The Steel Guitar Forum

I once had an LG111 with the Pentad - I found four of the five 'options' unusable (for me, anyway) and just one that was fairly close to a standard Emmons s/c. Never again!

BL710

Show Pro SD10
I like the 710 the most.

Humbucker: Original Lawrence 705

Single-Coil: Original hand-made Franklin (late 70s, very early 80s)

Emmons single coil at most any winding between 16 and 20k. Just A/B'd an Emmons 108N humbucking pickup against another popular brand and it beat it, hands down.

My favourites are the BL 710 for lacquer guitars, and BL 705 for mica guitars.

Ken, interesting... can you elaborate? I know that sound samples i've heard of the 705 on mica's are excellent, most of my guitars are lacquer... any experience with the 9xx series compared to the 7xx series?

Tom Gorr wrote:Ken, interesting... can you elaborate? I know that sound samples i've heard of the 705 on mica's are excellent, most of my guitars are lacquer... any experience with the 9xx series compared to the 7xx series?

Tom,
Talking to guys like Paul Franklin, Mike Johnson and Bobbe Seymour over the years, they all felt that the pronounced midrange of mica covered steel guitars was a perfect match for the ultra clear and sweet tone of the 705. A few weeks back, I was privileged to see tonehound extraordinaire Mike Johnson playing at close quarters on both his Red Emmons push pull and one of his Franklin guitars. He had 705's fitted to both, and his tone was just phenomenal.

I have a Show Pro lacquer body with 710 pickups, and just love the highly detailed yet warm tone of the 710. I have heard that Lloyd Green favours the 710 for the LDG that he has. The 710 is quite hot, but I love the big tone that it generates.

I have a pair of original chrome surround 705's on my mica Emmons push pull, and have a pair of the modern ones on order to go on one of my other mica guitars.

I will get some 710's to go on my Sho~Bud.

Sorry, but I have never tried the 9 series Lawrence pickups, so cannot give an A/B comparison.

That's great info Ken...I might try one of those next, as I have never had one...Are they still being made? It's a humbucker isent it?

Bill Lawrence sadly passed away fairly recently, but many of his products are still being produced. http://www.wildepickups.com/Steel_Guitar_Pickups.html

Mullen G2 with factory issued single coils. My favorite tone.
My Mullen Royal Precision has re-issue black cased Lawrence 705s when I need to be very quiet.

1 - Emmons Pentad….5 Way Pickup
4 - Emmons Single Coil

1 - Franklin Single Coil – Hand Made

1 - Jackson Single Coil

2 - George L E66
1 - George L EON
1 - George L PPP
1 - George L GFI III

5 - Lawrence 710
6 - Lawrence 705 (didn’t specify original or re-issue)
1 - Lawrence 705 (original)
2 - Lawrence 705 (re-issue)

2 - Mullen Single Coil

1 - Shot Jackson

2 - Tonealigner
1 - Telonics 409

4 - Wallace Truetone

Gary, I'm curious as to whether you're just wondering what other people buy, or are seeking guidance for your next pickup (or next guitar). I'm less concerned with what others buy than what will produce the sound I'm after. That's most likely either the Truetone or the Alumitone (although I'm looking forward to trying the ToneAligner that I've got)

You know how speakers have frequency curves?

I'd love to see frequency response curves of all these pickups overlaid on one graph...

Wallace true tone on my Carter uni.

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

True Tone in my Zum U-12. It's wound at 19.5 and sounds great.
I've never experienced any hum or buzz in any place I've played at.
My Zum originally came with a BL 912, but, it was too dark sounding for me.

John...My Carter Uni first came with a Lawrence 712...but I decided to go for the Wallace truetone. I prefer single coils...she doesn't hum even with the V/pedal wide open

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

BL 710 and my second choice would be the single coil Emmons

Telonics 427. [ 12 string adjustable poles ]

George L GFI III

Wallace Truetone, you just can't get that single coil sound out of a humbucker, although some come pretty close. I still say, get what sounds good to your own ears.

1 - Emmons Pentad….5 Way Pickup
4 - Emmons Single Coil

1 - Franklin Single Coil – Hand Made

1 - Jackson Single Coil

2 - George L E66
1 - George L EON
1 - George L PPP
2 - George L GFI III

6 - Lawrence 710
6 - Lawrence 705 (didn’t specify original or re-issue)
1 - Lawrence 705 (original)
2 - Lawrence 705 (re-issue)

2 - Mullen Single Coil

1 - Shot Jackson

2 - Tonealigner
1 - Telonics 409
1 - Telonics 427

8 - Wallace Truetone

My red lacquer Emmons has original BL 705s. Tremendous tone, especially thru my Twin Reverb.