Which Pickup in Borys

[JeanSut]

I would be happy if someone could answer me this : Larry Koonse told me that his guitar has a Kent Armstrong pickup with quite high output. Does somebody know that pickup ?

best
Chris

[sgcim]

I would be happy if someone could answer me this : Larry Koonse told me that his guitar has a Kent Armstrong pickup with quite high output. Does somebody know that pickup ?

best
Chris

Yeah, Roger had Kent make it especially for the B120. When I bought my B-120, someone had a SL/SD pickup on it, so I got Roger to install Kent's pickup. I still didn't sound as good as Larry...
If you want precise technical info about the pickup, give Kent a call. He's a very friendly guy, and has a cool English accent. Don't ask me; I don't know sh-t about that stuff.

[ccroft]

Here's what Roger emailed me when I asked about his B-120 pickup:

"The pickup I use is made by Kent Armstrong. My pickup is called the xx6xxx. (That is about windings and magnets). Kent makes a PAF pickup also. I suggest you try the standard pickup and change it later if you like."

Does that help at all? Didn't do much for me! I decided to take his advice since I believe he knows more about this guitar than anyone. I'll say this though, it does sound fantastic and I haven't been even slightly tempted to swap it out after 2 years of playing it.

I had a KA built PAF put in my Eastman 880. I love that too. It does seem to have higher output, but that may be about how it's set lower on the B. Topside they look identical, but wiring is different out the back. Maybe Larry got the 'PAF'.

[Cunamara]

I would be happy if someone could answer me this : Larry Koonse told me that his guitar has a Kent Armstrong pickup with quite high output. Does somebody know that pickup ?

If I was going to buy a guitar made by Roger Borys, I'd go with whatever pickup he told me he puts in the guitars. He's been doing this for a long time, and I would trust his expertise on that.

[JeanSut]

Hi all,that is very helpful information ! Thank you for your answers.
A Borys B 120 is kind of the perfect jazzguitar for me, although Larry’s is the only one that I tried.

[ccroft]

It's the perfect guitar for me too. Lucky you! You got to try before you buy. I had to take a grand leap of faith, with a bit of help from my friends here on the forum.

[bluejaybill]

It's the perfect guitar for me too. Lucky you! You got to try before you buy. I had to take a grand leap of faith, with a bit of help from my friends here on the forum.

Same here, though I have the B-160, so a 25" scale, otherwise similar.

So, I have spoken to both Roger and Kent about the pickup, and it is a ceramic magnet pickup with high number of K's compared to a PAF, I don't remember the number. Kent has been making that pickup for him for a number of years, in fact Roger was his first OEM customer. I would imagine that this is the pickup that Larry is using, although Roger told me that many players change the pickup, just like the rest of us do.

So in theory, now that we know a lot about magnets, a typical PAF with lower K (fewer windings?) and an Alnico magnet should be a warmer sounding pickup, and I'm sure that Kent would make a drop in replacement to the typical PAF spec. I have that exact pickup as a floater on another guitar, I will try to compare them directly if I have time, though it is a different guitar type (carved). I do think the floater may be lower output and a bit warmer.

You could also try a more typical (Fralin etc) PAF style pickup, but Roger told me to make sure it would fit without having to widen the pickup hole. I was thinking about dropping in a T-top Gibson pickup from 1968 that I have here, or a Fralin Pure PAF. Kent Armstrong thought the T-top would be an excellent pickup to try in a Borys, but I haven't messed around with that yet.

EDIT: Just a quick addition that I find the stock pickup to be quite bright at full output, so I tend to lower the pickup and tone about halfway, and that works for me. In a gigging context, turning up slightly would help you to cut through a bit with more highs, not necessarily a bad thing and maybe the way Borys intended it to work?

[ccroft]

So it looks like I have 3 full-sized Kent-built hum-buckers, each with 12 allen head screws in 3 different guitars. 2 are set and one's the floater. And apparently they're all completely different from each other, even though they look exactly the same on the guits. What the hell?!!?

His PAF has interesting wiring. It's got lugs on the back which you can use to wire up coil tap and phase switches or hardwire however you like. Mine came with hand drawn instructions for how to get the different options. Here's what the back looks like for standard (I think...):

[ccroft]

Ha! So sitting in the tub it dawned on me whey everyone says it's best to just call Kent and tell him what you're after. Welcome to the bespoke world!

We're gonna be up the creek when the ol' chap finally hangs up his apron for the last time...

[Cunamara]

I have had one interaction with Kent; he was gentlemanly, seemed genuinely interested in being helpful and in what I was trying to do, executed what needed to be done and did it at a very reasonable price. He's an old-school handshake deal kind of guy, it seems.

I've also had very positive experiences working with Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars.

I have several guitars with Wilde/Bill and Becky Lawrence pickups in them; I like their pickups a lot, but they do not do any custom work. They build and sell Bill's designs. If I needed custom, I would go with Kent or Pete. For off the shelf, especially any kind of Strat or Tele pickups, I would go with Wilde.