How Do The Bill Lawrence (Wilde) Micro Coils Compare To Traditional Tele Pickups?

A couple of weeks ago I showed you my Ron Kirn Barnbuster that I'd just fitted with some Don Mare Hot Bakelite pickups - and I was absolutely loving them. Though ever since I bought the guitar, I've equally been enjoying the pickups it originally came with...some Bill Lawrence-made Micro Coils. Despite being made very differently to 'traditional' Tele pickups, they sounded fantastic...if a tiny bit glassy.

Sadly, Bill is no longer with us - but his wife and daughter still make Micro Coils under the name Wilde Pickups. And what's more, they're only $105 for the pair...incredible value for money; especially compared to the $346 I paid for the Don Mares! A lot of people have asked me about the pickups since I've been featuring the guitar on the channel, and when I said I was planning on swapping them out, a few of you expressed an interest in finding out exactly how they might compare to whatever I was going to replace them with.

So today, we'll be doing exactly that - finding out how the Bill Lawrence/Wilde Micro Coils are similar and/or different to some of the finest Tele pickups you can get (or, with now Don changing how he does business, perhaps NOT get!)

What do you think? Which were your favourite? And why? Comment below!

Amps are a Vajra JTM45 clone and Orange Retro 50 running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Gold & Fane A30 AlNiCo speakers. Recorded with Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.

0:00 Intro
3:20 Clean Playing
5:43 Gainy Playing
8:06 Outro


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