Bill & Becky,
Thank you so much for those FABULOUS special L450 pickups for my
new Jazzmaster! They're *PERFECT*!!! Thanx, too, for the LCR tone
filter - another amazing Bill Lawrence device!!! Below is a reply
I just posted at the TDPRI forum - I thought I'd share it with you
folks. Very much obliged for all your assistance,
Rob
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Amazing Bill Lawrence"
Weeks ago I chatted with Bill about getting a pair of pups for a
hybrid hardtail Jazzmaster I was assembling. I used his L490's in
a previous Tele I assembled and thought they'd be perfect (which
they surely would have been) but I was looking for white pickups
and L490's are only produced in black sealed cases. I was looking
for an alternative dual coil sized pickup, in a white case, that
would exhibit the biting treble of Bill's L490 or L280 series -
great "Class A" single coil tone and totally noiseless. Bill made
me a set of L450's, but totally reworked them using an old set of
his spex spex from decades ago. They look just like L450's (dual
white coils) but that's the ONLY thing they have in common with
a true humbucker. I won't even publish the pickup's resistance or
inductance, I doubt anyone would believe me and I surely don't care
- the TONE is all I care about with a pickup. They arrived late
last week - each pickup's rear cover was signed by Bill, marked
as "#1 - for Rob". I installed them this past Friday and WOW!, the
tone is *pure* single coil, somewhat like a Tele L280T. I used standard
500k volume and tone pots, with a .022uf tone cap. When the tone
is rolled, I get a honking, nearly out of phase bluesy tone that
just drips with twang - not a muddy, treble killed bassy tone. I'm
totally impressed - and so are two buds who dropped over last night
to jam and heard the little JM beastie roar! A few days ago, Bill
sent me one of his "LCR" filters, gratis. It's an amazing little
package that's about the size of two AA batteries and yields a super
smooth, "woody" kinda tone to his L280 pups. My constant "Don Quixote
quest" for pickups is totally over - whatever "engines" I need to
power the gits I assemble will strictly come from Bill Lawrence.
Superb quality tone and build, at incredible prices and the best
of service. And Bill's a great fella to boot!
Rob.
____________________________________________________________________
Hi Bill & Becky --
My name is Tim (Hi Tim) and I have become Lawrence-dependent. Love
love love them. I replaced my 86 mij strat pu's with the 280s. The
mij pu's actually had a really nice full tone that I was happy with
except for the 60 cycle buzz. Then I tried these. I ordered a set
from Becky (who was great in helping me choose the right set for
my style and gear and a pleasure to deal with.), received them in
6 days ( nice packaging and the leads were stripped,and ready to
go), and gigged with them two days after. Awesome! Big sweet woody
tones! No hum! Even though I was playing very close to stage lighting.
Mine don't line up perfectly with the strings but they are closer
than standard single coils. The lower strength magnets really do
allow for a wide variety of tones to play with and amplify the instruments
natural sonics instead of trying to mask or hide them. They respond
much better to higher gain situations, they hold definition and
don't mush out.
Thank you so much and keep up the good work!
Tim L.
____________________________________________________________________
Dear Bill and Becky,
I can't thank you enough for the 280-T pickups. I managed to install
them in my Telecaster just in time for my band's show on Saturday
night, and I was incredibly happy with them once we got on stage.
The bottom end has more clarity than either the old Fender pickups
I removed or the MFD's in my G&L ASAT, and the neck and bridge pickups
are a perfect match: both are so versatile, and the blended tone
of the two is so distinct, that I found myself switching around
all night. The high end is never brittle, the sustain is impressive,
they're very quiet, and they're wonderfully sensitive to changes
in picking... I really can't think of a single complaint. Thanks
again for the great service. I'll be sure to refer others to you,
and I'll be sure to check out your products first when I'm looking
for things in the future. Philip M. Athens, GA
Hello Lawrences! (Becky and
Bill),
I'd like to thank you both very much for the wonderful and outstanding
job you guys did on sending me my order. I absolutely adore the
L-280s (and L+ bridge) pickups. The most outstanding set of pickups
i've run across. Your extremely warm attitude and considerate personalities
were more than wonderful over the course of my handful of phone
calls to you guys. Thank you for being such a wonderful business
entity and a superb group of people. Thank you very much for the
hand drawn (i couldn't believe it was hand drawn and not copied)
wiring diagrams and the nifty postcard of Bill. It was such a pleasure
buying these off of you.
Wish you both all the best
in your future endeavors!
Play on,
D. Fung
____________________________________________________________________
Hi Bill and Becky:
I am just writing to let you
know how much I appreciate the 280 set I recently installed into
my 1990 MIM Fender strat. I've been struggling with strat tones
for close to 20 years, and after hearing glowing reviews about your
pickups on the Fender Discussion Page, I had to see for myself what
all the fuss was about. After installing the set of 280s, my immediate
reaction was shock. "Where did the noise go?" Then, after playing
for a while, I noticed a decrease in the high frequency spike associated
with the bridge and middle pickup tones of a typical single coil
strat. Alarmed that I had lost some strat "sparkle" as a trade off
for the noiseless operation of the pickup, it took a while to realize
that after some very minor amp and pickup height adjustments, not
only could I retain the sparkle I thought I lost, but it was a broader,
more balanced high end than ever before. And with more sustain and
complexity!
Thanks for creating such a dynamic and sweet-sounding noiseless
single coil pickup. And for keeping the small company mentality
and customer service alive in this age of automated answering systems
and cold treatment.
P. Watson
____________________________________________________________________
Last night I sat down for a
couple of hours and replaced the stock pickups on a Mexican Tele
with your 280's. The installation went easily (all very elementary
wiring- in fact, it gave me a chance to clean up the sloppy factory
soldering!) and very soon I was connecting up to my Vox Cambridge
30.
First thing I noticed was definition.
There was a very amicable chime to the sound that was lacking before
(and mind you, this isn't with new strings- although I know I should
have replaced them...). It got me exactly where I wanted to go with
this. There's a beautiful pluck to the pick contact and a marvelously
clean tone. When going into distortion mode, I have a greater palette
of tones to play with now. It's like adding a few more colours to
the spectrum. My desire is to play around with a somewhat vintage
tele/ British invasion tonality. I like being able to really thinned-out
the sound for crunchy rhythm work, and to get a fuller, rounder
feel for leads. It's all there folks. Very nicely.
Second thing was the absolute
lack of noise! My main purpose in replacing the pickups to begin
with was to get that wonderful 60 cycles plus every other available
harmonic thereof out of my amplifier. These pickups, without question,
quieted the thing down so as to make distortion boxes usable for
recording without having to face a particular direction in
the room! I can set everything to full gain (including the tube
preamp channel on the Cambridge), and hear nothing when the strings
are muted. No buzz, shortwave broadcasts, CB radios, or voices of
the dear departed. Amazing!
For a meager investment, I have undoubtedly turned
a mediocre instrument into something rather special. The 280's have
expanded my range of versatility, and done it in such a manner as
to have all of the sounds very well defined and of high quality.
This is a quantum leap forward in the evolution of this particular
guitar. And I look forward to many thousands of hours I know I'll
be spending with it, learning to play with some semblance of ability,
and having a lot of fun, which of course which is what it's all
about!
Thanks very much for offering a high quality, well reseached and
designed (and constructed) product without 'causing one to have
to sell all of their other instruments to afford. Bill Lawrence
pickups have my recommendation, hands down. You guessed it, Becky.
I liked them!
I hope this decription isn't too over the top. I'm just very happy.
Best to you and Bill.
Have a great weekend.
C.Dubé
____________________________________________________________________
Becky,
Put those pups in last weekend. They were exactly
what I wanted. I can get the classic tele sound utilizing my switch
that activates the L-280T neck and bridge pups alone. With that
L-280S strat pickup in the middle, I can get most of the strat sounds.
If wanted, still plenty of classic tele twang by increasing the
tone control, but not the tex-mex twang the original pickups had
that I did not like. (The Nashville tele comes with tex-mex pups;
there is no other choice).
The pickups are of excellent quality. In my opinion, they have a
fantastic sound and make this old plunker sound like a better player.
I will recommend these pups to anyone looking for quality, sound
and value. As a matter of fact, a friend has already contacted you
about a pickup for his Gibson SG. Every aspect of dealing with you
was A-1, and any pup that I may need in the future will come from
you
.
Thank-you,
F. G.
____________________________________________________________________
Back
|