Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I bought this online yesterday because I thought it looked kewl. It's a 1963 Fender Jaguar thats been refinished and had lots of mods like the quazi "steampunk" anodized aluminum pickguard,Bill Lawrence pickups,2 mini switches for coil splitting and Grover tuners.

Well I love it. Please comment on the tone with those pups.

That is really cool!

Thanks! These pickups are very hot.They are the original Bill Lawrence hot L-500L and L-500R pickups made around 1979. The lead pickup has the same specs as the latter L-500XL(Dimebag Darrell's favorite pickup).

The "L" is actually a little less loud than the "XL" of Dimebag fame. Very cool you got the real ones-meaning from the guy who invented them and still makes them as opposed the the guy DBA him-oh those legal lovelies. Anyways, big difference in the pickups, which while being high output, are very bright and clear still. I currently have a set of L90s in my Les Paul and the really sound like a brighter, punchier PAF.

The Jag looks great, and I'm sure it has a fantastic tone and plenty of versatility. Enjoy!

I absolutely love that guitar Mitch.

Thanks for the posts! The reason I believe these are the early hot L-500L and L-500R pickups is that that they they are crazy loud.It almost sounds like the guitar has a built-in pre-amp. The bridge pickup seems to have way more output than the Dimarzio Dual Sound pickup I have in the bridge of my Rick 480. Also,they match the description of the early versions I found on the Bill Lawrence Review website

They have chrome housings, 2.150 inch long curved blades and there is no imprint on the back like the post 1981 pickups

"The L-500 magnetic electric guitar pickup was released by Lawrence Sound Research (LSR) in 1979. Inheritor to the L-90XL throne, the L-500 was the next stage in the evolution of the ultimate guitar pickup by Bill Lawrence(Willi Lorenz Stich). Initially available as Lead/bridge (L-500L) with 9.6 Henry and Rhythm/neck (L-500R) with 4.8 Henry.

The L-500 line would grow in 1981 with the creation and annexing of the cleaner sounding L-510L pickup. Some renaming ensued and by the end of 1981 the hot original L-500L was renamed the L-500XL, with the cleaner L-510L becoming the new L-500L. The L-500R did not change in name or design and the L-510R was dropped for the time being."