In 1986 Bill Lawrence(Willi Lorenz Stich) started making and selling the L-500 and other guitar pickups under his new company name OBL, located in West Germany. These pickups would also feature flat blades although wider and longer. The original L-500s were made with only Gibson guitar string spacing in mind. These new 2.225 inch blades would allow the L-500's to be used effectively in guitars with Fender string spacing as well.

Like his pickups made earlier at Lawrence Sound Research, Bill Lawrence(Willi Lorenz Stich) would continue to offer his pickups with the chrome housing option. Mr Lawrence continues to make pickups similar to these OBL pickups to this day, now in California USA.

NOTE: Pickups made at or by OBL between 1986 and 1989 fall under the By Bill Lawrence (WS) categorization for this sites purposes)

In 1989, after working at Gibson guitars and supplying OBL pickups for use in some of their guitars, Bill left to focus on other projects.

The name "OBL" and some pickup designs were licensed to Gibson, who in turn, manufactured pickups overseas for use in their Epiphone import guitars. Mr Lawrence maintains that these pickups are not of his design and do not meet his quality standards.

Note: These Epiphone made "OBL" pickups often feature an extended "dash" or "//////OBL" logo (pictured right) and do not feature chrome housings while OBL pickups manufactured in West Germany by Bill Lawrence(Willi Lorenz Stich) feature no logo or a very simple three letter "OBL" stamp and commonly feature chrome housings.