Members Montagman Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 Anyone tried the Bill Lawrance USA L500 humbuckers? Thinking of switching out the bridge on an old carvin Cm130. Will I have to modify the git or are humbuckers a standard size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 I won't buy from Bill Lawrence USA. I will buy from Wilde Pickups which is owned by the REAL Bill Lawrence. I have a L500 L/R set in one of my guitars. Great pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 I won't buy from Bill Lawrence USA. I will buy from Wilde Pickups which is owned by the REAL Bill Lawrence. I have a L500 L/R set in one of my guitars. Great pickups. Same here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Montagman Posted June 18, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 I heard the USA pick ups are the original designs, actually I've heard many different stories about the Bill Lawrance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 Screw the original designs. Bill Lawrence USA got the rights to use the Bill Lawrence name via a lawsuit. I refuse to support the thief. Wilde pickups are made by the real Bill Lawrence who has NEVER rested on his laurels and always keeps innovating and improving his products. It's a mom and pop shop. I would much rather spend my money with Bill and Becky. But Bill also makes his L500 pickups according to the original designs. They were the designs that HE designed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members charvelstrat81 Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 Screw the original designs. Bill Lawrence USA got the rights to use the Bill Lawrence name via a lawsuit. I refuse to support the thief.Wilde pickups are made by the real Bill Lawrence who has NEVER rested on his laurels and always keeps innovating and improving his products. It's a mom and pop shop. I would much rather spend my money with Bill and Becky. But Bill also makes his L500 pickups according to the original designs. They were the designs that HE designed. in brief what are the tone differences between the two offering the same pu's? i never tried a L-500 or 500xl and always wanted to. I go for a pup that delivers a loud cleanish tone with punch and harmonics. the USA ones can be had for $40 new and the bill and becky are only $50 each which is still a great deal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 in brief what are the tone differences between the two offering the same pu's? i never tried a L-500 or 500xl and always wanted to. I go for a pup that delivers a loud cleanish tone with punch and harmonics. the USA ones can be had for $40 new and the bill and becky are only $50 each which is still a great deal!Look for the reviews. I just told you I won't buy from Bill Lawrence USA on principle. So I don't know what the imposters pickups sound like. But I know I love the pickups that I have from Wilde. Why buy from the imposter when you can buy from the innovator for about the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kevman Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 I like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bubkus_jones Posted June 18, 2012 Members Share Posted June 18, 2012 I heard the USA pick ups are the original designs, actually I've heard many different stories about the Bill Lawrance. Yeah, the "USA" are the original designs, but "Wilde" pickups are made by Bill Lawrence, who designed them in the first place. He's also designed pickups for Gibson and Fender (the SCN pickups for the '04 Anniversary Strats are his work). Long story short, Bill Lawrence runs Wilde pickups, Jzchak Wajcman runs "Bill Lawrence USA". They used to be business partners (the original Bill Lawrence company), but after a series of events, ended their business arrangement (Bill claims he was cheated out of his rights by Mr. Wajcman, Wajcman claims that he followed all proper legal procedure and that Mr. Lawrence effectively quit due to deal with personal/family issues). Mr. Wajcman kept the original company going producing the same pickups on the same machines, while Mr. Lawrence started his own. They battled in court over the rights to the brand/trademark of "Bill Lawrence" with Mr. Lawrence coming up short and renaming his brand to Wilde. As far as which is better or worse, BL USA pickups are mass produced and have been sold in retail locations and on various websites (Stew-Mac used to have them for a while before the legal issues really took effect), and are the ones that were found in the old Dimebag and Nuno Bettencourt production guitars. So, they can't be horrible, right? Wilde pickups are made by Bill Lawrence himself (and his family), the man that made the pickups so awesome in the first place. He's also the brains behind Fender's SCN pickups. While BL USA kept the original designs, Mr. Lawrence has been looking to improve on his original designs since he started his own company. I'd personally go with the "Wilde" brand, since they're made by the man himself, and because they're made to order, he or his wife Becky will (if you need it) help you figure out what pickup/model would be the best fit for you. But, hey, they are a bit more money (though, as you said, not a whole hell of a lot), and will take a bit more time to get (they have, in the past had some long backlogs due to moving to a new production facility, and a slight increase in popularity around Dimebag's death and when it was announced that he was behind Fender's SCN pickups). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Apple Slim Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 I have the Wylde L45S and the TL48 rail set in a Tele. Most versatile pickups ever, country to metal and dead quiet.Cudos to Bill and Becky. Someday the L45S set is going in my MIM strat. If I ever need a humbucker size I would not hesitate on the L90s or L500s. No way I'm buying Bill Lawrence USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorganB Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 Everyone should have one.It was a pleasure offering from them,and they sound great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Montagman Posted June 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 The L500 are now 60.00 bucaroos , which still isn't bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Montagman Posted June 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 I've always loved the playability of the Carvin, But it's way dark and muddy with overtones, looking for something to brighten it up a bit. I've been told you gotta own at least one set of Bill Lawrance pick ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saturn Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 I had a L500 in the bridge of my N4 and liked it quite a bit. I have a Dimebucker in the bridge of my S470. Very similar with maybe a little more high end bite. The L500 I liked better. All around great pickup. As far as the Bill Lawrence and Wylde debate I would probably order from Bill & Becky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members charvelstrat81 Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 from what i have read the bill and becky L-500 should solve that problem as would certain offerings from dimarzio or duncan BUT the WILDE brand is not mass produced that may or may not be of importance to you? I have found IME that the non mass rpoduced pu's like WILDES are sound ultimately better than mass produced for whatever reason? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wartoxin Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 I went through this and even bought both BL Wilde and BL USA L500xl and Wilde 500r too. I chose the BLUSA L500xl, several reasons but the biggest was in comparison it canceled hum better. Not really that different though, and in the end I drifted towards other PUs because they were too full range sounding, though emg 81s are worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IBDBB Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 i just sold my 90's bill lawrence usa l500xl, it was ok but just wasn't taken by it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kevman Posted June 19, 2012 Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 All mine are from before the ugly trade name war. They all rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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