Bill Lawrence KeyStone Strat

True single coil w/ Bills Improvements . Epoxy potted , flat pole pieces

SX strat all positions , stock sx , wanted better sound

Best sounding strat Pups Ive heard so far. Using hot rod deluxe / pignose vr60 amps. Dont sound exactly vintage. A little broader range than vintage and more output. Very dynamic , smooth , great sustain , balanced. Very articulate.

Amazing value , playing a long time , play rock ,blues ,jazz , funk etc.

Single coil with no staggering of poles. Completely sealed pickups. Looks like some sort of epoxy goo over the bottom. Passive pups; RW/middle with the set of three for a strat. Not sure of impedance; I forgot to measure before installation.

I put three in a Fender (mexican) FMT special edition circa 2005 that I snatched off ebay for nearly $400 in early 2006 - the guitar was basically new and owned by a collector. The ceramic bar pickups in mim strats are horrible (IMO), and I didn't want to spend a lot of money for replacements figuring I'd sell the guitar. The problem with that is that the body mounted, rear-routed design of these guitars sustain very well, and this on has a spalted top rather than the book matched figured top most have. I've seen a couple like mine, but it's not the norm for the mexican FMT, and the Tobacco finish is tits-up. Nearly Warmoth quality finish. Two piece body (alder), with the split just to the side of the pickups. Change? MIM ceramics blow, did I mention that?

Output level is medium-hot with a bit of grit. I've never heard a stock single coil like it, and I've owned Fender noiseless, Fender 62's, Fender lace, Dimarzio (ugh), Tetrad, Duncan 5-2s and Toneriders. Amp: Blues jr with the usual effects nonsense.

The tone on these is decent overall, but the price? Forget about it. A great deal for $74 - less than $25 a pup. Can't be beat at that price. Fairly well balanced, and the review that mentioned the SRV/Jimmy thing isn't playing dixie - I thought the same thing. There's a gritty, dirty thing here when opened up that's hard to describe. The clean tones are decent, just be sure you get the pickup height set right on these. Without staggered poles the tendency is to raise them up higher, and that creates a bit too much of the aforementioned grit. Back them down and use the amp if you want variety. I had mine up to about where the high poles on Fender staggered would normally be, and it was too high. I'm a blues guy, who dabbles in jazz/improv clean stuff; these aren't the ticket for the latter, but work well with blues. Very well.

I'd replace them, and I might: with Andersons if I can find a set used for a decent price. I want a specific sound for this guitar, and these pickups, unfortunately, aren't it. I'd go Tonerider, but I have a set of those in my Nashville Tele. I like variety - why else own more guitars than you need?

The ticket here is price. If you have a MIM strat, or are doing a project strat and need to shave a few bucks to start, this is a great way to start. You may well keep these. The price quality ratio is unmatched, and I give them 9 for this. I challenge anyone to find three strat single coils for $75 new that sound this good. Can't be done. Toneriders are $120 a set or more now.

Single coils, came in a frankenstrat I recently received on ebay. 3 single coils.

In all positions came with red strat. Great clear and clean sound. Very Stevie Ray Hendrix sound. Sounds great in a bassman and a 4 x 6v6 5e3 clone. Scatter wound pickups don't sound this good. I have used different pickups through the years and had a 65 strat. These sound as good or better.

I like to play clean and dirty and dirtier. It does them all. The bridge pickup is usable. Good for county and some funk sound. Usually, unless I play zz top overdriven, I stay away from the bridge pickup. The 2 and 4 positions seem hum canceling. Very nice 2 and 4 very Robert Craylike with a nice belllike tone and with a little overdrive grindy. Neck pickup is clean and clear and bubbly with a little bass pushed in the amp settings. Middle is clear and percussive when played with force. These pickups lose no clarity when the volume on the guitar is turned down. This guitar has no tone controls connected though.

I would get these in another guitar in a minute but I like other pickups also. I've been play 45 years.

3 single coil set with graduated pole spacing that fits mexican strats with 2 1/16th bridges perfectly.

They seem a little less 'hot' than the stock mexi-fat strat p/ups that came with the guitar originally.

Got them from eBay for $75 and it's maybe the best $75 you can spend on a mexi strat for an upgrade (next to the Callaham block, of course)

Converted a Mexi fat strat standard with new s-s-s pickguard and all American CTS electronics

The standard Mexi pickups are really thin, little sustain, not very musical compared to these Bill (& Becky) Lawrence ones.

The stock ones are there to fill the space until you get new p/ups on a mexi, anyway. Made for upgrades, whereas I'd feel funny about altering an American strat.

Hard to compare the sound level side by side, but leaving the amp settings the same, I had the guitar volume up a few more notches it seems. So I guess the new pickups are a bit less hot.
That's ok, they sound so much better, cleaner, fuller tone...
ah, you know how hard it is to write about sound, but I really really like the tone of these pickups.

If I ever get another mexi strat, you can bet I'll be putting these pickups on it.

Playing thru a Peavey Delta Blues 30 watt valve with 3 band tone controls, you can dial in about anything you want.

I've been playing for a few years, nothing special, but I guess I gravitate to that Strat sound and whatever it applies to.

The only thing I could possibly think of as a non-plus about these is that I got them from eBay in a brown envelope, no instructions and no markings on which pup was which. No biggie, just measured the spacing of the poles and installed accordingly.
Damn, it hurts having to use the brain once in awhile.

I'm done searching for the 'tone'. I found it, and only a couple of pickup replacements along the way, so I got off cheap.

If you're on the fence about these because they appear to be 'cheap', well, inexpesive, yes, cheap, no.

Single coil Strat pickups with alnico 5 magnets, Formvar wire, but not "handwound" like all the vintage repros out there. Also not noiseless like most of Bill's pickups. I haven't measured the impedance - ask Bill for the technical info.

I put these in my second homebuilt Strat, same as the first: one-piece swamp ash body, Callaham hardware, thin nitro finish. Only departure from my #1 was the rosewood board on the maple neck, and the jumbo frets (maple vintage neck and 6105s on the #1).

Output is very high, way higher than the Callaham wound Fralins in the 1st Strat. There is no mud anywhere in the range, just clarity. The tone lacks the woody flavor of the Fralins and is brighter overall, not what you'd expect with all that output volume. I roll off a little treble to tame them. The clarity makes the 2nd and 4th positions really pop (quack). I asked Becky what pots they recommend and she said some like 500K pots for more quack, but I can't imagine this would be a good thing overall. They are plenty bright with 250K pots. The neck pickup tone is very, very good, but the tone of the bridge pickup sounds just a bit sterile and thin through my Princeton Reverb. An amp with a little browner sound would help thicken the tone in this postiion. I don't know how much of the tone difference betweed the 2 guitars is due to the pickups, but I would guess almost all of it. If you want total vintage tone, I wouldn't recommend these pickups. But if you want high output, clarity and top end to brighten your guitar these are great pickups. The neck pickup has a huge sound and cuts really well. The only thing lacking is that woody, warm tone you get from the underwound Fralins or vintage Fenders. The KeyStones are not that, but are still very good pickups. Taken as a whole, I think the tonal difference between the two guitars/pickups is insignificant. The volume difference is not. Your signal will be way hotter with these pickups.

I was curious if what Bill said was right, that all that mysterious scatterwound, etc. stuff is hype. Mostly, I think he's right. The keyStones are excellent pickups, and there's no voodoo involved. The Fralins sound exactly like the old Fenders because they are made the same way, with the same materials as the old stuff. My Fralin Strat sounds exactly like the '64 I used to own. I didn't sell the '64 until I was sure of that. The KeyStones have there own thing going, and it's a good thing, it's just not an exact duplicate of what Leo was doing in the old days. In a band situation with a loud drummer, the KeyStones would likely outperform the vintage stuff, cutting through with clarity.