Dear Bill and Becky, I recently bought and installed a set of 280's for a MIM Strat as I was not pleased with the stock pickups at all. I just want to tell you that this $300 plack of wood sounds like a guitar worth four time the price! I'm totally amazed at the tones I can coax out of this guitar. You guys are the best. Rock On!!!!!!!

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Hi Becky, Re: our chat earlier today. I just put the paypal payment through for the L90s for my daughter, Lena, who will be leaving for Canada in early May. As a going away present, I was going to put a pair of L600s in her guitar last night, but when she heard the old L90XL in one of my guitars, she said that the L90 had the sound that she loves. So I said, I'd ring you to see if it was possible to get a pair of L90s quickly so that I can install them before she leaves. Thank you, Becky, for accommodating our tight schedule! I had already told her that the L90s were legendary and had not been made since the 70s and that many guitarists from that era had recorded using them. None of that seemed to impress her. But when she heard them last night, she was amazed ( -: I mentioned that they should be cream colored, but I forgot to confirm with you that they would be splittable. She already has series/parallel wiring in her guitar and splittable L90s would be perfect replacements.

Your description of the L90s as a cross between a P90 and a humbucker makes a lot of sense to me. I had described it to friends as a P90-ish sounding humbucker. I only own the one old L90XL that I recently bought 2nd hand (it's a bit dirty and rusty - even after a good cleaning), but it is hands down my favorite bridge pickup. Somehow Bill has designed a pickup capable of warmth and clarity, with a lot of headroom, capable of great snarl and creamy distortion, very sensitive to pinch harmonics, sounds beautiful clean and with any amount of gain, too. It's simply perfect!

For years I have been considering trying some BL pickups in my Newburgh Steinberger GM5 (S/H). The stock EMGs sound immaculate in it, and I really love their clarity, but they are a bit too hot for my taste. So, finally, I have decided to replace them with BLs, and I'm considering an L500 4.8H (which I have) for the bridge and an L45 for the neck (slanted). I think that this combination of pickups will remain faithful to the concept of Steinberger tone, which is full range clarity and power, but with a bit less heat than the EMGs. Does my selection make sense to you, Becky? If so, can you tell me when those new L45s will be available? Unless, you think the L45 would not suit this guitar and concept, I would buy one as soon as they become available!!! As usual, it was a pleasure to chat with you today, Becky. Thanks to you and Bill for making me sound excellent, even if my playing isn't quite in that category yet ( -; All the best, Marc

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Thanks! BTW your word of mouth advertising does work. I approached an electronics technician I work with about installing some new Fender pickups, and he heartily recommended you guys instead!

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Hi Bill & Becky, After explaining to Becky the sort of tones I was after she recommended the L-280TN and L-290TL for my G&L ASAT. I want to tell you guys, these are great pickups. The L-290TL has all the twang and definition you could ask for, yet the low end is solid and it's not at all harsh on top. Works great with OD pedals too. The L-280TN sounds somewhat Strat-like to me, a little scooped with plenty of chime and jangle. Nice low end, never muddy. What a versatile guitar I have now. And it's noiseless. Amazing. Thanks to you, Becky, for your recommendations and professional service, and kudos to you, Bill, for designing and building some very fine pickups right here in the U.S.A. for a very reasonable price. Sincerely, Dave

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Hi, I just finished installing the pickup that you sent me and I am very much pleased with the way that it sounds. I've never played any guitar in my life that had a neck pickup that sounds as good as the one that I just put in my guitar, ever! Now that I have the complete set (bridge and neck L500XL), it has the fullest sound I've ever heard. Absolutely incredible. The pickups sound great both clean or with gain. If I ever need any pickups for another guitar, I won't hesitate to order more from you. Thanks for taking the time to built these wonderful sounding pieces of equipment.
Sincerely, Matt

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Becky, I received the pickups on Tuesday and they are fantastic. I installed them last night. The L-200 are absolutely dead quiet unbelievable. The L-90 sounds fantastic, nice crunch, distorts well. I cannot comprehend how you guys do it. The price I paid for 3 pickups is close to some on the larger manufacturers one pickup price. Once again thank you very much. Greg

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Becky, FYI, I went back to the original Esquire wiring with the 290 TLE and I can't keep my hands off of this guitar! The noiseless pickup is wild! I can turn my rig all the way up, and not hear any noise at all until I stroke the strings (not that I do that). The pickup is beautiful! It is so clear and pretty when played clean and it feeds a dirty sound from my amp just as well. Again, words can't express how happy I am with this pickup as well as the Keystones for Telecasters. Steve

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Dear Becky I hope you are well. I just wanted you to confirm my order for 3 L-280S pick ups. I left my order via website & paid via Paypal $168.50 including shipping cost to Japan. Please confirm my order. PS: I just received L290TL-E, 280TN & 290TL. Thank you so much! It sounds amazing. Clear & Fat & Warm. Thank you for outstanding pick ups! So Now, I wanted to have replacement pick ups for my stratcaster! Many Thanks Best, H.K.

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Dear Bill and Becky-- Thanks for advising me to go with 280s in the neck and middle and a 290 in the bridge for my 2007 USA Hwy 1 Stratocaster.

As we discussed, I play mostly blues and blues-rock, and I was looking for something that maintained classic Strat "cluck/quack" and single-coil clarity, while having enough power to push a gritty tone. I was using an older Seymour Duncan JB mini-humbucker strat pickup in the bridge, and the stock single coils in the neck and middle. I am extremely pleased with the tone of these pickups-- I just dropped them straight in and they sound terrific! The single-coil hum is gone, which was a real problem in our practice studio, where there are lots of flourescent lights and crummy power going into my vintage tube amp, making hum problems much worse.

And the tone is really, really awesome. The 290 has just as much rock and roll bite-- for things like Allman Brothers and ZZ Top-- as the Duncan did, but with a much nicer tone-more depth and color. The Duncan by comparison sounds really flat-- as an analogy, think of the difference in richness of tone between AM and FM radio. All of the pickups have enough power to push my Keeley O/D pedal and vintage tube amp, and they are really responsive to the volume knob. I just set up my amp and pedal, and then control everything from the volume knob and pickup switch-- going from quiet and clean to hot Stevie Ray Vaughn, Clapton, Hendrix, and Allman Bros, just by diming the volume knob and selecting various pickup combinations.

The pickups are all balanced, too-- it's not like the 290 is dramatically different from the 280s. I was worried that I might be erring on the side of too clean and quiet with these pickups, but they are just right-- I get all the tones I want, from clean and quiet to classic rock/blues lead tones.

The pickups are not too "ice-picky", and they respond very well to tone knob adjustments, still maintaining a rich character. I find that I often have the tone on the bridge pickup at about 8 or 7 instead of dimed. The pickups also look extremely well-produced-- very clean housings, neat wires, perfect color-- very high quality control. They fit exactly into the stock Strat pickguard-- no filing needed, but also no slop at all. Of course, I am sure that pickguards are not built to such exacting tolerances, so I was probably just lucky. But these pickups really look and feel like they were constructed very carefully and precisely, with noticeable cosmetic improvements from the 280s that I bought from you maybe 4 years ago for a Fender Mustang that I have since sold. I was giving up on this guitar, relying more on my Tele (Barden-equipped) and stock Gibson Les Paul for gigs-- but now that I have these pickups in I am loving this Strat!!

Last, the one nickel/two nickel pickup height adjustment was a good place to start, but I found that the best tone for me was obtained by raising all pickups just a little bit closer to the strings, and by having the pickups all just a little further away from the 4,5,6, strings and a touch closer to the 1,2,3 strings-- for better amplitude balance and response across the strings. Of course, that's all a matter of personal taste and would also vary with string gauges, etc. I would recommend that everyone start by using your one-nickel/two-nickel rule of thumb, and then fine adjust the height from there using their ears as a guide. That's how I did it. And of course, your pricing is extremely fair! Thanks a million, Bill and Becky!

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I just wanted to tell you again how happy i am with the L-200TN and L-290 bridge pickups. The L-200 is the first and only telecaster neck pickup I have tried that i can play alone w/out it sounding muddy. Which isn't saying too much because i had only tried fender low ends. But, really, I rave about it, everyone I let try it compliments you guys. now, if only they would pot their money where their mouths are. The first words out of one of my friends mouth was how straty it sounds; now he's always asking me to bring it over. Oh, and by the way, I figured out the reason I had to take my compressor out of the chain for the L-200 to not distort turned out to be a not the greatest soldering job on the volume ground and very dirty Pots on the amp. Needless to say, I'm looking for another guitar to upgrade to your pickups. Hummm, I have an old Yamaha P bass. You'll be hearing from me, I'm sure. You guys are such a class act... Best Wishes, George

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Becky, installation went smooth and the guitar is up and running. ( L-200T set) They sound gorgeous! Thanks for the excellent product and service. My wife was laughing when she heard me request an autographed picture of you rather than Bill. Happy Birthday to Bill! Regards, Cliff

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Hello Bill & Becky, I just had an L-500 & an L-500XL installed in my Epiphone Shreaton and they sound incredible. An amazing improvement in tone. It's like getting a new & better guitar. Thanks for your knowledge. Keep up the good work Danny

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Bill, & Becky, Hello, just wanted to let you know that I believe I have finally found the right pickups for my Les Paul Studio that I use for slide. The L 90's are sounding pretty darn good it that guitar. However I may want to brighten the neck pickup just a little bit. The guitar currently has 250K pots in all positions. What pot value is Bill recommending for the L 90's? Also what pot value is recommended for the new L 45S pickups? Thanks Joe

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