Rhythm Chief 1000 for my laminated Hofner?

[Musgo Real]

Hello fellow members,

I like to play my Hofner acoustic archtop, which sounds fine enough for my ears as Jazz noob, for finger picking and melody - chord arrangements. Now I am thinking about buying a reeissue Rhythm Chief 1000 floating pickup.

I am using at the moment Philippe Bosset Soft Brass strings but also like the Thomastik Plectrum very much.
Before investing some money for the pickup and a luthier, I really would like to hear some sound examples. Does anyone having one sound file of the Rhythm Chief 1000 in combination with bronze strings? On youtube all the videos I have seen so far of the 1000, were played with flatwound strings.

[radiofm74]

Hello fellow members,

I like to play my Hofner acoustic archtop, which sounds fine enough for my ears as Jazz noob, for finger picking and melody - chord arrangements. Now I am thinking about buying a reeissue Rhythm Chief 1000 floating pickup.
Attachment 82190
I am using at the moment Philippe Bosset Soft Brass strings but also like the Thomastik Plectrum very much.
Before investing some money for the pickup and a luthier, I really would like to hear some sound examples. Does anyone having one of the Rhythm Chief 1000 in combination with bronze strings? On youtube all the videos I have seen so far of the 1000, were played with flatwound strings.

What a good choice! The few reissue RC I've played sounded remarkably close to the old units, and very good. Of course, if you could source an old one at a good price that'd be great. I confirm that as friend omphalopsychos suggested to me, GHS vintage bronze strings work wonderfully with my 50s Rhythm Chief.

Should you find an old "guitar mic" around you at a good price, the prescriptions change: (1) get it no matter what – the FHC is rawer but in my book as wonderful as the RC, and (2) that one seems to have a little more issues with balancing bronze strings well, so Monel strings (Martin retros for instance) would be a better choice.

Whatever you do, DeArmonds will give you wonderful swing tone!

[Hammertone]

I think that a Dearmond floating pickup on any acoustic Hofner is a good idea, regardless of whether the top plate is laminated or solid spruce. The current fashion for all-laminated "acoustic" archtop guitars with pickups is a mere echo of the many thousands of German archtop guitars with floating pickups made in the '50s and '60s, which sound GREAT.

[Peter C]

Would be interested to read more experiences of using a RC on a lam top.

[omphalopsychos]

Floating pickup plus plywood equals good.

Get a dearmond FHC from the early 50s. They work with Philippe bosset soft brass (that’s what I use) and sounds a million times better than the reissue rhythm chiefs.

[Musgo Real]

I found this clip of German gypsy jazz guitarist Sven Jungbeck on youtube.
Beside his other D and oval hole manouche guitars, he´s also playing a Hofner (17 Inches?), don´t know if laminated or solid top, in combination with a reeissue DeArmond 1000 through a Fender RP Junior tube amp. He´s using Savarez Argentines for the Hofner, as he is telling in one of his other videos, to have the choice of an amplified manouche sound when needed.

[QsDuesBlues]

Would be interested to read more experiences of using a RC on a lam top.

The best-sounding amplified laminated archtop I ever owned was - surprisingly - a relatively inexpensive c.1959 Framus-built 'Zenith Super 300' - with an original gold-plated De Armond #1000 Rythm Chief - probably fitted to the guitar by its original owner, when new. When I bought the guitar from Andy's, London over 20 years ago I was told it had belonged to a top guitar/banjo player prominent in the 60's with many jazz bands, artists and sessions. It may have been the lateTony Pitt - I really can't remember....

(but if it was, see tributes to him on nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/posts/articles/2021/01/my-friend-tony-pitt).

I played the guitar through a Carlsbro Sherwood 30 acoustic amp, but it sounded far better through my luthier/restorer's Marshall AS-50 acoustic amp. Lovely amplified tone, but with that oh-so-hard-to-find exquisite 'upper acoustic overlay' . Imagine the icing on a cake - transformed into sound - sort of !

Back in 1963 The Caravelles - a girl pop duo from Barnet, England, got to the top of the USA charts with 'You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry'. I don't remember any particular jazz guitar sounds on their single - but I did note the guitar - and pickup - they were posing with.......yep, the very same !

[Hammertone]

Jungbeck is playing an early 1960s Hofner Model 4550/S - a 17" wide archtop with laminated maple top, rims and back. 25 1/4" scale. Same dimensions as the much fancier-looking Models 468/S and 470/S, but functionally the same guitar. Quite similar to the late-1950s/early '60s Hofner Committees, which were typically all-laminated as well.

These are very nice pro-level guitars and it's not hard to get them into great playing condition, especially the '60s versions with adjustable truss rods. It would be interesting to compare some '50s and '60s German laminated archtops to more recent "boutique" laminated archtops.

[KirkP]

Magnetic pickups don’t get as much of a signal from bronze wound strings as nickel-wound, so you might find that the two unwound strings are too loud relative to the bronze wound. I didn’t want to risk that when I decided on a reissue Rhythm Chief, and I wasn’t sure if I’d want to use Bronze or nickel wound strings, so I went for the RC1100 which has adjustable pole pieces. But the 1100 and 1000 are very different designs so do sound a bit different. If you prefer the tone of the 1000 you could try your preferred bronze strings with it and if they have too weak a signal switch to monel or nickel.