I may be wrong, but i think that is one of the overseas "licensed" pickups, not handmade in Vermont. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c0631601a9af2e4 My gut feeling is that they are one of the better import options out there but maybe not the same level as US aftermarket. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Pickups:_Guitar,_archtop/Kent_Armstrong_Suspended_Jazz_Humbucker.html. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. But not everyone. Are all of his current pickups made over seas? I'd like to try one. the pickups in my bree/blue fretless are kent armstrong hand-wounds very nice. All are welcome, from seasoned pros to absolute beginners. Maybe I got a bad set but they were the muddiest most life-less pickups I have ever tried. The pickups are priced nicely as well. 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. 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. tone forum. Your IP: As long as you are talking about KA pickups and bumping the thread, I think of it as no dis-service to the OP. What are Lipstick Pickups? Heres All You Need to Know If you go here' date='. before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. I just ordered some Burstbuckers (#2, #3) on the strength of recommendations on this forum. archtops) and has always had a real good product. These new pickups allow you to completely equalize the string balance through height adjustment of individual polepieces. After I wax potted them they weren't too bad. 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? Matthew Bellamy of Muse used the "Motherbucker" In his first few custom guitars. Paste as plain text instead, I have a KA 12 pole humbucker packed away somewhere that I had in the bridge position of a Tele I sold, not sure if it's a US, and remember that it sounded really good and was good enough that I made sure to remove it before selling the Tele. They weren't very good. I have spoken to him many times on the phone. In the same price range I prefer GFS pups. The cheaper type are made in the far-east while the more expensive ones are USA made. I replaced it with a Dimarzio Tone Zone and have been happy as can be since. 1995-2022 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved. If you go here. Instead, jazz players often focus on tonal purity Sunny Coalville. This explains why I wasnt as concerned with the Epiphones tone. They are here to help. You are using an out of date browser. Kent Armstrong Well by looking at the list of players that he's made pickups for, he should be **** good. They offer authentic PAF tone, sounding open and warm while retaining excellent string to string articulation. WebThe Rocker cleans up nicely and is warm, even in an alder/maple set up. The Epiphone pickups measured 7.7K (neck) and 8.2K (bridge). It had a nice tone, good 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). There are millions of jazz basses out there, much fewer SB basses. SBUK Super Block United States. He made pickups for many UK builders (not to mention Benedetto (sp?) The tone is bright and detailed with a single coil type twang that also provides great crunch on The extended cover allows for use with traditional 7 string arch-top electrics. Does anyone know if the Kent Armstrong pickups that "W D Music" sells are the real deal or - are they the Licensed pickups? 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 played a mates Bare-Knuckle p.ups the other day and they sounded AWESOME. If you go for the re-wire, the easiest option is 3 volumes and master tone. He is a very good friend and a good guy also. Talk with your fellow tone freaks on the web's liveliest (and friendliest!) They seem very open with a good output; they don't seem to colour the sound of the instrument as much as the Barts (which appears to be the general consensus)and somehow seem more balanced sonically. We understand the questions. Check out any vintage Zep live footage, and youll see what we mean. 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. Was not knocked out by the tele set I had. yes. This is the same pickup used by Eastman on their 7 string archtops. Bridge position a hotter KA like : http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Rocker_Alnico_Humbucker_Chrome_Cover_HRC-1A. Really thin and very harsh. If you have any other questions about lipstick pickups, lipstick pickup construction, or lipstick wiring, dont hesitate to get in touch! ive seen a few for sale and was hoping u could tell me a bit about their sounds and what This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Opinions on KENT ARMSTRONG pickups - Seymour So if you are in the market for these old-school models, we recommend finding a broken-down Dano from the 50s or 60s and pulling the pickups out yourself. I had some 7 string pickups from KA. So those VT hand-wound, 12 pole HB'show much does something like that run? Vermont-wound pickups from Mr. Armstrong and his son are still within easy reach. LOL. 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. 1995-2022 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved. Is there any better bang for the buck in a new guitar than this. I've had several pups in my sheri. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. By The PAF is OK but the Distortion kicks but. Jazz guitar players are less interested in output and the unique voice pickups can bring to their instrument. i wanted to have it rewired so it worked like a normal les paul but i could use the middle pickup on a push pull but i got told it would cost quite alot to do it. select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. even the lower priced ones.. 30.00 or so, in single coils were excellent. It will still fit and fasten to any other archtop that is replacing a floater. Down solos the bridge pickup. No wonder I didnt like it. 6.6k. In fact, modern guitarists such as Phoebe Bridgers still swing Danelectros over their shoulders quite often. Though arguably, modern improvements have made lipstick pickup design better, some players live and die by the originals. Today, lipstick pickups and their tone are still synonymous with the Danelectro sound. It may not display this or other websites correctly. A Smooth Sam pickup will breathe depth and articulation back into your favorite archtop guitar and make you fall in love all over again. 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. You must log in or register to reply here. Players love how they teeter between tone and chaos. Floating archtop pickups and bronze strings I like the WD Kent Armstrong pickups very much. Very warm sound. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. has body but the upper frequency contour is really interesting. Pretty much what the thread title says, anyone know if Kent Armstrong pickups are decent? One look at them, and its easy to see why they quickly took the name lipstick pickups. They were very impresive. I played classic / rock / blues at the time and got several compliments on my sound after gigs. Kent Armstrong Pick-Ups - Any good? | Telecaster Has anyone checked Peter Bernstein Zeidler? TDPRI, short for Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue, is the leading online community and marketplace for Telecaster guitars. I had that configuration on an Epi LP and it worked great. Looks like you haven't made a choice yet. Indeed, difficult especially without his hand. Kent Armstrong Pickups You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Specifically the tele bridge and the neck mini humbucker pickups. 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've been browsing the wdmusic site and have found a few products with identical descriptions, one is for a ceramic version the other an alnico version, both are the same price and tech specs except for the magnets. 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). I have some KA's in a Benedetto Benny. Sold through big-box retailers like Sears Roebuck, they offered budding players decent amps at bargain prices. I put a Vermont Armstrong P-90 pickup in my Ampeg AMG-100. I once had occasion to call Mr Armstrong in Vermont and found him to be absolutely accommodating and quite a delightful person. L5 CES started in '53, had p90s, soon got staple pickups, then Carvin or Kiesel Alan Holdsworth HH2 I What would you guys recommend fro the bridge of a Les Paul if I want deep bass, solid mids, and sweet(smooth) highs. also with respect, I could not agree less. The reason I asked here is I know I'll get good info I can trust, you go through a lot of chaff before you find something really useful trawling. These custom-made covers allow them to be manufactured in many different sizes and fit the most popular pickup routes like Strat pickups. Don't despare so quickly. (HJGN-2 for neck mount version) Made in the tradition of the Johnny Smith endorsed Gibson instruments introduced in the early '60s. Not a good comparison as the Kent Armstrongs you mention are his factory wound models.To pit them against a Bare knuckle that is a hand wound at 3 times the price.Have you tried any of Kent's hand wound models? The magic is in your fingers. Please check your items carefully and confirm they are correct for color, position, etc. I did not. 500k pots are good with P90's if the pickup resonance is in a good range. One retailer mentions that Kent Armstrong's pickups with adjustable poles can be adjusted to work with either nickel or bronze strings, a claim that doesn't appear to originate with the manufacturer. Copyright 2021 Gibson Brands, Inc. All rights reserved. These are the Kent Armstrong pickups in my Soloist: The bridge pickup has a bright fendery tone, for a humbucker it. son. 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. It sounded pretty good. Gotta find that pup and find a guitar to install it in soon! Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. 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). The neck model was built Reverse Wound / Reverse Polarity from the bridge model for hum-canceling operation when using both pickups. The. Jangly, chiming, clear, and detailed are often used to describe their singular voice. 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. He learned to wind pickups from his father and Bill Lawrence. When I first got the guitar my standard procedure was to swap things for. Some others seemed to like them though. It's just magnets and wire at the end of the day. I would be interested in you comments about the Benedetto swap. Kent Armstrong - Any Good? - Seymour Duncan User Archtop pickups are halfway down. Were asked everything from what they sound like to Will they fit in my guitar? and more. tone forum. Theres a guy selling the following KA pickups around here for a reasonable price Are they any good? We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. The copper wire coil is now wound around a custom-sized plastic bobbin that features an Alnico bar magnet right down the center. They certainly suit me, although YMMV. anyhow, i've had 2 or 3 of those on guitars i've owned and they are thin and overly bright. But the in-between setting runs both pickups in series wiring. Danos usually feature a 3-way toggle switch. Never worry about fitting a pickup under the strings again! I can cast beige ones but adding the colour decreases my working time. Kent Armstrong Pickups Kent Armstrong Vintage Series 6 Shooter WebEmail: sales@kentarmstrong.com Phone: (239) 543-3625 Fax: (239) 543-5874 WD Music Products, Inc. 17570 N. Tamiami Trail Suite 1 North Fort Myers, FL 33903 I have three MB-3 pickups to rewind. But they were very noise free. They also split for single coil use better than any other humbucker I've tried. 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. WebFor Sale First Edition 2003 Ibanez JTK1 JetKing w/ Kent Armstrong PAF Humbuckers in Transparent Black Red Sunburst Finish. Display as a link instead, Note: This instrument has been modified from it's original condition. He has a Classic 57 mounted as a floating humbucker That could be a great solution! Playing them clean in a tube amp.best tone I've ever heard. They sounded decent. 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. He also has a line of Korean-made pickups that are very good for the price, but they're not in the same league as his hand-wound stuff. Any users out there? Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. I have one of his "hot-rails" type tele bridge pickups in my thinline and that is an amazing sounding pickup, not to mention the nicest made pickup of this type that I have seen from ANYONE (it even has a chrome plated grounding plate on the base), and that is one of his "mass-produced" pickups. Kent Armstrong They make the Mexi Standard that I've had since 1998 sound so good I play it as first choice on a lot of gigs now. I used them exclusively in my tele strat builds for a long time, and those are all nice pups, too. They cost around 40 give-or-take here (Seymour Duncan and Using the middle pup with either gives you something inbetween which I didn't like much. Danos usually feature a 3-way toggle switch. We get asked a ton of questions about lipstick single-coil pickups. Kent Armstrong The Kent Armstrong's were about 8K Ohms (as they should be). On 28/02/2021 at 14:34, Tvrtastic said: Kent Armstrong has posted a little clip about his life. That's the only first hand experience I have with Kent Armstrong pickups. Matthew Bellamy of Muse used the "Motherbucker" In his first few custom guitars. Just youtube "Stockholm Sydrome Glastonbury" You'll get the idea, This pickup is only 3/8 thick but sacrifices nothing in terms of the full rich sound that players have come to expect from him. I can't remember what the model on it was, but I do remember trying to find it and it was discontinued. I would have been doing all the work and Dan would get as much - actually more for just using his name. Sam Sherry, Thanks for your response. This pickup is only 3/8 thick but sacrifices nothing in terms of the full rich sound that players have come to expect from him. Instead, they used a relatively crude Alnico V bar magnet with the copper wire wrapped directly around it. I have a Bendetto floater on my Guild Benedetto AA and I love it. Copyright 2023 Seymour Duncan. I was shocked! I changed out the stock p.ups because they were pretty crappy (apparently they have improved a lot over the years). They are very dull and lifeless None of that typical P-90 sound. He was jamming on it while I was in the store which is what caught my attention. These pickups still deliver the same tone but are much more reliable and easier to manufacture. Kent Armstrong makes a number of different hand-wound pickups and will do custom work as well. Someone tell me if this is right, please add corrections? But then Danelectros are no longer the only place youll find lipsticks. I love my Eastman 905, but I don't really love the Kent Armstrong floating pickup that came with it. Wasn't so keen on the bridge which is hot @ 15k. kent arnstrong hot lips I got the hot-rodded PAFs and they have held up quite well. Maybe more like a Ford fusion, then say a Holdworth type thing. S. Thank you for the awesome information in this thread to those who have posted. More than likely, the pickups are worth way more than the rest of the guitar anyway. So what are they? If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This is the 7 string version of Kent Armstrong's super popular jazz humbucking pickup. I know 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. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. I wandered over to the Kent Armstrong website earlier. This company advertises that they have the hand wound Kent Armstrongs: http://www.oneflightupguitars.com/kentarmstrong.html. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Unfortunately for many years these sorely needed pickups - made by Dan Armstrong & Son never materalized.". At this point, I do not know if Kent Armstrong supplies Epiphone with other OEM pickups in addition to these P90's. Top 3: The Best Jazz Pickups by Seymour Duncan May 20, 2009 in Epiphone Electrics. WebKent Armstrong - Any Good? Kent is Dan Armstrongs (of ampeg plexiglass etc. Up solos the neck pickup. It may have just been whatever model I had that I didn't like. Webhey guys, i was wondering if any of u have had experience with kent armstrong pickups. This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. All of these modern updates have done nothing to quell demand for lipstick pickups, new and old. So there should be a few good European Pickup builders Bare Knuckles, Haussel,etc? I just purchased an El Rey4 and I find the original pickup kind of listless. 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. I've got a set in an el-cheapo Flying V I have. You must log in or register to reply here. Hi, I don't have a personnal experience with the Armstrong Casino P90s, but I've had other KA pickups (a Firebird mini hum and lipstick pickps) and they were quite good. All I know is WD sells Kent Armstrong pups at higher end pricing with no sound clips or specs. There is a chance that you might have gotten a "good" set of P90's as stock equipment on your Epi. The words Fender, Telecaster, Stratocaster and the associated headstock designs are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Active pickups are battery-boosted for even more power, usually with an on-board 9v battery. again, i cannot help with what you are really asking, but after reading some disparaging other comments, i thought i should at least share my experience with his handmade jazz pickups, which are superb. By contrast, the Armstrong (VT-made) PAF 12-pole humbucker has a much fatter, more electric sound. #Bedroom Level# Tube Amp, Is it possible. P90's are normally ~8H -- nearly double the inductance of an average PAF. 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. Between the warmth and adjustability, you just can't beat this pickup. i think ill try and persuade my dad to rewire it for me. You can post now and register later. The later made-in China pickups are not nearly as well put together as the old ones. Tech experts from Seymour Duncan are regularly on this forum, and are clearly labeled as employees of Seymour Duncan. I was aware that Kent Armstrong made pickups and they were used in a lot of guitars.