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Yeah, the original Benedetto S6 pups were wound by Kent Armstrong. Aaron, Son of Kent, would be able to whip something up along the same specifications.
Originally Posted by Para
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06-17-2015 03:57 PM
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This Golden Eagle arrived with a Benedetto S6, which was my first exposure to the pup. As it turned out the guitar was my best ever acoustic guitar and the pup completely complimented the GE. The pair fit me perfectly.
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Nope Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
Sounds even across the board.
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I put one on an Eastman 805CE and it made a great difference. Really gave me that somewhat acoustic sound that you want from a floater. I also really like the balance -- I do very little modifying of my pick technique to get a nice sound across all the strings. It took my guitar from "how much can I get for it" to a serious keeper.
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Thanks Guys appreciate the input, the Benedetto should be here in a day or two. Kent Armstrong started marketing pickups as Rainbow pickups from Brighton Jab before he went into partnership with WD.
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i'd go for an armstrong mini-humbucker (from sound island - not from wd) - or a jason lollar johnny smith
i have the armstrong on a campellone - hard to imagine a better performing pickup
but i've heard rave reports about the lollar js
i had a benedetto pickup like the one in the picture above of the heritage - i found it cold and a bit harsh - exactly what i did not want
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I got an older Kent Armstrong wound Benedetto S6 with my Eastman 810 prototype, it wasn't the first I've owned, I had one mounted on the neck of an older L-7 many years ago and as stated by Tonedeaf it gives that somewhat acoustic sound, but you can dial the tone pots to fatten it up very nicely...
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 06-18-2015 at 10:16 AM.
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I've found the S6 to be a little brighter and/or mid-focused vs. the Armstrong PAF-0 (mini w/ ebonized cover, not the 12 pole piece version). The KA is more even across the frequency range with maybe a bit more low end. I had them on similar spec'd but different guitars so that difference could all be in the guitars. All things being equal I'd give the edge to the KA. They are both good pickups.
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I put the S6 on my Washburn J600. No experience with other archtop hollow bodies and pickups but the Benedetto is infinitely superior to pup that came with it. Very acoustic sounding to my ears. So far tried it with D'Addario chrome flats and Newtone Archtops both of which sound good. Last night put on a set of phosphor bronze 12s, traditional acoustic type strings, and the Benedetto S6 performs like a champ with those. For not really knowing anything about jazz boxes I think I guessed right in choosing the Benedetto for my first foray. The Washburn is a 17 x 3.5 laminate. The top is a pressed laminate of spruce only layers with parallel bracing if that matters to your investigation. I play through a Peavey Classic 30 with low gain tubes and a hemp speaker. Very happy with the overall tone. The rest is is up to me.
Last edited by TedBPhx; 06-19-2015 at 10:07 AM.
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I have S6 in my Ibanez AF105F and using it combined with piezo - very versatile setup. This is very good pickup for archtop reflecting acoustic value of guitar and your different picking dynamic/articulation - very realistic.
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Fitted the pickup today works fine lovely sound.
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Looks good!
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Resurrecting this thread because a friend is sending me a Benedetto S6 top mount to try in a Pisano 680 that I recently acquired. I am unimpressed with the stock KA that is in it, but love these Pisano Eastman's and wanted to give one a workout.
I'm hoping it a good fit, judging from the above discussion. I welcome any advice on doing this update myself, including thoughts about the other stock electronics in these guitars that might be worthy of replacement.
Yours Truly,
S
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How is the pickup mounted to the pickguard? Is it glued on? Originally Posted by Para
Fitted the pickup today works fine lovely sound.
EDIT: Nevermind. I can see the screws in the other photos. I could have sworn I saw photos of other floating humbuckers that weren't screwed onto the pickguard.
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Yes, you also have the option to use epoxy resin to fix the floating pickup to the pick guard. Originally Posted by Wrogsprit
See video here:
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Never had to complain about anything with the S6.
Sounds very acoustic, woody, and well balanced.
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Looks beautiful. Another member here in another thread said that the pickup is ugly. I just don't get it. Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
This Golden Eagle arrived with a Benedetto S6, which was my first exposure to the pup. As it turned out the guitar was my best ever acoustic guitar and the pup completely complimented the GE. The pair fit me perfectly.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Same principle as great tone.
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That was me, and I was talking about my set B - Originally Posted by Woody Sound
The finish is rough and crude, and it does not look nice. Apparently SD has smoothed the finish and replaced the crudely etched logo with a more elegant one since the last one I saw was made. When I got mine (which was maybe 3 years ago), the black S versions were made and finished the same way as the black Bs. I think there was a gold version that was much more elegant.
I said the same thing about the set KA HW HB that came in my Eastman Jazz Elite. It’s the same rough black finish and it looks like a blacksmith made it.
I love both of these because they sound fantastic - so I ignore the cosmetics. But for appearance, I’d much prefer a traditional metal cover and a nicer logo or none at all. These more recent smoothly finished black ones with a nicer logo are much more attractive than mine, but they’re still rather industrial looking IMO.
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One man's poison is another man's elixir. I thought the rough-hewn finish looked fetching, the logo like pyrogravure on an ebony fingerboard or a debossed logo pressed into textured concrete. It looked earthy.
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That’s truly an elegant characterization - I love it! My problem is that textured concrete doesn’t seem to me to go well with the subtle art of lutherie. Maybe Frank Gehry should make your next guitar Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
I agonized long and hard over sticking that crude black plastic lump into the guitar. But it sounds so good that I got over the appearance within minutes (…OK, maybe within days or weeks). The original pickup was a DiMarzio Blaze hidden under a gold cover. It wasn’t awful and I kept it for years, wrongly attributing the brightness and thinness (which I dialed out as best I could with EQ) to the thick laminated top, heavy bracing, and generously applied poly finish.
I kept reading great reports about the Benedetto pickups made by SD, including a quote from Bob B that the B was the best jazz guitar pickup he’d ever heard. I got curious and had other guitars in which to put it if I didn’t like it in the AF, so I bought one. It’s like this guitar - it’s solid and a great performer, but its form follows function with only rudimentary attempts at aesthetic embellishment through design.
The wood is so plain that concrete trim would look like Cartier added it. The binding and inlay work is very nice, but it’s heavy on the bling. A logo pressed into textured concrete sitting in the middle of the top somehow fits the visual theme. Fortunately, I can’t even see the top well while playing it.
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Getting a bit off-track from the original topic, but if you like black but traditional, here is a DiMarzio 36th Anniversary on my Eastman carved. Sounds fantastic. It's basically the same pu that Sadowsky used in the archtops. (That from Roger himself.)
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There’s a perfect example of the contrast between a thoroughbred and a plow horse. Your Eastman is gorgeous! The guard / TP / knob ensemble is a cohesive design element that complements the beautiful body wood, the fingerboard, and the bridge. That pickup has classic features, and the black is understated (especially with its smooth finish in an unobtrusive black surround). It’s a visual accent, unlike the rough B7 in a garish wood surround that’s more of a visual blemish on mine. Thankfully, mine plays and sounds great - but it ain’t no looker.
My mutt has personality for sure. But everything on it looks like it was salvaged from another guitar and thrown on this one only because it was lying around. Nothing matches or complements anything else, and there’s no visual theme or consistency. The Benedetto pickup would lend a bit of radical chic to an otherwise together guitar like this beautiful Eastman. But in my Ibanez, it’s just another random bit.
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Maybe go with a balck ring. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
There’s a perfect example of the contrast between a thoroughbred and a plow horse. Your Eastman is gorgeous! The guard / TP / knob ensemble is a cohesive design element that complements the beautiful body wood, the fingerboard, and the bridge. That pickup has classic features, and the black is understated (especially with its smooth finish in an unobtrusive black surround). It’s a visual accent, unlike the rough B7 in a garish wood surround that’s more of a visual blemish on mine. Thankfully, mine plays and sounds great - but it ain’t no looker.
My mutt has personality for sure. But everything on it looks like it was salvaged from another guitar and thrown on this one only because it was lying around. Nothing matches or complements anything else, and there’s no visual theme or consistency. The Benedetto pickup would lend a bit of radical chic to an otherwise together guitar like this beautiful Eastman. But in my Ibanez, it’s just another random bit.
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Surprisingly enough, that ring is a custom size apparently used only on this guitar. Kent Armstrong sent me a few different 7 string surrounds to play with, and none has screw spacing that wide. Right now, I’m playing with molding clay to make an impression of the stock wooden ring and inset one of Kent’s into it. If I can do that smoothly, I’ll use hard modeling rubber to pour a surround with standard KA dimensions for the pickup and its mounting screws but Ibanez outer dimensions & mounting screw holes. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Maybe go with a balck ring.
Once I make a hard rubber surround that will mount on the guitar with the original screws but take a standard 7 string KA, I’ll buy a 14 pole from Kent. When that’s installed, I’ll make another hard rubber surround with standard 2 hole pickup mounting and stick the Benedetto in that. Then I can directly compare the two with each other and any other pickup I’m curious about in the same guitar.
But TBH, a nice black pickup ring won’t change the fact that the AF207 looks like Rube Goldberg made it from leftover parts. Nothing really goes with anything else - fingerboard, guard, surround, knobs, tailpiece etc are not matched or coordinated in any way. FujiGen built an amazing guitar that deserved much nicer cosmetics than it got.Last edited by nevershouldhavesoldit; 10-05-2025 at 11:47 AM.
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