Bill Lawrence
24Also known as: Wilde Pickups, Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups, Wilde, Bill Lawrence Pickups, WildeUSA
UnclaimedBill Lawrence is a guitar pickup brand founded by the late German-born designer Willi Lorenz Stich (1931–2013), who worked in the US as Bill Lawrence after earning a reputation as a jazz guitarist in post-war Europe under the stage name Billy Lorento. Lawrence is widely credited with pioneering the aftermarket replacement pickup market and spent portions of his career designing for Gibson (incl...
in Acoustic Guitar Pickups Rank
Bill Lawrence is a guitar pickup brand founded by the late German-born designer Willi Lorenz Stich (1931–2013), who worked in the US as Bill Lawrence after earning a reputation as a jazz guitarist in post-war Europe under the stage name Billy Lorento. Lawrence is widely credited with pioneering the aftermarket replacement pickup market and spent portions of his career designing for Gibson (including work on the L6-S and early humbucker variants), Fender (notably the SCN samarium-cobalt noiseless pickups used in American Deluxe instruments and pickups for the Roscoe Beck signature basses), Framus, and Peavey.
Lawrence and his wife Becky began selling direct to players in 1996 under the Wilde (an acronym of William Lawrence Design) and Keystone names. The catalog is built around his own designs, including the L-500 blade humbucker, the twin-blade L-90, the L-280 noise-cancelling single-coils, and the FT-145 acoustic soundhole pickup. The pickups are hand-wound in the United States, and the brand has long had a following among players looking for hum-free single-coil tones and high-output blade humbuckers.
A separate company trading as Bill Lawrence USA also operates using the Lawrence name but is not affiliated with the family business or with pickups designed by Bill Lawrence himself — a point the Wilde operation has publicly emphasized to buyers seeking Lawrence's original designs.
Bill Lawrence has 8 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Electric Guitar Pickups, Solid Body Electric Guitars, and Acoustic Guitar Pickups. Their gear is featured by 14 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock, Metal, and Folk, World, & Country. Notable users include Roy Buchanan, Leda, and Dimebag Darrell.
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