Bill Lawrence at Work 1996

A Note from Bill Lawrence

All my pickups fulfill the five most important things any player is looking for: output, dynamics, transparency, versatility, and a balanced tonal response.

Every pickup is made to perfection. 

Each coil is carefully wound to precise specifications which insures that the coils are free from any internal shorts to guarantee a consistent sound quality. All pickups are treated with high temperature resistant wax to reduce micro phonic squealing. 

Finally, each pickup has to pass our quality control check. 

We measure the DC and the total resistance, the inductance and the Q Factor; but most importantly, I have developed a system that detects minor shorts or semi-shorts in a coil. These shorts will cause eddy currents to flow in the coil. Eddy currents interfere with the signal, alter the sound reproduction and cause severe losses. All coils must be free of internal eddy current interferences to pass our final inspection.

Our product is our advertisement.

Our History

After producing for OEM since 1991, Bill Lawrence and his wife Becky started selling direct to players in 1996 from their shop in Bethlehem, PA under Wilde (William Lawrence Design) and Keystone. In addition to the L500, they started Bill’s Noisefree Singles line with the L280, as well Bill’s redesigns of the bass and steel guitar pickups. Their daughter Shannon first started making pickups during this time as a teenager!

Bill and Becky relocated to Southern California in 2003 as Bill designed and set up production for the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless series, featured in Fender’s American Deluxe series released in 2006. During this time, he added his alternative proposals to the Noisefree Singles — the L200 and L298! Bill and Becky also released the single-coil Keystones, inspired by Bill's research studying dozens of the best examples of early 60s pickups, and reissued the iconic L90, the first dual blade humbucker. Bill’s last projects were the L45/L48 and the Microcoils, his personal favorites and proudest achievements in design work. We offer all of these original designs as our program today!