Kent Armstrong Pickups

**orri** · 10-30-2015, 06:02 AM

I got the KA PAF through Aaron.

I prefered a neck mount rather than pickgard mount and he have a brace that you can be used.
It fitted nicely around the pickup but was a bit to wide to fit well under the fret board so I had to file it little bit.

I also live in Sweden and comunication with Aaron and shipping etc. was all easy and smooth and prices fair.

Aaron seems to be able to do all kind of stuff, and they have much more pickups in their "catalogue" than they have on their website.
You can for example get the PAF specs in a (physically) smaller pickup if you don't want/need 12 adjustable pole pieces, and all kind of special requests.

**docdosco** · 10-30-2015, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by mikee

Thanks for the reply, Doc! I'm going to think about the rewinding

. The reason why I wanted to go for the adjustable pole pieces is because I'm using Bronze strings, and I would like to be able to balance them out. Now I'm guessing a pickup could be wound with that in mind, but then I can't adjust the poles if I want to go back to flatwounds... Too

I've already found the contact details of Aaron Armstrong, and I'm thinking about asking him to do the rewinding. Anyone had any experience of his work?

I don't know Aaron, but I don't think you can go wrong with him. He is fairly close to you and he is the son of Kent and grandson of Dan Armstrong. Good petigree there.....

Doc Dosco

**mikee** · 10-31-2015, 05:38 AM

Ok, thanks for the replies! I'm already in contact with Aaron.

I've been looking at some guides for removing pickups. Some say that you should desolder the pickup wires, some say that you can simply cut them near the volume pot. How do you guys do it when you remove pickups? I'll have a professional put the pickup back in, but it would save time (and some money) if II could remove it myself.

**mikee** · 12-08-2015, 04:31 PM

Hello again!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the helpful feedback on pickups. I went the Aaron Armstrong route and I can report that the pickup sounds amazing!

**jazzgtrl4** · 02-15-2016, 02:19 PM

HI, was thinking about picking up a Kent Armstong handmade PAF and trying it in my sadowsky JB..anyone else do this? dirct drop in? thanks

**r_cc_c** · 02-15-2016, 02:57 PM

Is it the 12-pole resin cast humbucker pickup?

Not the exact guitar but I have a floating version of the same pickup on a 15" Yunzhi spurce top.

First, the KA 12-pole humbucker take 3 screws and it comes with a mounting ring. For archtop, some sanding on the bottom of the mounting ring may be needed to fit on the top. Or you can use the existing ring on the sadowski to mount with two screws.

On my floater, I tried .022, 0.33 and settle on .047uf cap with a 500K volume and a 250K tone knob.

The circuit I have is just a simple Gibson style Volume & Tone setup.

The Tone knob "sweet spot" on my guitar is very narrow. But once you find it, it sound really good.
Further tuning of the circuit (adding resistor) can widen the sweet spot but I have not done so.

Signal to the amp is strong and lots of low end. I do need to tune the poles to balance the strings. Need to lower the top E & B poles to have them sound more mellow.

Again, the sound/sweet spot is highly personal choice.

Enjoy!

**jazzgtrl4** · 02-15-2016, 03:48 PM

HI thanks for the info..ya its the 12 pole paf

Kent Armstrong Handmade Jazz guitar pickups | built-in 12 pole PAF | SOUNDISLANDMUSIC.COM

**jzucker** · 02-15-2016, 03:56 PM

why? You'll see/hear minimal difference if any.

**lawson-stone** · 02-15-2016, 03:57 PM

This gets confusing. Armstrong has a few variants of the PAF for arch tops. One for set-in, one floating. Both have 12 pole pieces and are epoxied. The set-in pickup can actually also be mounted as a floater on some guitars. Then there is the 12 pole piece Johnny Smith floater...

It all gets very confusing. I have a couple of his pickups, but don't know which one you're actually interested in so I don't know if I know anything that can help you!

**jazzgtrl4** · 02-15-2016, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by jzucker

why? You'll see/hear minimal difference if any.

you know what Jack, this did cross my mind..maybe im just looking for a black pickup cover instead of the gold.

**abelljo** · 02-15-2016, 06:41 PM

They sound different than a PAF pickup. I had an all maple guitar that any pickup that I used sounded to mid range focused, but in an upper mid range nasal way. The Armstrong PAF 0 was the only pickup that made the guitar sound good. All else, yuck...

**MaxTwang** · 02-15-2016, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by jazzgtrl4

you know what Jack, this did cross my mind..maybe im just looking for a black pickup cover instead of the gold.

The Armstrong will be a 'night and day' difference for you.

**lawson-stone** · 02-16-2016, 01:36 PM

I can only imagine it would be excellent. I have his 12 pole Johnny Smith floater and I'm crazy about it. I wish I had some directed experience with the built-in PAF to help you.

**lawson-stone** · 02-16-2016, 01:40 PM

I realized I actually do have some experience sort of. I bought a Benedetto B6 WAAAAAY back in the early 1990's when Kent Armstrong was making them. When that went over to Seymour Duncan, KA kept building that pickup as the PAF "smooth top." It's this one:

Kent Armstrong Handmade Pickups | built-in smoothtop 6-string PAF | SOUNDISLANDMUSIC.COM

Back when I had a Gibson ES175 from the "norlin" era, I replaced the Gibson's neck pickup with the Benedetto (now the Smooth Top KA PAF) and was really happy with it. Too long ago to remember the specifics, but I still have the pickup and a guitar that I might could pop it into to see how it sounds.

**jazzgtrl4** · 02-17-2016, 12:03 AM

Originally Posted by lawson-stone

I realized I actually do have some experience sort of. I bought a Benedetto B6 WAAAAAY back in the early 1990's when Kent Armstrong was making them. When that went over to Seymour Duncan, KA kept building that pickup as the PAF "smooth top." It's this one:

Kent Armstrong Handmade Pickups | built-in smoothtop 6-string PAF | SOUNDISLANDMUSIC.COM

Back when I had a Gibson ES175 from the "norlin" era, I replaced the Gibson's neck pickup with the Benedetto (now the Smooth Top KA PAF) and was really happy with it. Too long ago to remember the specifics, but I still have the pickup and a guitar that I might could pop it into to see how it sounds.

Interesting the smoot top, haven't seen one of those KA before..wonder how they sound compared to the KA PAF i was looking at. thanks for the info

**kris** · 02-17-2016, 03:08 AM

I think Sadowsky guitars use very good pick ups... just my opinion.

**lawson-stone** · 02-17-2016, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by jazzgtrl4

Interesting the smoot top, haven't seen one of those KA before..wonder how they sound compared to the KA PAF i was looking at. thanks for the info

This page, scroll down to the third picture. Mine was bought in about 1990 or so branded as a Benedetto B6 before he changed over to SD.

Kent Armstrong hand-made pickups | manufactured in USA | SOUNDISLANDMUSIC.COM

**lawson-stone** · 02-17-2016, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by jazzgtrl4

Interesting the smoot top, haven't seen one of those KA before..wonder how they sound compared to the KA PAF i was looking at. thanks for the info

I also just remembered something. Armstrong told me in an e-mail how that smooth-top is made, and since it differs from the one with pole-pieces, it's interesting, and he told me he doesn't mind it being shared.

Here's what he wrote:

The design was to give a big Jazz sound it has 5,000 turns of 42.5 gauge wire per coil and two steel bars one in each coil with two alnico 5 magnets bridging the two steels. There are no bobbins in this epoxy pick-up so the coils are very close to the steels to give max power and tone.

**Marty Grass** · 02-17-2016, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by lawson-stone

This gets confusing. Armstrong has a few variants of the PAF for arch tops. One for set-in, one floating. Both have 12 pole pieces and are epoxied. The set-in pickup can actually also be mounted as a floater on some guitars. Then there is the 12 pole piece Johnny Smith floater...

It all gets very confusing. I have a couple of his pickups, but don't know which one you're actually interested in so I don't know if I know anything that can help you!

There are even more possibilities. I have one of his "PAF" type pickups without pole pieces. You may ask, how can that be a PAF then? Because KA wrote that it is a PAF on it!! It was a rebuilt Heritage floater.

**Woody Sound** · 02-17-2016, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by Marty Grass

There are even more possibilities. I have one of his "PAF" type pickups without pole pieces. You may ask, how can that be a PAF then? Because KA wrote that it is a PAF on it!! It was a rebuilt Heritage floater.

That's right. He offers a PAF that fits into the original Heritage enclosure so you don't have to alter the guitar at all.

**Jabberwocky** · 02-17-2016, 12:18 PM

The Roger Sadowsky-specked DiMarzio-made pickup sounds pretty good in a Sadowsky archtop as it is. I wouldn't change that for the sake of changing it.

**lawson-stone** · 02-17-2016, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky

The Roger Sadowsky-specked DiMarzio-made pickup sounds pretty good in a Sadowsky archtop as it is. I wouldn't change that for the sake of changing it.

That's good advice. After I got my Peerless Monarch, I assumed I'd be replacing the pickup. But playing the guitar, I find the pickup is actually really nice. I think it's nothing special, except that it's notably thicker than other floaters I've seen. But it sounds really good to me, so no point in the expense when what I've got is great.

Somehow we always feel like we have to change out stuff.

**ThatRhythmMan** · 02-01-2017, 06:00 PM

Does anyone have any experience with this pickup?

I like the idea of getting a single coil tone and I'm intrigued by the coil tap that makes for switchable output.