Bill Lawrence BC1D Series (c. mid-1980s)

Although this is a moderately priced model at ¥65,000, it features a beautifully crafted solid alder body, used generously — quite a luxury for its class.

Aside from the fingerboard, it is essentially identical to the BC1D-57, but it differs in two key respects: it has a three-ply pickguard with 11 mounting screws, just like a 1964 Stratocaster, and it uses standard-style bridge saddles instead of the earlier design.

As shown in the final photo, a bar magnet is visible on the back of the pickups — identifying them as Black Tracers. As mentioned before, to qualify as the famous Black Label, a pickup must satisfy the following two conditions:

1. There must be a hole in the center of the exposed bobbin.

2. There must not be a bar magnet on the underside.

A few words about Black Label pickups:

The Black Label units are known to have issues with durability and weather resistance. They seem more sensitive to humidity than other open-bobbin designs. It’s not uncommon to find pickups that appear fine on the outside but have internal coil breaks. Normally, a break near one end of the coil results in no output at all. However, if the break occurs somewhere in the middle, the coil’s capacitance allows alternating current to pass, producing sound — but with a thin, brittle tone and weak bass response.

For that reason, when purchasing one of these guitars through online auctions, it’s important not only to check that the pickups produce sound, but also to ensure that the volume drops properly when the tone knob is rolled down — otherwise, the pickup may be partially broken.

This guitar is what players often call a “super-resonant” instrument. Its natural acoustic tone is almost like that of an acoustic guitar, and at certain frequencies it produces a fluttering echo that resonates through the body, reminiscent of the “Crying Dragon” ceiling of Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine.

Weight: 3.22 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 17, 2016)