Floating Pickup for Acoustic Strings?

[Rob MacKillop]

Looking forward to the recording!

[pcjazz]

I like Kent's floating single coil with the D'Addario nickel bronze strings (although it also sounds good with their 80/20s. You just have to adjust the volume and the eq accordingly.) You can hear this combination on my 1953 D'A New Yorker here:

-- n.b. this is not me in the video!

Another option entirely is a good dynamic contact mic. On one of my acoustic archtops I have been using the Schertler DYN (with a matching Schertler acoustic amp, David or Unico depending on venue). After trying it in various locations on the top of the guitar I found that it actually sounds best (most accurate and clear) on the back, right at the peak of the arch.

[rio]

I went through a pretty long pickup search when I got my 805ce. on the way to my final destination, a KA 12 pole humbucker, I tried a mid 90's Benedetto floater and although it worked well with acoustic strings I did not dig the tone. Ironically I loved that pickup on my od GB10 which is what I had bought it for. The KA 12 pole humbucker is amazing, though, and really versatile. Sounds amazing with electric strings and is also killer with acoustic strings although the tone is very different of course. My Eastman is a bright guitar so I think that is why I didn't like the Benedetto floater on it so much even though it is a very good pickup.

I'm curious to hear what you think when your pickup arrives and would love to hear a sound clip too if you don't mind making one. Congrats on the choice!

[Alter]

regarding the pots to go with the ken armstrong handwound single coil floater, i asked mr Elferink recently cause i changed them on my elferink (put them underneath the pickguard). He suggested 500 both for volume and tone.

[Hammertone]

... My biggest concern with testing out the rhythm chief is that it can't be mounted without drilling some holes on the side of the neck. If I decide I don't like it, I'm stuck with it. ...

You can do a temporary mount for the Dearmond by using some low tack tape and pieces of shirt cardboard as spacers to get the right height. That should allow you to assess the performance of the pickup before you drill any holes. You can also install a Dearmond without the rod, using velcro tape, to avoid drilling holes.

[omphalopsychos]

I like Kent's floating single coil with the D'Addario nickel bronze strings (although it also sounds good with their 80/20s. You just have to adjust the volume and the eq accordingly.) You can hear this combination on my 1953 D'A New Yorker here:

-- n.b. this is not me in the video!

Another option entirely is a good dynamic contact mic. On one of my acoustic archtops I have been using the Schertler DYN (with a matching Schertler acoustic amp, David or Unico depending on venue). After trying it in various locations on the top of the guitar I found that it actually sounds best (most accurate and clear) on the back, right at the peak of the arch.

Well that sounds great! Yes, my approach is going to be to use a contact mic in addition to the pickup and blend the two sounds. I've got a Scherler David coming for this exact purpose.

[omphalopsychos]

I'm curious to hear what you think when your pickup arrives and would love to hear a sound clip too if you don't mind making one. Congrats on the choice!

I will be happy to share sound clips once the work gets done. My local luthier is very backed up right now, and I don't know of too many others in the area who would be able to get this done any more quickly. Usually, for pickups I'd just do the install myself, but this involves drilling holes and cutting wood, which I'm too apprehensive to try on my own.

[omphalopsychos]

You can do a temporary mount for the Dearmond by using some low tack tape and pieces of shirt cardboard as spacers to get the right height. That should allow you to assess the performance of the pickup before you drill any holes. You can also install a Dearmond without the rod, using velcro tape, to avoid drilling holes.

Our temporary solution is to mount the dearmond to a metal plate and install it to the pickguard like most other floating pickups. I may eventually mount it permanently to the guitar neck, but we'll see.

[Spook410]

I have a Sunrise pickup mounted in an oval hole with shims to get it high enough. Easily beats out my other archtops with a Definity or K&K's but requires a large sound hole for the install. It's designed to work with regular acoustic strings. Also sounds better than an Armstrong 12 pole though I'm running Thomastik Infield .013 jazz swings on that guitar. Probably should experiment a bit. Also a single coil Armstrong and a Rhythm Chief 1100 waiting on the bench I'll probably get to them in a few months (moving at the moment..)

[LouieKing]

I use Martin monel strings (Tony Rice sig ones) on my Martin Dreadnaught for Bluegrass gigs and on my Gibson L-50 for Jazz gigs and they sound great acoustically + with magnetic pickups. They're also only about 6 bucks a packet.

As has been said on this thread already several times, you can't expect a good sound from a magnetic pickup with bronze strings.

You can however get a good acoustic + electric sounds out of your archtop with a floating magnetic pickup with Monel strings (as long as the guitar sounds good acoustically in the first place).