they have the full range and a brief description of each one. Opinions on KENT ARMSTRONG pickups - Seymour Even with a dynacomp switched on! These are the Kent Armstrong pickups in my Soloist: The bridge pickup has a bright fendery tone, for a humbucker it. To start viewing messages, This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. I have another Tele with an SD AlNiCo II pickup that I prefer over the Kent Armstrong. Kent Armstrong - Any Good? - Seymour Duncan User well ive got a korean made epi which im guessing is about 93 95ish so would and upgrade to kent armstrongs be a good idea? You won't find the distortion on the WD website though. son. It may have just been whatever model I had that I didn't like. do I can't remember what the model on it was, but I do remember trying to find it and it was discontinued. Note: This instrument has been modified from it's original condition. I had a 12 polepiece nickel covered Kent Armstrong in the neck position of a double humbucker Tele for a while, and it was a very sweet sounding humbucker. The lead "Vintage" pickup was less chunky sounding than a Burstbucker 1 but creamier than an Antiquity. [/quote] Thanks. WebThese pickups are handwound in the USA by Kent Armstrong and retail for $160 new, not the import version. Kent Armstrong thanks. So what are they? Armstrong or Rautia pickups are a much better way to go. I dropped by my local guitar shop today and the tech had just installed KENT ARMSTRONG (?) Judging by their use on low-end guitars I assume they're cheaper to make. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. I've had a number of Kent Armstrong pickups over the years, and been pleased with them all. Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. Ceramic tend to have a "thinner" sound, but powerful ceramics give good metal tones when over-driven. Well, now he has outdone himself. i was looking at the seymour duncan ones but i think there a bit expensive because ill need 3 of them. After I wax potted them they weren't too bad. I think the laminate top really inhibited the projection and the volume of the guitar in a pure acoustic settingmy Gitane D500 is so much LOUDER than any acoustic I've ever used. Hot is darker After listening to Mark Whitfield's videos I thought his playing was excellent, however the Soho's tone was very bright and plinkyto me. Well by looking at the list of players that he's made pickups for, he should be **** good. been to his house and talked to him many times. And Danelectro continues to build the reissue Danelectros around the lipstick pickup platform. I've had several pups in my sheri. That pickup combo gave the most amazing tones. I changed out the stock p.ups because they were pretty crappy (apparently they have improved a lot over the years). It had a nice tone, good In the same price range I prefer GFS pups. FWIW, the markings on the bottom of the original P-90's say Epiphone (engraved in the bottom plate) with a sticker on each that says either neck BHK or Bridge BHK for the respective pickup. There are 2 different types of Kent Armstrongs. I had a licensed Armstrong Floater installed in my Korean Gretsch Synchromatic(laminate) and I have to say it turned an unusable acoustic jazz guitar into an excellent electric jazz guitar for trad jazz/swing style rhythm playing and leads. ive heard both good and bad bout kent armstrong, but the overwhelming majority says good. I mixed and matched and put his 54 neck and 57 middle with a 62 in the bridge to slightly increase output and fatten up tone. The pickups are hot a great pairing with my Engal Powerball, Mesa Roadking and Carvin V3 all modern high gain amps. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. While scores of guitarists got started on these plywood powerhouses, most would move on to something more reliable as their playing progressed. As long as you are talking about KA pickups and bumping the thread, I think of it as no dis-service to the OP. even the lower priced ones.. 30.00 or so, in single coils were excellent. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. Mike, Any experience with this one? http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Pickups:_Guitar,_archtop/Kent_Armstrong_Suspended_Jazz_Humbuck You cannot paste images directly. Pretty much what the thread title says, anyone know if Kent Armstrong pickups are decent? I emailed Kent Armstrong himself, and he said they were PAF's. the lp studio has the vintage 12 pole humbuck at the bridge, and that's a keeper, too. I got the hot-rodded PAFs and they have held up quite well. You may have to register I have a set of his humbuckers in my neckthrough semihollow. Both these Kent Armstrong made in the USA pickups are far superior to what Eastman is selling on most of their guitars. If you go for the re-wire, the easiest option is 3 volumes and master tone. You can post now and register later. Glad a better product exists from them but they need a top notch marketing person in the states. check out the FAQ by clicking the This instrument is listed as being in 'very good' condition in accordance with Reverb's definition of the term. Santa Barbara, California. Just an opinion but the early ones are great. But not everyone. Kent Armstrong The cheaper type are made in the far-east while the more expensive ones are USA made. He has a Classic 57 mounted as a floating humbucker That could be a great solution! Along with Dire Straits Mark Knopfler, Page also found his Dano perfect for electrified blues slide. This company advertises that they have the hand wound Kent Armstrongs: http://www.oneflightupguitars.com/kentarmstrong.html. The new owner loves the sound of the KA too. I'd like to try one. This is fairly hot for a jazz guitar. Kent is a great guy. It is the bridge model of the 4/5 string soapbar. His pickups are really, really nice. There was a Kent Armstrong humbucker of some sort in the bridge position of my US Masters when I got it. Im saving up for a burst les paul standard aswell would you recomend the same pickups for a peter green kind of sound? etc.) i dont know anything about those models mentioned, but just a word of props for Kent Armstrong, he is a super nice guy and makes a quality product. For reference, lets take a look at our (retired) Danelectro Lipstick Tube pickup. What's the opinion from those I've got them in two guitars of my own. Danos usually feature a 3-way toggle switch. At this point, I do not know if Kent Armstrong supplies Epiphone with other OEM pickups in addition to these P90's. The words Fender, Telecaster, Stratocaster and the associated headstock designs are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. That is not a knock on Eastman, they Rewiring to 1 master vol plus a specific vol for middle pup should be quite cheap; it doesn't need any new / different components. This pickup is vertualy brand new. By Don't despare so quickly. kent arnstrong hot lips I love the look of 3 humbuckers, but the extra one does little sonically. thanks for your help. The neck pickup produces a surprisingly authentic jazz tone with, the tone rolled down, with it rolled up it's a a warm nice tone with. I've never had any experience of KA humbuckers but the single coil pickups that japasul is considering are great and for the price of KA's I don't think that you can go too far wrong. They were OEM pickups pulled from some Jazz guitars. Privacy Policy | The variability might have worked in your favor. They are here to help. The vintage is real nice - sweet and full. The neck model was built Reverse Wound / Reverse Polarity from the bridge model for hum-canceling operation when using both pickups. I have spoken to him many times on the phone. L5 CES started in '53, had p90s, soon got staple pickups, then Carvin or Kiesel Alan Holdsworth HH2 It felt wrong and so I told him that I wasn't interested." They make many, many pickups. This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. Middle position, your stock Epi neck pup, 3. I put Kent Armstrongs in my much-reviled epiphone LP about a year ago and found them to be a good pickup and much improved over the stockers (obviously). They're were custom wound and came with the guitar. Never worry about fitting a pickup under the strings again! By contrast, the Armstrong (VT-made) PAF 12-pole humbucker has a much fatter, more electric sound. SnoMan97December 17, 2008 in Electric Guitars. I wasn't a huge fan of the noiseless P90's I briefly hadthere was a big volume imbalance. I've been using Kent's m214 - m215 pair of humbuckers as well as the wpu10 - wpu11 for over 14 years now in nearly every custom that I have built because they blow away Seymour Duncan's Mayhem set and you can't beat the price nearly half as much. I had my LP wired so that 1 volume pot was a master volume, and the other was middle pup only. This is probably a dumb question to a lot of you but I'm still relatively virginal guitar-wise. I Alan Mearns - incredible Bach arrangements / playing. That assembly was then wrapped in cellophane tape, vacuum wax potted, and inserted straight into the trademark lipstick tube coversactual lipstick tubes! They were meant to be used straight into a tube amp, although an OD pedal is ok. Kent Armstrong makes a number of different hand-wound pickups and will do custom work as well. I've known that these two types of pick-up magnets existed for a while now, what is the difference between them and what are the tonal characteristics of each? The. I tell every one of my customers to give them a try if they are looking for high gain, and let them all know I will gladly replace them with something of their choosing and not one have come back looking for replacements in over 14 years. He was jamming on it while I was in the store which is what caught my attention. Various humbucker models including PAF style and higher output ceramic humbuckers, standard Tele & Strat pickups, lipstick tubes, high gain metal pickups, Jazz, P90's, Firebird, LP Deluxe you name it. Post up some sound files, I'd love to hear them. They cost around 40 give-or-take here (Seymour Duncan and 1995-2022 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved. I can tell you for fact that the Stock P-90's in my 2004 Casino were not even close to the Kent Armstrong P-90's I replaced them with. Unlike the Duncan SMB4D the Armstrong is very consistent all the way up the neck with thick mids, clear highs and growling lows. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. I want to do it unobtrusively and I don't like piezo pickups, so I'm planning on getting a floating pickup and making a new pickguard to mount it. And if you do find them, youre going to pay a premium. Specifically designed for use with traditional arch-top electrics. Learning Jazz Improvisation - "Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate". WebKent Armstrong is one of the foremost electric instrument pickup designers in the music industry. Thanks again. 6.6k. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. www.wdmusic.com is the us distributor. I used the vintage in the neck and the HPAOR1 in the bridge. Haven't got them yet. hi im thinking about buying new pickups for my black beauty and i came across kent armstrong pickups on ebay are they any good compared to standard epiphone ones? Up until now, I have had no other verification of this claim, until he directed me to the WD Music website (as milospilo has provided the link above). The PAF and bridge humbucker in my Jackson Soloist are excellent pickups. When I first got the guitar my standard procedure was to swap things for Daniel found he could source lipstick tubes from wholesalers for much less than standard pickup covers. That neck pup on its' own with a little treble rolled off on the tone control would give you a warm mellow full sound, especially if you pick at the bottom of the neck. Is there any better bang for the buck in a new guitar than this. Every one of my archtops (5) has a Kent Armstrong 14-pole PAF humbucker. I just purchased an El Rey4 and I find the original pickup kind of listless. I have used Seymours and Gibsons and there's very little difference, except in the price. Alnico 3 with Formvar wire. P90's are normally ~8H -- nearly double the inductance of an average PAF. I don't have one but I use the capacitor in my ToneBlock 202, and I do have the treble up higher than I used to. These pickups still deliver the same tone but are much more reliable and easier to manufacture. Well by looking at the list of players that he's made pickups for, he should be **** good. Kent Armstrong Review | Pickups | Reviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com The magic is in your fingers. Fender has even offered several lipstick-equipped Strats right from the factory floor. I tried the humbucker sized P90s. It would be hard to describe in words just how bad they were. Maybe I got a bad set but they were the muddiest mo We understand the questions. People still mistakenly use 0.022uF/22nF/22000pF or 47nF caps on anything, but even a 22nF is really too dark on mid level inductance pickups for fundamental note definition up the entire neck. For a while you could still get domestic KA pickups built custom direct by him and/or his sons - not sure if that is possible still today or if it is all via WD Music. I think it could do the whole fusion thing, but I have not really ran it like that. This explains why I wasnt as concerned with the Epiphones tone. WebDescription Reviews (0) Description This is a low output humbucker that is reminiscent of the early Gretsch FilterTron pickups which are used for rock, country and rockabilly. If you have any other questions about lipstick pickups, lipstick pickup construction, or lipstick wiring, dont hesitate to get in touch! Performance & security by Cloudflare. Thanks to their popularity, finding vintage, original lipstick pickups is next to impossible. It sounded pretty good. I did not. He had a KA Vintage in the neck and KA Hot Rod (both nickel covered) in the bridge. Unfortunately for many years these sorely needed pickups - made by Dan Armstrong & Son never materalized.". Legendary Tones - 2000 Fender American Standard Strat Tech experts from Seymour Duncan are regularly on this forum, and are clearly labeled as employees of Seymour Duncan. But the in-between Especially the humbuckers and P90 humbucker retrofit and P90s Im very easy to satisfy; just give me a '58 Les Paul, a '52 Fender Tele w/ Bigsby, a '63 Gibson ES-335, a '62 Marshall JTM45, a '59 Fender Bassman, and a dozen or so assorted vintage Fender blackfaces and tweeds to play through and Ill be just fine. Mike, thanks for the feedback (no pun intended). I've had those pick ups in my MIM Tele for the last 5+ years and I think they're great, infact I kept them when I recently sold the guitar. Most people consider Kent's jazz Pickups to be the best in the world and who are we to argue? However, there are some people who want even more flexibility in this style of pickup, so Kent has brewed up something new and even more versatile. Maybe more like a Ford fusion, then say a Holdworth type thing. I was shocked! Indeed, difficult especially without his hand. custom pickups into a 1994 Gibson Les Paul Standard. The downside was that you could get close to a Strat sound, and you could get close to a humbucker sound, but you couldn't nail either one. Theres a ton of in-depth information on all of our different designs, how-tos, tone demonstrations, and a whole lot more. I was talking with my luthier the other day abound building an archtop and he was also saying he could put a BK Stormy Monday as a floating pickup even being a regular-sized humbucker. I bought one of the pickups made by WD music in Kent's name. Copyright 2023 Seymour Duncan. All are welcome, from seasoned pros to absolute beginners. He has standard formulas,as well as winding to your spec.The cost for these is below the bareknuckles and comparable to the Dunkmores.I use Kent's pickups in just about all my guitars with great results.Of course I make sure of the specs of the model to best match it to the particular guitar and it's intended purpose.I also adjust the overall height and individual polepieces (if used). http://wdmusicproducts.com/Merchant2_Code=PUHMBCKR. Kent Armstrong Pickups this drumming I like a pickup that is able to produce the true "natural" acoustic tone when it's fully on, but can go completely dark and everywhere in between. Epoxy casting inside the cover allows for added coil to give a sweet mini-humbucker tone. He made pickups for many UK builders (not to mention Benedetto (sp?) I like the WD Kent Armstrong pickups very much. They are very dull and lifeless None of that typical P-90 sound. You must log in or register to reply here. Their relatively hollow, plywood-composite construction also plays a significant role. Announcing the all new Side mounted Jazz Pickup. I had some double blade Strat pickups in my parts Strat for a while. Kent Armstrong Vintage Series 6 Shooter Just youtube "Stockholm Sydrome Glastonbury" You'll get the idea, the idea that the motherbucker is Broootal! I'm actually thinking of up grading. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. However, Dan and Kent had a major falling-out, as the story explains: "The proposal was for Kent to manufacture and distribute the pickups, and for using his fathers name they would split the proceeds. SBUK I got the cheap ones (I was only 18 at the time) and was very pleased. A Smooth Sam pickup will breathe depth and articulation back into your favorite archtop guitar and make you fall in love all over again. But the pickups arent the only reason Danelectro guitars sound the way they do. All I know is WD sells Kent Armstrong pups at higher end pricing with no sound clips or specs. Most people consider Kent's jazz Pickups to be the best in the world and who are we to argue? This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. No lie, folks, he also built the Televersary. This page was generated at 01:08 AM. I had some 7 string pickups from KA. Kent is Dan Armstrongs (of ampeg plexiglass etc. Posted March 1, 2021. before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. Down solos the bridge pickup. The "Hot Rod" bridge pickup was a fattened up PAF sound, similar to a Burstbucker but with warm thick mid's and highs without being harsh. i dont know anything about those models mentioned, but just a word of props for Kent Armstrong, he is a super nice guy and makes a quality product. Seymour Duncan Strat Sized Lipstick Pickup, Seymour Duncan Danelectro Lipstick Pickup, Seymour W. Duncan Biography: The Man Behind It All, Mark Holcomb Scarlet & Scourge Signature Humbuckers, The Wes Hauch Jupiter Rails Humbucker Pickup Set, The Present and Future of Lipstick Pickups. ive noticed that about my guitar that the middle doesnt really do much. Clear editor. I love my Eastman 905, but I don't really love the Kent Armstrong floating pickup that came with it. This wiring results in an output boost with a woolier midrange punch than you might expect from lipsticks. Vermont-wound pickups from Mr. Armstrong and his son are still within easy reach. They are built/distributed by WD Music, which is a great company that is very helpful to smaller custom pickup builders with a wide range of pickup parts available for purchase. Based on what I read on this forum there seems to be a lot of variability in the stock Casino P-90's.
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