Bill Lawrence L-280S

- Single coil, noiseless, passive
- Impedance : not sure
- Very well built
- Extremely balanced.

I ordered 02 x L-280S to install in NECK and MIDDLE position on my Fender Stat Deluxe Texas Special. The L-280S replaced the 02 x Fender Vintage Noiselees that I also ordered a few years back to replace the stock ones : Texas Special.
The stock Fender Texas Special is the true single coil, so, it's noisy. The middle pick up is reverse winded to cancel the hum in switch position 2 & 4.
The Fender Vintage Noiseless is a noiseless one, the hum almost disappeared except when you put it on compression and distortion. The output of the Fender Vintage Noiselees is somewhat a bit weak, the sound is sterile but very * Fender Vintage *, missing the chunk & quack in overdrive. In any mode, these one has no tight lows but very good upper mids and highs.
In my BRIDGE, I had a Bill Lawrence L-500 Lead humbucker, which is my most desired one with a very clean and neat tone range in any mode, I repeat : in any mode.
So came the reason to change the Fender Vintage Noiseless by the L-280S : 02 x L-280S in NECK & MIDDLE balanced well with the L-500 Lead

Output : compared to the Fender Texas Special and the Vintage Noiseless, the L-280S is a bit stronger ( around 15% )
Tone : Tight LOWS, articulated low and upper MIDS, sweet clean HIGHS. The amazing thing about this L-280S is it provide a sweet clean sound in all range, but if you strike hard, it gave you a bit of overdrive sound.
If you set these L-280S far away from the strings ( like Fender Vintage Noiseless ), you will have a very close STRAT's sound, specially in position 4 ( Neck & Middle ). BL claimed that the magnetic rods have a low pull, I did tried to raise the pickups closer to the strings, it surprisingly gave you a stronger output while maintaining all the clarity and sweetness of the sound. Most importantly, the sustain of the L-280S is fantastic. I tried a NECK pickup with Fuzz pedal through a Fender Twin, roll down the tone pot to 5,6 ... the L-280S sounds exactly like the PRS of Santana. How can the sound of a single coil can compare to a humbucker and at the same time, sparkle like a Fender Vintage Custom ? I can only say that's the secret of Bill ( & Becky ) at www.billlawrence.com

If I could afford to have more Fender Strat or Strat-like guitar, the BL pickups will be there, no hesitations. Bill Lawrence also has the L-200S, more stratty, the L-280S, the L-290S, the l-298S with Q-Filter.
The tone and sound of a guitar are completely a personal preference. I love dearly the Fender Strat sounds but I had to admit that the Fender single coils didn't fit any style of music, only some. But if you like something with more depht, fuller tone range, well-balanced sounds, go try the BL. I am having many amps ( Mesa Boogie, Roland, Fender, Marshall, Traynor ... ), stompboxes, pedals, Lexington rack FX ... the L-280S still surpassed the other pickups. I got the sound I want. That doesn't mean that the Kinman's, Gibson 490's, P-90, Seymour Duncan, Evans, Rio Grande, Di Marzio pickups are bad, except that I already bought a dozen of brand-new of them from the local music stores and now, they all sit in my drawer, I am wondering when they could be re-installed again on another guitar.
In short, the L-280S is a noiseless single coil but it has the Fender Strat sound, also a very good P-90, if tweaking your tone on the guitar and your amp, it became a clean warm and hot humbucker.
Anyway, with 01 guitar and 01 type of single coil pickup, you cannot have everything from this guitar world, but at least, BL had provided to all guitar players an opportunity to have something called * VERSATILE*, real versatile pickup at 40$US.

- Noiseless single coil. Passive
- Come in set of 03 for Neck, Middle, Bridge. Color : White, Cream, Black
- Cost : 40$ each
- Very well built.
- Axcurate pole spacing for each positions
- I bought only 02 for Neck and Middle in cream color

- Installed on my Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe Texas Special
- Replace the stock Fender Texas SC in Neck and Middle (reverse wind)
- Bridge pickup was Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker, now replaced by Bill Lawrence L-500L(Lead) Humbucker
- Reason to change : I need a noiseless Single Coil but with thicker, warmer sound while retaining the Fender Vintage sound.
Fender Texas SC is a true Single Coil, so, lots of hums. I once replaced by Fender Vintage Noiseless, really quiet, very nice highs, real Fender vintage stuff but still too thin, weak mids. The Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker in my bridge position was somewhat muddy,lacking of clarity in clean and overdrive mode,it fits only for high distortion,it actually doesn't balance and match with the stock Fender Texas SC, even worse with Fender Vintage Noiseless. How does that explain ? I can't explain how but just imagine the sound of Hank Marvins playing Cozy, Sleepwalk with Black Sabbath !!! Sorry, it is my subjective opinions but that's how I think about this combinaison of my Fender Strat. When advertising, Fender claims that this model is made for versatility with 02 Texas Special Single Coil and the SeymourDuncan Pearly Gates for a wide range of music style, but for me, these 03 pickups cannot mix and match in terms of sound & tone. That's why I did replaced it with the Bill Lawrence L-500Lead, full of harmonics and clarity.

I must first say that the sound and tone from a guitar are really something VERY SUBJECTIVE, it all depends on the user's preference. I would like to present my opinions at the most NEUTRAL level as possible. Everyone who wants to experiment a better sounding pickup must spend some bucks for it, for me, I consider as an investment to learn the new things. Let's go back to the L-280S.
Output : higher output compared to Fender Texas SC and Vintage Noiseless
Tone : very balanced with tight lows, articulated mids, sweet highs. It's about 20% warmer than Fender Vintage Noiseless, therefore, not as glassy as Fender's bell-like sound. If you could watch the Eric Clapton Crossroad DVD, Eric Clapton used a Fender with Mid-Boost TBX control to nail his sound, pushed up the Mids, that's what I meant by 20% warmer of the Bill Lawrence L-280S.
I am having many tube and solid state amps like Mesa Boogie, Marshall JCM 800, Fender Twin Reverb, Fender Stage 160, and many pedals like Line6 XT Live, Digitech RP, Boss GT-8, Tube Screammer, Hendrix Wah ...
For the first test, I plugged my guitar directly to any amp, setting at flat on all bass, mid, treble, no overdrive, no pedals, no effects, the L-280S of Bill Lawrence already gave me the extremely balanced tone and a sweet clean tone in all range. For a more agressive punch, I always used a D'Addario XL .10 gauge string set, I feel that the L-280S has a lot better tone range with this .10 set than the .09.
Then I tried it with different pedals, especially with the Fuzz, it sustains beautifully. In overdrive mode, the whole chord with 6 strings rings out without messing each other. Bill Lawrence made a set of 03 for 03 positions : Neck, Middle, Bridge. His pole spacing is very acurate for each position, or at least on my Neck and Middle ones
Style of music : blues, jazz, country, rock, hard rock

First to mention, if you want to have the L-280S, go the www.billlawrence.com and Becky, his wife, will communicate with you.
If for some reason it was damaged or stolen ( the whole guitar ) I would buy it again, and again , on another Fender American Deluxe because I am sure if it will sound the same on another guitar.
By this opportunity, I would like to thank all the reviewers who posted theirs ideas on the L-280S in Harmony-Central.com to help me making my own decision to try this pickup.
As I said, GUITAR SOUND AND TONE are all subjective matters in any way. There are many many many excellent pickup makes like Fender, Gibson, Fralins, Rio Grande, Kinmans, EMG etc ... how can you say that your pickup is the best when you cannot try all the other brands ? I have a few guitars with different pickups, so, I only dare to speak out whatever I feel, hear, experiment on what I have had. In this section, I can only compare the L-280S with Fender Texas Special, Fender Vintage Noiseless and the P90 on another Peavey Firenza of mine, as they are all single coil. Just to simplify the comparison, here is the image of all :
- Fender Texas Special : Stevie Ray Vaughn sound, with hum
- Fender Vintage Noiseless : clean, bell like tone, thin.
- Peavey P90 : in between single coil with noise and clean humbucker
- Bill Lawrence L-280S : in between the Fender Vintage Noiseless and P90, but no noise, dead quiet, higher output than Fender Vintage Noiseless and almost the same as P90, match perfectly with the L-500Lead.
Very important point : the L-280S works beautifully on my Fender American Deluxe Texas Special but it may not the same on another guitar. Different body wood and shape can also vary the sound.
Same idea, I replaced both of my P90 on my Peavey Firenza by the Bill Lawrence Mini-humbucker L-550Rhythm and L-550Lead ( made in 1979 ) to have my own sound with no noise. Also, my right decision.
38 years of playing as my second job in clubs, stages, studios, I am very happy with these L-280S. I now believe what other guitar players talking about this L-280S.
Words from any reviews are not enough to describe the sound. Try it yourself ! An absolute great value !

Single Coil Passive don't know the impediance for sure but my ohm meter reads a little over 6K Ohms.

I installed this L-280S in the bridge position of a Samick Telecaster. I know that this pickup was designed for the bridge postion of a Stratacaster but I wanted to make this Samick Telecaster sound more like a Strat. I replaced the stock Duncan designed bridge pick-up.

This pu has plenty of output, I play thru a Zoom Gfx-707 and a Peavey Heritage Amp.You can produce a lot of different tones with this pickup and it does not produce any hum at all unlike most single coil pickups.I play a great variety of music from Hendrix to Roy Clark, rock and roll, heavy metal, country, blues and Gospel and this pickup is great for all of them.

I would definitely order from Bill and Becky Lamrence again. This is the second pu I've bought from them. I've been playing for over 40 years and I love these pick-ups. I think I've found my sound.

SIngle Coil Passive

'57 reissue Strat. Middle and Bridge (L200 in neck pos.) Replaced stock single coils. The stock pick-ups did not sound good to my ears.

Much higher output. These pick-ups can(and should) be palce as close to the strings as possible. I use these mainly with a Fender Bassman and Super Reverb. Very good tonal balance and clarity. I play electric blues and related rock music. They are well suited to any style.

I needed a strat that I could play in clubs where alot of amp hum is generated with single coil pickups. These pick-ups are very quiet and have very little loss in tone or clarity. My preferred strat has Lindy Fralin Hot Vintage pick-ups and they sound so good that I will put up with a fair amount of noise to use them, but sometimes it is too much. The L280s solves the problem and still sounds very good. The difference between these pick-ups and the Fralins can only be noted in a very quiet room and a good ear. I also have a strat with Fender Hot Noiseless Pick-ups and the L280s is far superior. At $40 a piece they are the best value out there.

Pickup features:
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: fender american strat 1998
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level:
Tone: clear and balanced, lush
Sonic evaluation: becky says bill's pickups are like "a clear glass of water" and that pretty much is it...or a waterfall, or a lazer beam. I roll the tone control back to 7 on my strat...they have plenty of brightness available. it's been so long since I had a regular single coil in this guitar that I can't really compare on that front. with my deaf eddie fat-o-caster switch (allows for extra pickup selections with no cosmetic change to the guitar) and these pickups, it's one hell of a guitar. very versatile. today with my newly updated rig, I nailed one of the most beautiful tones I've always wanted to get...crowning of a heart by the Trail of Dead. amazing tone, truly, it's inspiring, and no noise. string balance is perfect. definitely a bargain.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: i'd sort of prefer traditional appearance with protruding poles (they are flush to the cover)...but that's a small quibble

Pickup features: Stacked Humbuckers
Impedence or other specs: Unkown

Model of guitar or bass: Japanese Standard Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Japanese Single Coils
Other pickups on guitar: None now
Artists using this pickup: Aerosmith
You musical style(s): Blues, Country, Rock
Reason for pickup change: The neck and the mid pickups did not work at point of purchace.

Perceived output level: Modern High Output Strat Tone. If you are familiar with either Stevie Vaugh's or Eric Clapton's tone that he used on the Rober Johnson tribute albums then you'll be pretty close.
Tone: Neck, very P90 like, mid good over all blends well with either neck or bridge pickups. Classic Strat tone but without hum and a little more mids and slightly less highs. Some people will say these are NOT a classic single coil tone, and they'd be right but they are very modern punchy usable and musical pickups/
Sonic evaluation: Early 90's Japanese Standard Strate with vintage trem. Basswood or poplar body, maple neck and fretboard. Amp, Rivera MS60, Boogie MK1, Marshall Mas Vaulve. Every amp I've tried it through has brought out different tonal characteristics in the guitar and all of them very usable. I have my Rivera set up to emulate a vintage Twin Delux and I'm able to really peg a great Stat tone with it. Through the Boogie MK1, classic rock and blues and through the Marshall it's a fire breathing dragon.
The neck L280S has a very P90 quality to it, great for blues, jazz or swing.
The real suprise it the bridge pickup, the L290S because of it's balance and smoothness of tone.
Unlike a lot of "vintage" style Strat pickups that use stagged magnets the BL L280S and L290S use leveled magnets that I believe to contribute to it's evenness in tone.
These pickups may not be for vintage snobs so it that's your deal then Dave Stephan's in the freakin' man when it comes to "vintage" voiced pickups but if you want punchy, rich, warm, modern Strat pickups you can play any style of music I would highly reocmend these.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Any

Comments: Very good very good so nothing to complain about. I've played a ton of Strats looking for "the one" and it's my oppinion and my oppinion alone that most stock Fender pickups are nothing to write home about (thin, under powered, noisy, and range from shrill and irritating to flat and uninspired) so it's a good thing that there are aftermarket compainies like Bill Lawerence unlike the dark ages of the 70's and 80's.
I've played these pickups back to back to one the best sounding Strats I know, a mid 80's Japanes Standard and while the L280S and L290S do not reproduce a single coil's toppieness they won't lead you to the road of ruin either. If I had to compair them to any single coil's out there they, to my ear, sound closer to either some of the newer G&L Legacy pickups or, as in the case of the neck, a good P90. Lace leave me flat... Duncans are good but uninspiring... and I've been really surprized by a set of EMG pickups lately but really it's up to you.
I am very happy and hand no reason to go else where.
As far as the whole Kinman / Lawerence battle goes, to both camps, put a sock in it will you both companies put out top notch products and given it will now be very difficult to have Kiman products imported to the US the point it largely moot. Since that means that Kinman is effectively out of the picture for the US market Dave Stephen's SD pickups will rock your world.
Hey, for less than $50 a pickup these are amazing pickups not only for this price but any price.

Pickup features: Set of 3 passive Single Coil electric pickups
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Strat Squier
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Squier Pickups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues, Jazz, Folk
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a thicker sound with more punch, along with a noiseless single coil.

Perceived output level: Hotter than the stock pickups by far
Tone: crisp tone with strong mid response. A little light on the highs, can be fixed with different capacitor
Sonic evaluation: Using my Fender Strat Squier and Line 6 Spider II 112 amp.
The pickups sound a lot "thicker" than the stock. The overall tone added a lot more "crunch" in the neck pickup position setting. The Middle position (phase inverted I believe) provided the cleanest tone. The bridge position provided additional crunch without as much high-end response.
Overall a definate improvement in sound quality, and provided me with exactly the "sound" I was searching for.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Rock, Folk, Blue and Jazz

Comments: I would buy this set of pickups again in a heartbeat if they were lost, stolen or consumed my metal-eating termites.
I haven't been playing too long (in comparison to some) with only a year and a half experiance on my side. These pickups are spectacular sounding to my ears, and definately have a pleasingly unique tone. I wish I had a guitar featuring humbuckers to try out Bill's humbucking pickups.

Pickup features: passive noiseless
Impedence or other specs: output 2.5 henries

Model of guitar or bass: Home made strat style
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: L-465
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues-rock
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: depends on distance to strings
Tone: vintage strat
Sonic evaluation: I have acess to original 63 strat pups, so you may be interested in how they compare. I use the L280's in a modern homemade strat type guitar, but swapping the true single coils from 63, into this guitar reveals that the Lawrence noiseless pup's are superior overall. Also swapping the L280's into the vintage guitar reveals that they do indeed nail the vintage strat tone, when in an actual vintage strat.
First the L280's are completely noiseless, and they sound almost identical to the 63 strat puckups in tone, and output, when set the same distance from strings. The L280's have the bell like pick attack we associate with true single coils. I find the L280's to be even clearer, with more tonal depth. Your hearing the guitar, not the pickup, as with most popular strat sized humbuckers and rail pickups. Moreover, the L280's have very low magnetic string pull, so they give superior sustain, than vintage strat pickups can, and you can also set them much closer to the strings. This dramatically increases the output, and can give a more modern responce along with the increased sustain. I really like this versatility, and I set the L280's closer, than I could with the vintage strat pup's, myself. My L280 set has flat flush pole peices so the string to string balance is perfect, using modern 10's, with an unwrapped G string. With the low string pull of the Lawrences, you don't need something like 11's or 13's to get power and sustain, and the lighter strings prove rather sensitive to picking dynamics.
I found that the L280's sound identical to the true single coils from 63, when using a five way switch, and using the in-between 2&4 positions.
Through traditional Fender Tweed/Marshall plexi type amps they do the blues true to form, or with different settings, Mark Knopler especially well. Through an overdrive unit or a high gain amp they sing sweetly with no harshness.
I really like the true single coils from the 63 strat too, but I know the Lawrences can closely duplicate the sound of a true SC in a noiseless package, with important additional sonic improvements too. I must let you know what I know from my actual experiance, after seeing what has been written here. I'm not associated with Bill and Becky Lawrence in any way, other than I have purchased some very fine pickup's directly from them.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: blues/rock-excellant match

Comments: These pup's are perfect for my home made strat style guitar, and an excellant value. I would diffinately reccomend Bill and Becky's products.

Pickup features: Noiceless single coil-sized
Impedence or other specs: ask Mr and Mrs Busy

Model of guitar or bass: US Vintage reissue Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: -
Artists using this pickup: -
You musical style(s): -
Reason for pickup change: things change...

Perceived output level: -
Tone: stratty tone without the characteristics of the sigle coils
Sonic evaluation:
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: -

Comments: I'm the angry person who shake my fist at people all day and cannot make a call at 9pm....
Hey my friend, get out of your problems, nobody is against you...
we are all guitar players.
Don't get pissed because "your uncle's" pickups are being reviwed under a different point of view.
And this time i came prepared.
I tried the pickups and also had the chance to -somehow- A/B them.
I found a guy who had two identical strats, one traditional and one noise-free.
The traditional had Duncan SSL-1's on, and the other had the L-280's.
Man, the Lawrences CANNOT produce the classic single-coil tone!
Being humbuckers in disguise, they have the pressence and upper mid content but not the "spark" and the "air" of a single-coil.
Face it people, Single-coil tone is produced ONLY by single-coil pickups!
All the others are just close or distant APPROACHES.
And this applies for the kinmans and everything else on the market as well.
Once again, Mr Busy does a good job trying to simulate the true single-coil tone at a very low price, but he could reconsider his marketing policies a bit.
Now that he collaborates with the big guys at Fender...
As for this really excitable fella who bought his pickups and is happy with them, Take a pill amigo!
...and maybe a set of true single-coils... hehe :)
then, i'll call you for a chat. (but don't shoot me if i disagree with you, ok?)
I think i would save my money for something more original, but for
low budget noise-free projects these pickups are the best.
And the fact that they cost so little, makes some people who bought them really fanatic with their choice.
That's good marketing Mr Lawrence. Bravo!...

Pickup features: Noise-free single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Warmoth Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level:
Tone:
Sonic evaluation:
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: "GOT IT?"..."Wise guy"? Wow, you're a very angry person. You must go through your day shaking your fist at people. To anyone out there considering Bill Lawrence pickups - don't let this furious character deter you. For all he knows, his e-mail was never received, perhaps lost by the server. And he can't be bothered to make an international call at 9 PM to have his questions answered. So if you want noiseless pickups and don't want to shell out the cash for Kinmans, these are an excellent alternative. If you don't get an immediate reply to your e-mail, go ahead and try the telephone...it's not so bad! Really! :)