What do y`all know about Bill Lawrence guitars?

[sneaky]

saw a strat type today, MIJ and the screws are all rusty. The back of the neck has a bite taken out of it, the body is all scratched and beat up...but...it has two single blade humbuckers. And those are what interest me. It says Bill Lawrence on the headstock and the serial number is 43496. Did he actually make guitars, or have a deal with a Japanese company? I`ve read about some bogus BL guitars, and see Bill`s Brothers guitars here in Japan but they are MIK... and seem to be very poor quality.
ANY input will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Dave Paetow]

I've come across a few MIJ Bill Lawrence guitars, they seemed pretty nice to me. I'm sure someone like Fuji Gen Gakki over there made them for Bill.

[SMark]

If you are referring to the Strat and Tele style guitars with the "Hooked Tele" headstock, I had one of those Strats for a couple years (before giving it to my son) and it was a pretty decent guitar actually. I think I bought it used for $200. And, to be fair, while they are not made by The Bill Lawrence that we all know and love, they aren't really bogus either. "Wilde" Bill Lawrence apparently sold the rights to use his name on guitars and pickups quite some time ago, and the owner of the "Bill Lawrence" trade name is very much in business today. So apparently even now there is somewhat of a riff between them since Bill is making pickups once again with his name on them.

But Bill has stated that these guitars are not his. He had those "Wilde" branded guitars a short time ago but they apparently never really took off. And all the "fake" Lawrence pickups, such as those sold by Stew Mac, are products of that other Bill Lawrence company that supposedly owns the name "Bill Lawrence".

It confused the heck out of me for awhile so I finally dug into it and found all this info on the internet, FWIW.

[sneaky]

yep it has the hooked headstock. Thanks fellas.

[Rockman60]

I remember Bill Lawrence (unless he has a son that's now running the business) in the late 50's working for Framus Guitars in Germany under the artist name "Billy Lorento".

They made some great Jazzguitars with that name and the Billy Lorento strings were the number one strings in the "pre-uncovered G times".

A real pioneer in the development of guitars and sounds.