Floating neck pickup - Pros and Cons?

[ah.clem]

I keep wondering about the DeArmond recently reissued by Guild and how great it sounds in demos - game changer or not? Was there really no affordable equivalent on the market before that reissue?

A few years ago I was looking for a new one for my 5th Ave Acoustic and all I could find was someone in Europe building a knockoff for something like 2K - crazy money. I put it on hold, then the Guilds started coming out on boxes; my LGS/instructor looked into getting me one as replacement item, but I was playing 7 string pretty much exclusively so I back-burnered it. I just got a new Chinese 7 string and, once I do a setup and NGD on it, the next project is to go back to the Guild DeArmond 1100 clone for the 5th Ave.

[jazzbow]

Dr. Bronner, is that you?

While Zippy meets his idol someone in Copenhagen has chosen a low fat latte as part of a healthy dietary regime.

I'm glad no one will tame drummers.
Tabasco. Tabasco.

[JazzNote]

In general i find that floaters react faster and preciser than built in humbuckers. Just my 2 cents .......

[Cunamara]

I keep wondering about the DeArmond recently reissued by Guild and how great it sounds in demos - game changer or not? Was there really no affordable equivalent on the market before that reissue?

Kent Armstrong could put together a pickup to sound pretty close and has been doing those for years. Pete Biltoft makes a floating CC. But the DeArmond uniquely has a magnetized rubber magnet that I think contributes to the specific sound of those pickups. Guild matched it very well.

[sgosnell]

"magnetized rubber magnet"? Aren't all magnets magnetized?

[Herbie]

"magnetized rubber magnet"? Aren't all magnets magnetized?

Yes but if You want make a RUBBER act like a magnet You have to magnetize it!

[skypeace]

So my experience twixt set and floaty is thus....

Set Mighty Mite humby in non descript plywood and flats was thunk to mud. Like & nice!

Floaty mini humbo on spruce plywood and flats has crispy zing. Yum!!

Floaty minzy on spruce thru 15 watts valve benefits with Jazzbox vol at third and tone to dial in or out crispy zing.

Dig?

I am troubled because I actually understand this post, lol.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I had a floater mounted on an acoustic 1949 L-5. It's a feedback machine! You really have to be careful where you stand with regard to the amp. Once I thought I was good, sitting to the side of the amp and it was still feeding back. Turns out, the sound was bouncing off glass patio doors and back to the guitar.

When I don't want to worry about this, I use my Tele

[Cunamara]

I converted a Gibson Classic 57 to be a neck-mounted floating pickup a few (10-12) years ago. It was a lot of work including having to move the exit for the wire coming out of the pickup, filing down the cover to be flush with the base plate, fabricating and mounting the bracket, modifying the pickguard, etc. A mistake ended up with the pickup having to go off to Kent Armstrong to have a broken coil wire repaired. Paying somebody who already knows how to do it could be a bargain. I probably had 10 to 15 hours of work into it as well as having to send it to Kent and pay him to repair the wire I broke. He also wax-potted it which allowed me to take the four retaining screws out of the base plate and have a little more clearance.

The upshot, however, was too much proximity to the strings on that particular install, which made the bass strings very boomy and feedback nearly uncontrollable at stage volume.