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hey guys, how the hell can you tell if a 500xl is bill beckys, the torres engineering ones, etc?!

mine has a thick red hookup wire containing the coil wires, and came in a plastic box with a picture of them fitted in a red guitar...

can anyone ID this from the box? or is there any impedance indicators which are hard-and-fast?!

tom

The thick red wire probably indicates it is a fake. Along with that, the blades are probably thin. Some now have the thicker blades, but in general they will be thinner. I remember when I took my bridge pickup out to replace, it had the thick red cable you're describing and the one I ordered had Bill's hand signature on a sticker on the back and a bunch of colors on the wiring.

Presa Tito, You are on the money!! Bill and Beckys XL will also measure around the neighborhood of 16K where the knock off will measure around 12K.

looks like it's not one of bill beckies then

hell, i got a 'fake' one, mines like 11.18k (just went and measured it) - i'm happy with it! i lent the guitar to a bandmate for a show on wednesday, and it complemented an EMG 81/85 set very well.. i put a coiltap in as well, so the cleans weren't overpowering..

i dont agree with the business practices executed in the bill lawrence story, but i got this pickup in a trade a while back and i was perfectly happy with it till now, and i still am!

saying this, i've yet to hear a bill becky one.. maybe on day hehe

tom

Another way to identify which is which - the so-called quot;fakesquot; (BL USA) have black epoxy filling up the space between the coils right to the top of the pickup, and the one's made by Bill and Becky don't.

FYI - the L-500XL in Dimebag's blue Dean From Hell guitar has epoxy filling the space between the coils - i.e. it was NOT made by Bill.

Glad you like your quot;fakequot; L-500XL - I've got one too - sounds great!

(Check out the post by quot;EZquot;, the owner of BL USA, on this page, second post from the bottom...

from : localhost/he describes the differences between his and Bill's pickups)

it seems that EZ guy is straightforward enough, i like a maker who isn't afraid to appear on the web and open to questions (naming no other names )

tom

I have played both and both are great pickups. I slightly preffer Bill and Beckys XL-500 though.