Pickups you love or Loathe

[tonyw]

I've met a Bill and his wife Becky both wind. Fabulous tele pickups. You have to be careful because there are two companies called Lawrence pickups only one of them that makes the genuine Bill Lawrence. Bill once stated that the other pickups where fakes. http://www.kramerforum.com/reviews/billlawrence.html Totally agree Tony nothing worse than people blowing there own trumpet and not backing it up.

Wilde Pickups, also known as "Bill and Becky," are manufactured by Willi Lorenz Stitch (Bill Lawrence) and his wife Becky. The family has long claimed that the pickups sold by EZ Wajcman are "counterfeit" and have implied that the trademark passed to EZ Wajcman unfairly.
Generally, it is not uncommon that a "named" brand passes to another person or company. In the guitar business, the Charvel brand was passed from Wayne Charvel to Grover Jackson, Kramer was passed from Gary Kramer to Dennis Berardi and Peter LaPlaca, etc. Examples of this are many and they don't imply that the quality is negatively impacted after the brand is contractually passed to another party or company.
Willi Lorenz was born in 1931 near Cologne, Germany and passed away on November 2, 2013. It is unclear whether his family will continue the business after his passing.Bill made sme stunning pickups for Gibson also. Sad loss to the industry real nice guy.

Woks DB has some great EMG bass pickups. I was unfortunate bought them just after they changed manufacturer from Stew Mac. The ones I have are the newer ones who knows where they are made.I should get the EMG 81/ 85s re wound.ill get round to it.

In truth Woks I've known John Benson when he first started building guitars and making pickups. He's just a really nice down to earth,hard working family guy that's very humble.

Becky and Shannon are still winding, Becky a top winder in her own right, i just got a set of L90's of them, you wait 5 weeks but if you know that in advance you wont be let down becuase they tak awhile, like all good things they are worth it. I learnt alot of Bill over the years, used to pick his brains, but he called a spade a spade and you got what he said you were getting.

[wokkaboy]

yeah ok cool DB, I've put Rocksongs in a couple of builds and there is no lack of balls haha

[tonyw]

Alot of people have their pickups made in China some of the better ones come from Korea, Entwhistle and Tonerider are both Asian

Toneriders are made by Artec, who's one of the largest Asian pickup manufacturers. Artec makes pickups for tons of different guitar manufacturers. Artec will make pickups to whatever specs the "name brand" company wants them made to, and then stamps their name on them. they also make the GFS pickups GuitarFetish sells. Also Entwistle has the pickups made in the exact same factory as GFS, Duncan Designed in Korea and BHK in China.

The Asian market keep churning them out by the 100000000's

[kimball492]

Bill Was an amazing guitarist in his day too http://youtu.be/rHIZMuNhF5s.

[Fuzzbeard]

I bought one of these 500xl years ago before I knew there was someone else using the bill lawrence name still a decent but I've never used the bill and becky version to know the difference.

Apart from that I have tonerider pickups in a few guitars and I am happy with them especially the rebel90s I put in my st-1, I can't put that guitar down!

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[kimball492]

If your happy with it Fuzzbeard that's all that matters.

[tonyw]

I bought one of these 500xl years ago before I knew there was someone else using the bill lawrence name still a decent but I've never used the bill and becky version to know the difference.

Apart from that I have tonerider pickups in a few guitars and I am happy with them especially the rebel90s I put in my st-1, I can't put that guitar down!


Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

They were partners, but had a big falling out, but as above if your happy with it what does it matter

[DrNomis_44]

The pickups I hated the most were the Infinity 1 and Infinity 2 Humbucking Pickups that came stock with my Ibanez S420WK Superstrat, they're high-output pickups and to my ears they sound very muddy with a cloying Extreme Metal tone that has an annoying ear-fatiguing quality when put through a distortion effect, there's also an over-compressed quality in the tone too.

In contrast the Entwistle HDNs I have installed in the guitar seem to sound more open with more midrange, liking them a lot more than the Infinitys.


I'm also liking the Entwistle ASN57s that are in my Strat, they don't have a high output but put them through a clean amp setting and they do shine, especially with a bit of reverb and delay, very Strat-like.

[kimball492]

Here's a question for Tonyw what causes the EMG 81/85s to sound so compressed is it a magnet type, the windings.or a combination of the both.

[DrNomis_44]

Here's a question for Tonyw what causes the EMG 81/85s to sound so compressed is it a magnet type, the windings.or a combination of the both.

It might just be because they are active low-impedance pickups, but I may be wrong.