Bill Lawrence L500XL. New pickups for my RG560!

[Stygian]

Ah, this guitar has a history. I picked up this black RG560 at a pawn shop for $95 a few years ago, all stock. I installed a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, which was cool for a while, but the pole pieces didn't line up with the strings since it was a standard spaced version. I then tried a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge, which is a very metal pickup, but it had a loose bottom-end sound and was too muddy.

A few months ago I was giving my guitar a deep cleaning and snapped the lead wire to the neck single coil. My god they're fragile, and I was pretty mad since the pickup had this good snappy sound for playing cleans. So, I opted for some new knobs, new single coils, and a new bridge humbucker; something metal.

So here it is, $90 later with a full pickup change. Two Mighty Mite rail neck/middle pickups with option for coil tap, and a Bill Lawrence L500LX humbucker in the bridge. The Lawrence actually sounds close to the Seymour Duncan JB to my ears, but mid-scooped and with more output. The Mighty Mites are more modern than the stock pickups, and I'm not enthusiastic about the clean sound, but I can probably add a coil tap switch for some good results.



Advice for installing a Bill Lawrence: I bought mine brand new. They send you a tall pickup mounting ring with it, but it's larger than the RG pickup rings in both width and height. You'll have to shave down the sides of your original ring a couple millimeters. It's got some quirky dimensions, but it sounds great and I definitely saved some money by choosing one. Thanks for reading, just thought I'd share a project I wanted to complete for a while.

[DBDbadreligion]

that's really cool. how are the cleans on the bill lawrence? i am planning on getting a SD hot rail for my charvel model 3 in the neck position.

[linthat22]

To DBDbadreligion - The cleans for me in my guitar are very bright (Mahogany body with a 3/4" maple cap)

To Stygian - I coil split my L500XL it's not bad. It sounded better when you flipped the humbucker around since the active coil was further away from the bridge. Otherwise, you'll get a bit more noise out of this very quiet pup. I followed the instructions that came with it and used tone knob as the splitter. I'm going to change it shortly since I soldered it badly the first time around.

[Stygian]

Originally Posted by DBDbadreligion

that's really cool. how are the cleans on the bill lawrence? i am planning on getting a SD hot rail for my charvel model 3 in the neck position.

I haven't tried that enough yet. Put it this way though, if you used the Bill Lawrence on clean, you wouldn't have to worry about muddiness, since it's a very clear sounding pickup. But I think it's too hot for good cleans, too bright and too much treble.

I think the Seymour Duncan rails all use the same ceramic magnet as the Mighty Mites that I have. Cool Rails or Vintage Rails might be better for crystal clear cleans.

[Stygian]

Originally Posted by linthat22

To Stygian - I coil split my L500XL it's not bad. It sounded better when you flipped the humbucker around since the active coil was further away from the bridge. Otherwise, you'll get a bit more noise out of this very quiet pup. I followed the instructions that came with it and used tone knob as the splitter. I'm going to change it shortly since I soldered it badly the first time around.

I heard about that, but does it sound more or less bassy when flipped? What I was going to coil split would be my rail neck pickup, not the L500XL. Though I'm interested in what that sounds like too.

[quiksilverdew]

Originally Posted by linthat22

To DBDbadreligion - The cleans for me in my guitar are very bright (Mahogany body with a 3/4" maple cap)

To Stygian - I coil split my L500XL it's not bad. It sounded better when you flipped the humbucker around since the active coil was further away from the bridge. Otherwise, you'll get a bit more noise out of this very quiet pup. I followed the instructions that came with it and used tone knob as the splitter. I'm going to change it shortly since I soldered it badly the first time around.

Do you have an Agile LP? I want a 3100

[linthat22]

Originally Posted by quiksilverdew

Do you have an Agile LP? I want a 3100

Heck yea, great guess. It's a 2 year old Agile 3000M

[linthat22]

Originally Posted by Stygian

I heard about that, but does it sound more or less bassy when flipped? What I was going to coil split would be my rail neck pickup, not the L500XL. Though I'm interested in what that sounds like too.

Honestly, I can't say that it was more or less bassy. It actually sounded smoother when distorted. I hope that makes some sort of sense?

[quiksilverdew]

I might have to try one of these out, I'm actually kinda excited because they aren't extremely expensive...

[Dee]

The BL's are amazing, I can vouch for them. I installed a 500XL in my RG750 back in about 1992 and that thing was brutal. It's still in there now.

Try them out, they are wonderful pickups.

[Stygian]

Hey guys, just a bit of a follow up. When I got this, it was just an impulse buy from E-bay, but apparently there's some history to the Bill Lawrence name. "Bill Lawrence" and "Bill Lawrence USA" pickups aren't manufactured by the same place, but apparently are essentially the same pickup. The kind that's in my Ibanez is the latter of the two, the USA model, and it does sound good. Apparently Bill Lawrence (himself) and his partner came up with a few pickup models together, but they both refused to give up the design, so now both dudes are still designing and selling the pickup. Apparently Washburn has purchased L500XLs from both of them to put in their Nuno guitars, but if an artist wants one, they usually deal with Bill Lawrence. So, I suppose it's less a question of whether BL or BL USA sounds better, and more a question of ethics, and who deserves your money. So, if you're picky about it, do some reading before ordering.

[quiksilverdew]

Which ones are from the actual guy, the "Bill Lawrence" ones or the USA models?

[southpaw_lefty]

I think the original Bill Lawrence pickups (from the actual guy) don't have any writing on them and have thicker blades.

Btw, nice find Stygian!

[rastachild]

i'd only deal with bill and becky. i have a L500L which is way hot (dunno how you guys deal with the xl, lol) yet still retains string clarity without being too bright (it is much brighter than a tone zone though).

[jaxadam]

Where's Neptoess when you need him. He can tell you all about some Lawrences....