Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

[MB_01]

I can't work out what I'm doing wrong with this pickup! [emoji848]

I've been looking for a new tele bridge pickup for a while because my homemade tele has a Tonepros AVR-II bridge and so the string and pole spacings are different and I could really notice the dropoff on the high e string especially.

Long story short, I wanted a JBE Modern T because they sound great and the blade design would solve my spacing issue but they're crazy expensive. Looked at other similarly expensive blade designs and then came across the BL USA (I know, boo, hiss) L250-TB for less than £50!

It has 3 wires: black, white, bare but no wiring instructions. I'm fairly competent at wiring guitars but can't work this one out.

Bare wire obviously goes to ground. I've tried both the black and white wires to hot on the pot but with either way with one connected and the other not connected it just makes loads of noise until unless you connect the other wire to ground. But when you do that, you get 60 cycle hum and the pickup is split and not not humbucking. I investigated putting black and white together on the pot but that didn't work.

What am I doing wrong? My brain can't comprehend more wiring than that...

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[MB_01]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

I've contacted BL USA's customer service team because the pickup is also INSANELY microphonic, guessing it's faulty all over.
Hoping they're as helpful as Bill & Becky [emoji1695]

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[Tone Meister]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

My *guess* is that black and bare twist together and go to ground and white is hot. Used Real Bill Lawrence pickups since the 70's but have little experience with the BL USA versions. Hope they make things right for you

 

[jeremy]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

do you have a meter? check what resistance you get between all three wires

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

I've contacted BL USA's customer service team because the pickup is also INSANELY microphonic, guessing it's faulty all over.
Hoping they're as helpful as Bill & Becky [emoji1695]

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I bought one of these back in the 90s when StewMac sold them. At the time I had no idea it wasn’t the real BL. I wanted to pair it up in a Tele style guitar I built with two real L-250s I’ve had for a while.

It was thin sounding and very microphonic. It didn’t stay in my guitar that long. I still have it in my junk box. Don’t know how that guy stays in business.

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[MB_01]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

do you have a meter? check what resistance you get between all three wires

I do have a meter but I don't really know what I'm doing with it...

With black to hot lug on the pot, bare to the back of the pot and white disconnected, these are the readings I got:

Black - White: 013
Black - Bare: 274
White - Bare: 287

Black - Bridge: 274
White - Bridge: 287
Bare - Bridge: 0

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[MB_01]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

I bought one of these back in the 90s when StewMac sold them. At the time I had no idea it wasn’t the real BL. I wanted to pair it up in a Tele style guitar I built with two real L-250s I’ve had for a while.

It was thin sounding and very microphonic. It didn’t stay in my guitar that long. I still have it in my junk box. Don’t know how that guy stays in business.

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That's a bummer, I couldn't find much info on them and thought they'd be worth a shot!

It actually sounds pretty good when it's wired but, not thin at all to my ears. But there's a buzz that I don't pretty confident isn't a ground issue but I'm starting to wondering if it's actually 60s cycle or something else...

It is SO microphonic, though!

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[MB_01]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

Well, I've arranged with the shop to return the pickup.

I thought it sounded decent, reminiscent of the BL USA L500XL I had in a 90s Washburn N2 but single coil. It was a cool sound and I could have dealt with some hum (it was just irritating that it was supposed to be hum cancelling) but the microphonics were unbelievable!

Rubbing the pickup ring mounting screws or tapping the body, neck or bridge came through the amp just as loud as the strings! There's microphonic pickups and the there's this...

It might just be a dodgy pickup and they normally might just sound great but I don't know if I can be bothered to go through the hassle of finding out...

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[ICTGoober]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

Color me surprised that Bill Lawrence stuff would be microphonic. Obviously a rare problem in the potting procedure.

 

[MB_01]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

Color me surprised that Bill Lawrence stuff would be microphonic. Obviously a rare problem in the potting procedure.

Well like I said, I had no problem with the L500XL I had in my N2 (although I did swap it for a Bill & Becky in the end). I also can't imagine that anyone would buy or sell this pickup if it was THAT badly microphonic. The few bits of info I could find about it online were positive.

But that being said I don't want the hassle of it being swapped for another one and then find it equally bad and having to send that one back, too.

I'm wondering about an EMG RTX with 24v mod as the next cheapest option to solve my string spacing issue without spending over £100...

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[jeremy]

Re: Bill Lawrence L250-TB - What am I doing wrong?

your meter should be on the 20k setting to get a more accurate reading. with all three wires disconnected, measure: black to white, black to bare, white to bare