Re: Bill Lawrence single coils
I have Bill Lawrence L280s in three Strat-style guitars (neck/middle) and love them dearly. They have a great vintage bite without any noise at all. FWIW, I also have an L290 in the bridge of one Strat and also like that a lot. That's the most Fender-ish sounding setup of the three in all five positions.
Of note also is that these guitars still quack well in the bridge/middle position, though the guitar with the L290 does that the best. The others are close, though.
I can't recommend these highly enough. I've tried dozens of pickups over the last 20 years - these are the ones I love.
I do have Duncans in the bridge position of the other two Strats - Pearly Gates and L'il Screamin' Demon. Great tones and they work well with the Lawrences.