Ok reading posts about Bills pickups sad to see him being ripped off by fakers. Met Bill Lawrence in the 90's when he was here in PA building instruments and of course pickups. We had his endorsement so of course his pickups went into all my basses. But loved just listening to him explaining his pickups and what made them so good. He truly loved what he did. Question is....does anyone actually own an instrument built by Bill? I have seen a few guitars etc under the Wilde name but "very few".
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Bill Lawrence Wilde Bass
- Thread starter Brian Yocum
- Start date
I have a Bill Lawrence Swampcaster (basically his take on a 70's Tele thinline). I don't know if he made any basses.
Yes very few but I have number 2
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WTH !!
Who fakes a $50 pickup ? More than who fakes them,where's the market to make it viable ?
Tons of articles on what are actual Bill Lawrence products. But my actual question is who owns a Bill Lawrence built instrument?
It's a former licensee who refused to stop making theirs when Bill decided to have nothing to do with them.
So the folks who bought Bill's company then.
Leo Fender did the same and folks don't claim FMIC are making fakes.
Yes and it makes it tough to tell the real from the fake. Becky is doing a good job with the pickups. My real question are actual instruments. How many are out there and who still has one. I have a Wilde Bass, but but Bill had hundreds of guitar and bass necks, bodys and parts. But full guitars and basses how many did he build?
Sorry,didn't mean to derail things. Afraid I never saw sight of any basses Bill made.
True legally.. lol but is a Bill Lawrence pickup made in Japan the same? If you have an actual product handmade by Leo Fender is it the same?
All good haven't toured in years but wore a hole in my Wilde Bass. Just got me thinking about how many were out there. Even more got me thinking about Bill he was quite the innovator and loved what he did.
Yes, and they made the original pickups for the US Masters basses as well. The pickups on that bass look very similar to the US Masters pickups.
His pickup designs, guitar and bass, have been in Gibson, Fender, and a host of other companies, but the claim to fame is probably the L500XL rail humbuckers Dimebag used. Even though there were a plethora of innovations he had throughout the years.
I have a Mosrite inspired guitar with Bill Lawrence's humbuckers installed on it. Great pickups!
That's interesting. I always assumed that my P46 is an original version. Not so sure now, look authentic to you?
