DeArmond 1100 pickup installed on D'Angelico EXL-1

[JazzNote]

I just installed the new handwound KA on my LeGrand. Beautiful balanced dry sound over all registers. With the "two way tone control" allowing me to switch between a 0.22 and 0.47 cap i feel well equipped even for unpleasant room acoustics and situations where i need to play louder than i wished for. Will find out how it feels in a gigging situation tomorrow.

[JazzNote]

The (hand wound KA) Pickup sounded great on yesterdays gig (trio, tenorsax/guit/bass lineup) but when it came to play a little louder it was quite disturbing that the B string overpowered everything. I feel very good that i didn't have to use the tone control at all, the highs of this pickup sound so pleasing mellow.

When i adjusted the polepieces the other day i noticed already that the high E an B where very dominant, the G and D quite low in volume and the A and low E just somewhere in between. Lowering the pole pieces on the treble side enough to compensate would result in the screws touching the top of the guitar, so i will have to find shorter ones or cut them.

[zephyrregent]

I've read that the original DeArmonds also had unbalanced volume for the "B" string. My guitar tech adjusted the polepieces on the reissue 1100. The polepiece for the "B" string is set lower than the others which are about level. It sounds well balanced.

[Woody Sound]

Ingeneri - Yes, the original pickguard was slotted for the KA and I needed a different one for the DeArmond 1100. I was pleasantly surprised when I asked D'Angelico about getting a pickguard for use with the DeArmond and they sent me a replacement one for free that was better looking material plus 7-ply bound instead of plain beveled edges. I've saved the original pickguard in case I ever want to use it with a Johnny Smith or other floating pickup.

You could try calling D'Angelico Guitars in New York and let them know you need a pickguard but I don't know if they would sell one. Mine was considered a warranty replacement.

Boy I'd love to get one of those black stair-step tailpieces to convert my NYSS to black hardware.

[2bornot2bop]

Nice EXL-1 recording