L90 is my favorite! I have a vintage (curved blade) L-90XL, a set of 2.8H/6H and a 4H/8H set...can't beat any of them! Glad to see you are making your presence known with videos. I hope you do more!
Absolutely LOVE my L90s in my Flying V. A 2H neck and 4H bridge. Very powerful but not dark. They sound like Telecaster pickups that are twice as wide. Just what I wanted. Thank you Bill and Becky Lawrence👍🏼
The L90 is awesome! I have a set in a 4H/6H combo in an 81 Ibanez artist and they are without a doubt the best pickups Ive had in that guitar. I've built several guitars for myself and used L500s in my most recent build. I have Micro coils in a tele I built a couple years ago. I'm leaning toward another set of L90s in the guitar that I recently started. Keep up the good work. Becky and Shannon are very helpful if you have questions, get in touch with them.
I've been using a L90 since mid '80s. Now that original (it's an end '70 4H) is sitting in bridge complemented with an original OBL L45 and an ultrasonic REF1. Love 'm all.
Love my L-90 so much! I have another on order and can't wait for it to arrive! Could you also do a video on the l-45s? There aren't too many videos of those online, but I'd love to hear more about the design. The best video of the l-45 online is the one of Bill himself playing them. Man what an amazing player he was!
I love you guys! Never met Bill or you guys, but I have some of your pickups and am a huge fan. Love the L490 ones! About to buy some more for another guitar, so I'll check out these L90's next
It's great that you two are doing these videos to carry on Bill's legacy! How would you define using inductance versus resistance as a means of describing a pickup's output? I'm so used to hearing pickups described as having 5k or 8k output so it's a little hard for me to wrap my head around using inductance instead!
Resistance, measured in ohms, has nothing to do with a pickup's output. Inductance, measured in henries, is what determines a pickup's output. A pickup is not a microphone. It is something known as a magnetic transducer. A normal guitar pickup translates string vibrations to an electromotive force (EMF) that oscillates with respect to the vibrations. How a pickup performs this translation is via cutting magnetic lines of force, which is why strings on an electric guitar have to be made from a ferrous material. The generated EMF is induced into a pickup's coil(s) via a phenomenon known as induction. The magnetic lines of force are provided by a pickup's permanent magnet (magnetism and electricity are related phenomena). The higher a pickup's inductance, the stronger its output. The only reason that pickup makers post DC resistance values is because in order to increase inductance, we usually have to put more turns of wire on a bobbin. Because a bobbin has a limited physical geometry, if we want to put more turns on it, we usually have to use thinner wire (or a wire with thinner insulation). Thinner wire as a higher per foot DC resistance than thicker wire. We can also increase a pickup's output by increasing the strength (density) of the magnetic field, measured in gauss, which results in a stronger EMF being induced into the coils due to there being more magnetic lines of force to cut. The reason why pickup makers switched to using ceramic (a.k.a. ceramic ferrite) magnets from alnico magnets is because ceramic magnets have higher coercive force than alnico magnets (plus, they are cheaper). Basically, alnico magnets become demagnetized over time when subjected to an opposing magnetic field. Most of the alnico pickups in really old guitars have lost magnetic flux over time. This occurs because when we run a current though a coil of wire, it produces a magnetic field (that is how a loud speaker works); hence, the coil(s) on a pickup and other external magnetic fields degrade the magnetic field strength of alnico over time, reducing the output of the pickup. The magnetic field produced by the pickup coil(s) is very small, so it takes a long time for alnico to degrade unless it is exposed to other opposing magnetic fields. As an aside, a humbucking pickup cancels picked hum by having its coils wound in opposite directions, which places the coils 180 degrees out of phase. What this arrangement means in layman's terms is that hum in one coil will be positive while being negative in the other coil, which results in it summing to zero. The reason why a pickup does not sum the EMF induced by the strings cutting magnetic lines of force to zero lies in the magnetic fields. One coil is of a humbucking pickup derives its magnetic field from the north pole while the other derives its magnetic field from from the south pole, which means that the magnetic field of the second coil is 180 degrees out of phase with the magnetic field of the first coil. If we have coils that are 180 degrees out phase with each other and a magnetic fields that are 180 degrees out of phase with each other, we have effectively taken an negative of a negative, which is a positive. Instead of summing to zero because the generated signals are 180 degree out of phase, they sum to coil 1 output + coil 2 output because the generated signals are in phase with each other. The reason why some humbuckers have a slight amount of hum is because the coils are not symmetrical, which results in one picked up hum phase being stronger than the other; therefore, not completely summing to zero.
An AMAZING pickup. Bought a N/B set and they are now installed in my Washburn CTS Custom. A very musical and piano-like tone that responds well to pick attack and dynamics. And it WILL CHUG!
@@savagehenry5158 The string exites a magnetic field that consist of a combination of a coil and a magnet, then it becomes a form of an electric "motor", study how an electric motor works on the same principle - only in reverse. If you don't know any of this, the study before you ask more questions, please!
@@christianboddum8783 you have it backwards dude. the pickup (remember that the pickup contains a magnet, not the string) exerts a magnetic field and the strings' motions within the field creates a small voltage in the wire around the magnet. the strings are the mechanical part of the equation, not the pickup. the pickup is an electromagnetic transducer.
Also I love my original L90s. I have two of them in one of my self built guitars. Also love my 500xl....But I desperately need a BL 910 Narrow mount pickup for my new Mullen steel guitar. I emailed you about it but got no reply.
Hanneman used whatever Bill had available in the early 80’s, many pictures out there of his Les Paul with an L90 in the bridge, but I don’t know which one. The guy that bought Jeff’s collection after he passed may know!
L90 is my favorite! I have a vintage (curved blade) L-90XL, a set of 2.8H/6H and a 4H/8H set...can't beat any of them! Glad to see you are making your presence known with videos. I hope you do more!
these ladies make the best guitar pickups on earth
Absolutely LOVE my L90s in my Flying V. A 2H neck and 4H bridge. Very powerful but not dark. They sound like Telecaster pickups that are twice as wide. Just what I wanted. Thank you Bill and Becky Lawrence👍🏼
Happy to see Bill’s work appreciated here , I have the a300 acoustic pickup and would thank him for the innovative design :)
Love you guys. I've been playing your pickups since i was 15 (that's about 17 years)
The L90 is awesome! I have a set in a 4H/6H combo in an 81 Ibanez artist and they are without a doubt the best pickups Ive had in that guitar. I've built several guitars for myself and used L500s in my most recent build. I have Micro coils in a tele I built a couple years ago. I'm leaning toward another set of L90s in the guitar that I recently started. Keep up the good work. Becky and Shannon are very helpful if you have questions, get in touch with them.
Hi Walter, you are a true fan and we really appreciate your long time support of what we do at Wilde Bill Lawrence!
It’s nice to hear the background on these awesome pickups.. great work!👍
Legendary pickups
The l500 is my favorite! You can really boost them and the sound is pummeling ! I love it! And so does my Marshall! Cheers!🍺🍺
I've been using a L90 since mid '80s. Now that original (it's an end '70 4H) is sitting in bridge complemented with an original OBL L45 and an ultrasonic REF1. Love 'm all.
Love my L-90 so much! I have another on order and can't wait for it to arrive! Could you also do a video on the l-45s? There aren't too many videos of those online, but I'd love to hear more about the design. The best video of the l-45 online is the one of Bill himself playing them. Man what an amazing player he was!
I love you guys! Never met Bill or you guys, but I have some of your pickups and am a huge fan. Love the L490 ones! About to buy some more for another guitar, so I'll check out these L90's next
It's great that you two are doing these videos to carry on Bill's legacy! How would you define using inductance versus resistance as a means of describing a pickup's output? I'm so used to hearing pickups described as having 5k or 8k output so it's a little hard for me to wrap my head around using inductance instead!
Bill had articles about this on his site. Becky has been there since the beginning, too.
Resistance, measured in ohms, has nothing to do with a pickup's output. Inductance, measured in henries, is what determines a pickup's output. A pickup is not a microphone. It is something known as a magnetic transducer. A normal guitar pickup translates string vibrations to an electromotive force (EMF) that oscillates with respect to the vibrations. How a pickup performs this translation is via cutting magnetic lines of force, which is why strings on an electric guitar have to be made from a ferrous material. The generated EMF is induced into a pickup's coil(s) via a phenomenon known as induction. The magnetic lines of force are provided by a pickup's permanent magnet (magnetism and electricity are related phenomena). The higher a pickup's inductance, the stronger its output. The only reason that pickup makers post DC resistance values is because in order to increase inductance, we usually have to put more turns of wire on a bobbin. Because a bobbin has a limited physical geometry, if we want to put more turns on it, we usually have to use thinner wire (or a wire with thinner insulation). Thinner wire as a higher per foot DC resistance than thicker wire. We can also increase a pickup's output by increasing the strength (density) of the magnetic field, measured in gauss, which results in a stronger EMF being induced into the coils due to there being more magnetic lines of force to cut. The reason why pickup makers switched to using ceramic (a.k.a. ceramic ferrite) magnets from alnico magnets is because ceramic magnets have higher coercive force than alnico magnets (plus, they are cheaper). Basically, alnico magnets become demagnetized over time when subjected to an opposing magnetic field. Most of the alnico pickups in really old guitars have lost magnetic flux over time. This occurs because when we run a current though a coil of wire, it produces a magnetic field (that is how a loud speaker works); hence, the coil(s) on a pickup and other external magnetic fields degrade the magnetic field strength of alnico over time, reducing the output of the pickup. The magnetic field produced by the pickup coil(s) is very small, so it takes a long time for alnico to degrade unless it is exposed to other opposing magnetic fields.
As an aside, a humbucking pickup cancels picked hum by having its coils wound in opposite directions, which places the coils 180 degrees out of phase. What this arrangement means in layman's terms is that hum in one coil will be positive while being negative in the other coil, which results in it summing to zero. The reason why a pickup does not sum the EMF induced by the strings cutting magnetic lines of force to zero lies in the magnetic fields. One coil is of a humbucking pickup derives its magnetic field from the north pole while the other derives its magnetic field from from the south pole, which means that the magnetic field of the second coil is 180 degrees out of phase with the magnetic field of the first coil. If we have coils that are 180 degrees out phase with each other and a magnetic fields that are 180 degrees out of phase with each other, we have effectively taken an negative of a negative, which is a positive. Instead of summing to zero because the generated signals are 180 degree out of phase, they sum to coil 1 output + coil 2 output because the generated signals are in phase with each other. The reason why some humbuckers have a slight amount of hum is because the coils are not symmetrical, which results in one picked up hum phase being stronger than the other; therefore, not completely summing to zero.
how can I date my L90 pickups? it was in a 70s Les Paul and im curious on what era these pickups are
What is the difference between the l90 and the l500 pickups? I have a l500xl, so I am familiar with that pickup.
An AMAZING pickup. Bought a N/B set and they are now installed in my Washburn CTS Custom. A very musical and piano-like tone that responds well to pick attack and dynamics.
And it WILL CHUG!
I love my l90. Put it in my prs mccarty 5 years ago, flipped it. Sounds insane out of phase with the neck.
What's the resistance of the L90 pickup?
Ma Am, do you still manufacture the acoustic guitar pick up?
😍
Early Gretsch humbuckers had twin blade design (Early Chet Atkins model - Ray Butts) or were there a mechanical difference?
pickups are not mechanical devices
@@savagehenry5158 They are electro-mechanical devices!!
@@christianboddum8783 explain to me which part of a pickup moves?
@@savagehenry5158 The string exites a magnetic field that consist of a combination of a coil and a magnet, then it becomes a form of an electric "motor", study how an electric motor works on the same principle - only in reverse. If you don't know any of this, the study before you ask more questions, please!
@@christianboddum8783 you have it backwards dude. the pickup (remember that the pickup contains a magnet, not the string) exerts a magnetic field and the strings' motions within the field creates a small voltage in the wire around the magnet. the strings are the mechanical part of the equation, not the pickup. the pickup is an electromagnetic transducer.
What have you got to replace a fullsize P-90?
Also I love my original L90s. I have two of them in one of my self built guitars. Also love my 500xl....But I desperately need a BL 910 Narrow mount pickup for my new Mullen steel guitar. I emailed you about it but got no reply.
We are guitar builders from Mexico, we want to design our own pickups of course by Lawrence is there an email I can reach you at?
I need a BL 910 Narrow mount pickup. Please make me one!
Do you have info on what pickup of yours that Slayer used? Thanks
Hanneman used whatever Bill had available in the early 80’s, many pictures out there of his Les Paul with an L90 in the bridge, but I don’t know which one. The guy that bought Jeff’s collection after he passed may know!
@@matthew80127 thanks I bought an l90 from them, i just have to install it now. I think that’s what he used too.
Kerry King of Slayer used to play these. Before the horrible EMGs.
Hello there! I have question about shipping ... Can anybody help me?
Sure, can you please email becky@billlawrence.com? Thanks!
I have a dean dime from hell made in China they say that’s a real bill Lawrence 500 XL in it how can I tell if it’s real