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There is a lot of talk about Grant Green's ES 330 and the P90s in it, a bit of buzz about the McCarty pickguard/pickup he used later on the L7 and Epiphone – but i can't find any information about the pickup in his D'Aquisto New Yorker. Yet he gets great tone from this guitar and pickups on his later albums like "Live from the lighthouse" and "Slick".
I looks like it is attached to the neck and/or pickguard and the strings behind the bridge. Any idea what that is?
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01-14-2020 09:55 AM
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DeArmond FHC guitar mike
( monkey-on-a-stick )
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That's a DeArmond FHC pickup and rod/clamp assembly. It's a floating pickup. It's secured by the clamp on the strings between the bridge and tailpiece.
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The FHC is an excellent pickup that has been overshadowed by the Rhythm Chief and Super Chief pickups by De Armond. Try an FHC though and you will be mighty impressed. I used one for 25-30 years and found it to be outstanding. I gave it to a friend for his L7 because of all of the good guitar deeds he had been doing for me.
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They're great pickups, and still quite affordable due to the aforementioned mystique around the Rhythm Chief.
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As Jeff points out, the FHC "Guitar Mike" is the bargain of the old DeArmond lineup.
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I pulled out a geeky research paper on the construction and merits of D'A pickups. According to this, the FHC pickup is both 9 dB ( a lot) more sensitive than the rhythm chief, and also far less noisy. It has a compensated B string construction, just like the RC.
Looks can be deceiving..
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I have one for that came on my 1937 D'angelico NY but I leave it off and just play acoustic, but it does sound amazing. I have on various guitars the whole run of Dearmonds. My old 1965 Barker has the Dearmond 1000 I believe it is called no adjustable pole pieces but super sound. My 49 New Yorker has an 1100 with the adjustable PP. I have the FHC mic so really you can take your choice. I have to say in the end these sound really super all of them and putting a gun to my head and asking me to say which sound better or we pull the trigger...............well pull the trigger I don't know.
A combination of the D'aquisto, FHC mic, and proper amp setting can get one a long way to the great side of great sound. Grant was a groove player but he got sound for sure.
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Yep, a DeArmond FHC, then
"Bill Lawrence--at one time a design engineer with Gibson-- offered to make a special low-impedance pickup for Grant, just as he had done for Wes Montgomery. Grant accepted the offer and says his special pickup sounds better than the DeArmond, but adds that only Lawrence could explain why."
(From http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Testimonials.htm )
Bill Lawrence made a L-450A-5 pickup with 0.5 Henry inductance for Grant. He also used to say that the L-450 and the L-280 are his favorites. You can see this pickup on the D'Aquisto briefly here (around 11:27 or so):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtA78mBL8HY&feature=emb_logo
For Wes Bill had made a special low inductance P90. Early P90s are said to have been below 2 H and were considerably better at delivering highs. If I remember correctly, a PAF has around 4.4 H.
If my rudimentary pickup knowledge is correct, then in general (all other parameters equal), the greater the inductance, the greater the output and bass response.
Last edited by Ol' Fret; 01-14-2020 at 04:45 PM.
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"Grant was a groove player but he got sound for sure."
That's what I mean by "Greentone."
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Wow, lots of knowledge in the forum! Thanks.
Do you have any idea if we hear the DeArmond or the Lawrence on Live at the Lighthouse (1972) and Slick (1975)?
Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
Last edited by guavajelly; 01-22-2020 at 03:02 AM.
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