Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucker

RMosack

New member
Hopefully this is a simple set of questions. I've looked at the Duncan site a few times and checked out their wiring diagrams and color codes. I am not certain which "Bill Lawrence" pickups they have covered.

Does anyone have a diagram or instructions for wiring a Triple Shot for a Bill and Becky Lawrence L-500 humbucker?

Or, does anyone know the Lawrence to Duncan color conversion chart? Again, I'm not talking about the Bill Lawrence USA stuff made and sold by Jzchak Wajcman. I mean the pickups made and sold by the real (now deceased) Bill Lawrence with his wife Becky.
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Before you get started wiring, you should box that L500L up and send it to me. I have a Bill/Becky Lawrence L500XL with your name on it...Let me know..
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Bill/Becky 5 wire pickup colors:
White - Hot/Lead (North Start)
Red - (North Finish)
Green - (South Finish)
Black - Ground (South Start)
Blue - Ground
**You can transpose these colors into other 3-way/5-way switch wiring diagrams like the link posted above.

These next two are just for $hits...

Bill/Becky 3 wire pickup colors:
White - Hot
Black - Ground
Blue - Ground

Bill Lawrence USA colors:
Red - Hot/Lead (North Start)
White - (North Finish)
Green (South Finish)
Black (South Start)
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Before you get started wiring, you should box that L500L up and send it to me. I have a Bill/Becky Lawrence L500XL with your name on it...Let me know..

Actually, I'm pretty sure mine is an XL, but I honestly can't remember at this point (been over a decade).

I originally had an XL and L as bridge and neck humbuckers in a 12 string Tele I built. Both pickups were wired in parallel for sweet, clear 12 string tones. I actually had a Bill Lawrence Q-filter on one of the pots to really change the inductance and resonant frequency to pull out an almost acoustic tone. I never bonded with that guitar and ended up selling off some of the parts. At one point, I also sold one of the pickups. I think it was the L, but I'm not 100% certain.

Either way, the remaining pickup isn't just in a different guitar, but it's wired in the more traditional series humbucker manner (at the moment). It's a USACG Strat with a H-S-S configuration. I think there may still be a picture of it on the USACG Gallery page. It's sort of a tiger's eye quilt burst, rear route, Hipshot bridge, pau ferro board thingy. The neck and middle are older Bill Lawrence L-250HP pickups (dual blade type single coils that more or less inspired Barden a few decades ago). The bridge has that humbucker. I liked the H-S-S configuration with an L-500 as a nod to early '80s Alex Lifeson stuff.

I used to have three push-push pots on it for various wiring mods, but eventually realized why nobody uses those. THEY FAIL! Push-pull always worked better for me. Live and learn! The original wiring went like this:
- Master volume knob - push for connecting neck and bridge ala G&L 7 way wiring (like my old Comanche)
- Master tone knob - push for making the neck and middle in series ala Lifeson's Hentorcaster
- Master Q-filter knob - push for coil splitting the L-500 humbucker

That wiring was a bit silly, especially when two of the three push-push switches went in a few years. I figure I'll save a lot of hassle by using a Triple Shot on that bridge humbucker. Then, I'll just go with a push-pull or two for whatever else I want.

But I can't do it without knowing what the color conversions are for the pickup.
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Bill/Becky 5 wire pickup colors:
White - Hot/Lead (North Start)
Red - (North Finish)
Green - (South Finish)
Black - Ground (South Start)
Blue - Ground
**You can transpose these colors into other 3-way/5-way switch wiring diagrams like the link posted above.

These next two are just for $hits...

Bill/Becky 3 wire pickup colors:
White - Hot
Black - Ground
Blue - Ground

Bill Lawrence USA colors:
Red - Hot/Lead (North Start)
White - (North Finish)
Green (South Finish)
Black (South Start)

Awesome! Thanks for that. I'll go ahead and use those that, subbing in White/Red/Green/Black/Blue for Duncan's Black/White/Red/Green/Bare as represented on the Triple Shot itself. Should be super easy now.

Thanks so much.
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Not a problem man. It sometimes takes some digging to find out detailed things about Lawrences, but I got smart and wrote down the wiring color codes, as well as the output in Kohms, cause as you may be aware, Bill/Becky Lawrence are measured out in Henries and even though Kohms isn't an accurate way of measuring pups, it's sometimes helpful when mixing/matching/pairing with puppies from other litters...

Here's the output chart if you want to go ahead and write this down for future reference....
L500C - 2.8H/4.5K
L500R - 4.8H/7.1K
L500L - 6.8H/11.8K
L500XL - 9.2H/13.3K
*Please note these are advertised specs, so as with most any pickup, some variance is to be expected, in fact, I have 2 shielded L500XL's, and 1 non-shielded, which measure out at; 14.66K, 15.03K, and 14.90K for the non-shielded, so as you can see, mine are all above the advertised specs, yet very consistent at that...

How did you make out with your wiring? I'm in the process of doing a Series/Split/Parallel mini toggle on my L500XL. If I ever get off the interweb long enough to get some stuff accomplished that is....hahaha
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Before you get started wiring, you should box that L500L up and send it to me. I have a Bill/Becky Lawrence L500XL with your name on it...Let me know..

Wait a minute, that's mine! :cussing: lol seriously just kidding :lmao:

Bill/Becky 5 wire pickup colors:
White - Hot/Lead (North Start)
Red - (North Finish)
Green - (South Finish)
Black - Ground (South Start)
Blue - Ground
**You can transpose these colors into other 3-way/5-way switch wiring diagrams like the link posted above.

These next two are just for $hits...

Bill/Becky 3 wire pickup colors:
White - Hot
Black - Ground
Blue - Ground

Bill Lawrence USA colors:
Red - Hot/Lead (North Start)
White - (North Finish)
Green (South Finish)
Black (South Start)

Not a problem man. It sometimes takes some digging to find out detailed things about Lawrences, but I got smart and wrote down the wiring color codes, as well as the output in Kohms, cause as you may be aware, Bill/Becky Lawrence are measured out in Henries and even though Kohms isn't an accurate way of measuring pups, it's sometimes helpful when mixing/matching/pairing with puppies from other litters...

Here's the output chart if you want to go ahead and write this down for future reference....
L500C - 2.8H/4.5K
L500R - 4.8H/7.1K
L500L - 6.8H/11.8K
L500XL - 9.2H/13.3K
*Please note these are advertised specs, so as with most any pickup, some variance is to be expected, in fact, I have 2 shielded L500XL's, and 1 non-shielded, which measure out at; 14.66K, 15.03K, and 14.90K for the non-shielded, so as you can see, mine are all above the advertised specs, yet very consistent at that...

Thanks for posting this! I am copying it down now as I will be needing it sometime in the future....whenever sweet Becky Lawrence mails out the pickups I ordered :D
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Sure thing buddy! And yea, I think Im about as excited as you are because I haven't had an L500L in a while, but Ive had so many 500XL's through the years, so I pretty much know what to expect when slapping one in...
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Sure thing buddy! And yea, I think Im about as excited as you are because I haven't had an L500L in a while, but Ive had so many 500XL's through the years, so I pretty much know what to expect when slapping one in...

Ha! Well at the rate things are going it could be a Christmas present for both of us! XD lol
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke


Be careful here. I love these guys, (gals), but some of their diagrams are wrong. Case in point, look at their Benedetto diagram. Benedetto's are made by Seymour Duncan. They have the exact same wiring color code. You can confirm this at Benedetto's own site. I've emailed them about it a couple of times, and they've never changed it.

Also, I wired up a friends axe awhile back using two "Bill & Becky" humbuckers. The neck and bridge had different color codes. It was a nightmare wiring job. (He wanted every possible sound combination.)

I suggest, just using my Pickup-ID page. Simple instructions. I think. Give me feedback. :)
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

Darn!

I wired up the 500XL and Triple Shot per the color codes that metalchurch posted above. It didn't work.

The only sound I get is when both of the mini switches are pushed in towards each other. With either switch out or both out, no sound whatsoever. Just mute.

Damn!

Really frustrated.
 
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

I would suggest calling Becky Lawrence.
 
Last edited:
Re: Triple Shot Wiring for Bill Lawrence (Bill and Becky, not the other guy) Humbucke

For what it's worth, I posted a question on this topic at the BL forum over at the F.I.B.

A poster named Blix provided this diagram. It appears that metalchurch79's green and red wires may have been reversed.

bl4conductorwiringcode.jpg
 
Back
Top