Resurrection

Peter Crossley

Peter Crossley

Active member
Well I resurrected this from my stock room,
it was made in 2007, and I put it away and promptly forgot about it..
then during a clean out I spotted it sitting quietly there in the corner..

so I chatted to a mate of mine who has a few of my guitars, and it turns out he had a really old set of Bill Lawrence pickups that he had never tried.
they are pretty old, had a weird 3 wire cable out of them,. they are L500's but not with the suffix.
splittable, but I could not find a wiring schemetic anywhere on the webz, so I got the trusty old multi meter out and figured out what needed to be done.

I must say these 3 wire Lawrences are incredible, so much sparkle, but crank them and they take right off. I reckon from the price tags that were still on the boxes that they would be early 1970's..
they had the original cream pickup rings with them, and industrial strength springs, I couldnt use the rings because they were sized for a TOM style bridge, so I put in shallow black ones, the rings are still in the boxes for
my mate to pick up when he gets the guitar..

So...

a NOS Crossley P series with 70's Bill Lawrence puppies...


Nw4eSXB.jpg


2zjANhi.jpg


2IGTTIA.jpg
 
Re: Resurrection

First of all - gorgeous axe, love the color.
Second - Bill Lawrence stuff has ruled since the late 70's. If nothing else sounds good - put in a Lawrence, and set phasers to stun.
 
Re: Resurrection

Mincer said:
What do they sound like? What did they measure?
Click to expand...

The neck pickup read 8.5K the bridge pickup was around 12.5K

the neck pickup really shines, very sparkly clean chimey tones with a lot of note definition, the bridge has some real growl to it, but also good string definition.
Split they sound even more chimey, sort of like a P90 without the noise and a lot more clarity..

they are also quiet as far as noise goes.. very quiet.

really very impressed by them, its the first time I have heard them in one of my guitars.

note: the guitar is heavily chambered, this may help with that definition I was talking about, I chamber most guitars, so an A/B with a solid body is hard to do, to my ears anyway..
 
Re: Resurrection

Bill Lawrence pickups have been known for their clarity, definition, and clean power since the 70's. And they are very inexpensive, because they haven't changed at all in nearly 40 years. Simply put, Bill designed a pickup that WORKS.
 
Re: Resurrection

Peter Crossley said:
Well I resurrected this from my stock room,
it was made in 2007, and I put it away and promptly forgot about it..
then during a clean out I spotted it sitting quietly there in the corner..

so I chatted to a mate of mine who has a few of my guitars, and it turns out he had a really old set of Bill Lawrence pickups that he had never tried.
they are pretty old, had a weird 3 wire cable out of them,. they are L500's but not with the suffix.
splittable, but I could not find a wiring schemetic anywhere on the webz, so I got the trusty old multi meter out and figured out what needed to be done.

I must say these 3 wire Lawrences are incredible, so much sparkle, but crank them and they take right off. I reckon from the price tags that were still on the boxes that they would be early 1970's..
they had the original cream pickup rings with them, and industrial strength springs, I couldnt use the rings because they were sized for a TOM style bridge, so I put in shallow black ones, the rings are still in the boxes for
my mate to pick up when he gets the guitar..

So...

a NOS Crossley P series with 70's Bill Lawrence puppies...


Nw4eSXB.jpg


2zjANhi.jpg


2IGTTIA.jpg
Click to expand...

Looks like from the 1st photo that the headstock shape and logo have a lot of personality to them. But in that photo they are not clear due to the sharp angle. Would you mind posting a photo that features that nice headstock?
 
Re: Resurrection

When chambering smaller-bodied guitars like that, do you notice a tendency to be neck heavy, or do you compensate for that in another way?
 
Re: Resurrection

I chamber all of my guitars and none of them are neck heavy. Nothing like an SG. Mine even have short bodies. Mostly it's because of the long upper horn where the strap button would go.
 
Re: Resurrection

I believe you have a set of K500 pickups. Bill made them when he was still in Pennsylvania. (Becky told me this a couple years ago.) They have the 3-wire leads.

I had a set. I sold the bridge (it was a K500ms. I did not get a chance to ask her what the "ms" stood for) but I still have the K500C in the neck of one of my guitars and I really like it there. It sounds slightly smoother than the new L500C I bought from Becky during that phone conversation.

I gotta ask, how many guitars do you have to own to forget about one for 13 years?
 
Re: Resurrection

Dave Locher said:
I believe you have a set of K500 pickups. Bill made them when he was still in Pennsylvania. (Becky told me this a couple years ago.) They have the 3-wire leads.

I had a set. I sold the bridge (it was a K500ms. I did not get a chance to ask her what the "ms" stood for) but I still have the K500C in the neck of one of my guitars and I really like it there. It sounds slightly smoother than the new L500C I bought from Becky during that phone conversation.

I gotta ask, how many guitars do you have to own to forget about one for 13 years?
Click to expand...

well it gets a bit weird when you make them, sometimes, when made on spec, they dont sell immediately, so they get put aside, then later on I may need a set of pickups for a build, so I tend to cannabalise guitars a bit.
then they get put further away..

then years later..........

I dont have many personal guitars..


maybe 10 or 12?? must count them...
 
Re: Resurrection

I've got over 50 guitars and I don't think there are any (except a few collectible ones) that I haven't played for more than 5 years.
 
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