What's the story on Bill Lawrence offsets?

[WonderCouncil]

Not his pickups, but actual guitars. I can't find much on them, mostly pictures of strat and tele copies. The reason I ask is because of this photo I came across...



That green one...I want .

Here's where the picture came from...
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... rev=search
I'm guessing they were MIJ/CIJ guitars from the 80s/90s. The ones I've come across, in the strat and tele variety have a different headstock design though. Maybe those are older ones and these in the photo are new models. Assuming their for the Japan market only.

So what's the word on them?

[mackerelmint]

whoa! That green one is sexy, all right.

[veryredtomatoes]

I had one of the teles. It was pretty ok, but then, teles, as many as I've tried, just ain't my thing.

[saxjag]

AFAIK, the "Bill Lawrence USA" guitars were assembled in Korea for a former business partner of Bill Lawrence who parted ways with him in the early 1980s and -- according to the terms of a legal/financial settlement -- got to keep the rights to the business name "Bill Lawrence USA." The pickups in those guitars may be based on Bill Lawrence's designs & superficially resemble them, but are not considered the real thing by purists.

The actual Bill Lawrence -- Willi Lorenz Stich -- died recently, but his wife & daughter have continued his pickup-winding business (Wilde Pickups) and from what I hear, have maintained his techniques and quality. He was not a greedy man, nor are his successors; these are top-notch pickups at rock-bottom prices.

I've got one authentic Bill Lawrence pickup, an L500XL double-bladed humbucker, in a lap steel guitar. Clear tone, authoritative lows, rich harmonics. The man was a genius.

[Stereordinary]

Lev, I love that you have so much reverence for Bill Lawrence. Truly, he's an innovator of high caliber, and really deserves to be a name on the mind of every guitar fan.

[saxjag]

Yeah, it's a shame that Fender and Gibson kept clipping his wings, allegedly 'coz his design innovations & electrical gizmos would've been too costly to implement.

Your beloved Gibson L6S would have been even more awesome if they'd produced it the way Lawrence spec'd it.

[Stereordinary]

You're totally right. I only wish I had a schematic for what he had originally planned.

[frelonvert]

Ok... I am on it ^^
Just make it a race, the first one to find info on this, win a OSG sticker ?

[saxjag]

You could try contacting Becky at Wilde...

[frelonvert]

It is not an easy one^^
Searching on these, I have found out those stranges mad cats and offsets H.S. Anderson guitars:

[saxjag]

I quote the following line from an H.S. Anderson Mad Cat guitar spec:
"The original Keiyo pickups were upgraded to Bill Lawrence USA vintage."

Again, the pickups sold under the name "Bill Lawrence USA" are not from the workshop of the actual Bill Lawrence.

Real Bill Lawrence pickups are sold under the Wilde or Keystone name. You can contact Becky Lawrence (Bill's wife) here.

[frelonvert]

From "Ishibashi"... very gentle people there... they don't remember the model, Bill Lawrence for sure but that brand has been stop by Moridaira in the early 2000's. The picture is from a japanese guitar show (gakkifair) in 1999.

[Ben17e]

I can't say I know much about the Lawrence guitars but know there is a line that was (is?) made in Japan or for the Japanese market. Bill seems to have built a few guitars here as well but the Japan guitars seemingly have little or nothing to do with him. Perhaps he was involved at the start and sold it off or something.
His own products really are nice. I have some of the last microcoils that he initialed and a newer set wound after he passed I believe. Responsible for a lot more innovation than most realize.

[frelonvert]

I've got an answer from Moridaira (Morris, HS Anderson, Bill Lawrence...):

"Dear Joseph,

Thank you for your inquiry.
Yes, those are made by our factory in Japan.
Those were a special show model for the Tokyo music show. More than 10 years
ago.
We did not set a model name for those and one shot production for the show.
Thank you.

Best regards,
Yusaku "

[WonderCouncil]

Wow, thanks everyone for the replies! Lots of good info, and thank you frelonvert for taking the time to email. Didn't occur to me, though not sure I would have known who to contact anyways hah. I figured it was an older picture, just not that old. Well there goes any ideation of possibly finding one!

Not related, only to the original link, I still would love to track down one of those Fujigen PP series guitars. Better yet the Naoko Yamano Signature . Willing to wager those are hard to come by too, at least in the States. Never actually seen one for sale, just lots of pictures.

It's good hearing all the respect for Mr. Lawrence. It was definitely a great lose when he passed away. He was nothing but amazing the few times I emailed with questions regarding his pickups. Becky Lawrence is with out a doubt carrying that kindness and warmth on too. I had emailed them a while back about seeing if I could purchase a single Microcoil, unfortunately for me they only offer them in sets. For the price of a set though, I may have to just bite the bullet and come up with a project for them. I tend to favor single pickup guitars so maybe three projects hah!