pickup change on eastman 905

[passfan]

Before Christmas I posted on the subject of changing the pickup on my Eastman 905.
Yesterday I finished installing a Kent Armstrong 12 pole handmade unit made by Kent's son,Aaron, who is based in Kent on the South coast of England.There wasn't anything intrinsically wrong with the stock Korean made pickup but what a revelation this handmade item is.It is a bit difficult to describe but I'll give it a go.
It is as if a veil has been lifted.Each note is clear and defined.If this does not contradict the last statement,the tone is more mellow,more musical. There is an acoustic quality that I wouldn't have expected from a magnetic pickup .An unexpected bonus is that there is much less feedback for a given volume and surprisingly when the amp is overdriven it sounds good although that was just done as a test as I'll not be playing out of the clean zone.The service was exceptional too.My inital email was answered within the hour and Aaron rang me himself to explain a delay caused by some new E.U.regulation to do with epoxy resin/hardener.This is one satisfied customer.

[tonedeaf]

Glad to hear it worked out. I was in the final stages of fitting a 12-pole to the pickguard on my 805 when I dropped it on the concrete floor and it shattered.

I have ordered another one and should get it next week. Since this is turning out to be more expensive that it should have been I am glad it seems to be worth it!

[passfan]

Tonedeaf: so sorry to read that you have destroyed your pickup before you've even had a chance to try it out.If the coils are intact is there no way you can encase them again in epoxy resin?If not what else can you do?You say you've ordered another one.A very expensive pickup swap.I only hope at the end you are as pleased as I am with the result.Please post your views when you get sorted however you manage to do that and good luck.
Ken

[whiskey02]

Yeah, did you at least contact KA to see if he could rework the damaged pup. Sorry to hear about it either way. I've been toying with the idea of a Benedetto S6 floater for my 508. Like the OP I've got no complaints with the original pup but you can only read about so many folks praising Armstrong, Bartolini and Benedetto before you begin to wonder.

[Jazzman301]

I have a handmade Kent Armstrong floating PAF on my highly customized Gretsch G100CE and man what a fantastic pickup. I also coil tapped it and what a wonderful woody tone that gives. In full HB mode it can go from warm smokey Wes like tones to a very clear and articulate and brighter accoustic sound. It was worth every penny.

Now my problem is do I put a built in PAF in my Peerless Monarch or do I go for the Benedetto A6...tough call.

'Mike

[tonedeaf]

Originally Posted by whiskey02

Yeah, did you at least contact KA to see if he could rework the damaged pup. Sorry to hear about it either way. I've been toying with the idea of a Benedetto S6 floater for my 508. Like the OP I've got no complaints with the original pup but you can only read about so many folks praising Armstrong, Bartolini and Benedetto before you begin to wonder.

I currently have a Benedetto 6 in my 805. When I changed the PU I replaced the electronics with real CTS pots mounted with the knobs above the pickguard. The difference was huge. I thought the stock stuff was pretty poor. The tone knob was pretty useless, the volume was very non-linear and the PU had such poor balance I was always trying to compensate for the volume/tone differences between strings. The Benedetto changed all this and it is an extremely clear and well balanced PU. (You know how sometimes when you get in the groove and your guitar just sings to you? It seems I was always fighting the stock setup and never relaxing. I finally got the guitar to sing with the Benedetto.)

The one thing I liked about the stock PU was its character (hard to describe exactly what i mean by that), which is why I am trying the custom KA. I am installing it on a separate pickguard so I can easily swap between the KA 12 pole and the Benedetto (it would be great to be able to put them both in the neck position). I suspect I will like the both, but for very different reasons.

The Benedetto and the production KAs are the same depth as the stock KA pickguard mounted units. The hand-made 12 pole is bigger requires some routing of the pickguard to get it mounted (which is what I was doing when I broke it).

[va3ux]

Originally Posted by Jazzman301

I have a handmade Kent Armstrong floating PAF
'Mike

Did you order this directly from Kent himself ?

[Jazzman301]

I got mine here:

Kent Armstrong Adjustable Floating PAF (Handmade)

I had it shipped directly to my luthier. My luthier, former production manager at Sadwosky, said that the directions to coil tap it were hand drawn and written by Kent. When I was looking to order I shot Mike over at djangobooks.com an email asking about coil tapping the floater knowing the built in could be coil tapped. He sent Kent an email and found out it could be done. Long story short I ordered it and man am I happy.

ebonyarchtoptailpiece

If you scroll all the way down thats my Gretsch G100CE with custom tailpiece, pickguard, and 12 pole adjustable handmade KA floating P.AF with a push/pull coil tap on the tone knob.

'Mike
ps Antonio over at Ultima is a real gentlemen and does really fantastic work for a VERY reasonable price. Highly recomend him for any custom parts work you have.

[va3ux]

Thanks for the info Mike.

Those G100CE are nice guitars; I've played them and I was impressed. But they're not well known and not easily found in stores for some reason. Good choice on the tailpiece - it all looks great. Is there a metal plate under the wood on the tailpiece that actually carries the tension of the strings ?

[Rob MacKillop]

Passfan, where did you get yours? I live in Scotland, so it would be good to be in touch with Aaron.

[passfan]

Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop

Passfan, where did you get yours? I live in Scotland, so it would be good to be in touch with Aaron.

Hi Rob.
I got the pickup direct from Aaron Armstrong direct for £90 including postage
www.armstrongpickups.co.uk/
great guy to deal with

[Rob MacKillop]

Many thanks!