Pickup for Eastman AR580CE?

[Topper Roth]

I recently acquired a 2020 AR580CE which has its original Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup. To me, the pickup sounds too thin and trebly - I like a darker sound. This guitar has a solid spruce top with laminate maple back and sides. I have another guitar with this construction (a Mortoro Il Storno) and it has a Kent Armstrong 12-pole humbucker, the sound of which I love! I also have a Fender D'Aquisto Elite (laminate spruce top, laminate maple back and sides) that has a Benedetto A6 - I like that sound a lot, too. Any thoughts/ suggestions re: what pickups I should consider, if I decide to replace the Seymour Duncan? (I usually play through a Henriksen JazzAmp.)

[Sam Sherry]

Gibson 57 Classic -- Slightly hotter and slightly darker than the Duncan Jazz. It's a full, "beefy" sound and is easily found used.

Duncan / Benedetto B6 -- An outside-the-box build which sounded like The Voice on some of my archtops and The Voice From My Pants on a semi-hollow.

[Gitpicker]

Congratulations on the guitar, those are great! I have an AR580CE and I also did NOT care for the SD Jazz pickup so I had a Lollar Imperial installed and it was a major improvement. I think an SD Seth Lover would also be a great choice for the 580 or a Gibson Classic 57 as previously noted. The Lollar is definitely a better pickup but not as dark as I wanted so if I were to do it again I might go with the Seth Lover or 57.

Cheers!

Doug

[Groyniad]

I have this guitar - the 580 - and it is a joy to play. Never been so thrilled with a guitar. Functions very well at gig volumes - and has a lovely fat warm tone.

i have a black 12 pole piece handmade KA set pickup which i've always planned to put into it - but the stock pickup (which is also a KA pickup - not handmade) - is so good i have no reason to replace it. Its a 2021 guitar I think.

you can't go wrong with the classic KA paf type humbucker in either floating or set forms - especially if you need a fatter, darker tone.

[Doug B]

Doug Martin, Was that Lollar Imperial the Low Wind version?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I have a set hand wound KA in my 16” carved Eastman, and a Benedetto in my laminated 16” Ibanez. It’s a toss-up between them. Both are rich, full and “jazzy” and I love them equally.

[Gitpicker]

Doug Martin, Was that Lollar Imperial the Low Wind version?

Correct

[Doug B]

Correct

Both the Lollar Imperial Low Wind and the Fralin Pure PAF are very similar 50's style pickups, both very similar and great for jazz.

[Maxxx]

I recently acquired a 2020 AR580CE which has its original Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup. To me, the pickup sounds too thin and trebly - I like a darker sound. This guitar has a solid spruce top with laminate maple back and sides. I have another guitar with this construction (a Mortoro Il Storno) and it has a Kent Armstrong 12-pole humbucker, the sound of which I love! I also have a Fender D'Aquisto Elite (laminate spruce top, laminate maple back and sides) that has a Benedetto A6 - I like that sound a lot, too. Any thoughts/ suggestions re: what pickups I should consider, if I decide to replace the Seymour Duncan? (I usually play through a Henriksen JazzAmp.)

I bought the same guitar just a few weeks ago.. Came with the Seth and tried one with the Lollar,.. Didn't like either. Whole guitar sounded kind of thin, overly bright on both these two pickups. Returned it immediately. Funny enough the nicest one I heard on Youtube had the Kent Armstrong on. But personally every Easteman I tried had a thin metallic tone and no warmth or sustain at all. Have given up on those guitars as a whole.

[krusty]

Try a Lace Alumitone Fusion Jazz. My Eastman El Rey 1 has an incredibly deep voice with one. Very articulate. I have 300k pots, though.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Try a Lace Alumitone Fusion Jazz. My Eastman El Rey 1 has an incredibly deep voice with one. Very articulate. I have 300k pots, though.

I have a pair of Alumitone “HBs” in my Tele, which still has the 500k pots with which it was made. Mine are close to the Fusion Jazz spec, altered just a little (per Gabriel at Lace, who recommended them to me) to George Benson’s spec - and Benson does use them in some of his guitars.

They’re great pickups - powerful, clean and quiet with a broad palette of tones available. But they don’t thunk quite as well as an old school HB. They do a convincingly woody archtop tone and everybody who hears them loves them, including many other musicians. And they’ll do any style well, from rockabilly to world music to fusion to bop.

I want to drop one into my laminated archtop (which has a Benedetto B7 in it now) just to see how it sounds. Yes, my guitars are all 7s, but the pickup specs are the same as for 6s.

[dconeill]

While I generally like the Duncan pickups I've used, I didn't like the Jazz. Too thin sounding in my ES335. I replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover and have been well pleased.

That being said, I like the Kent Armstrong 12-pole floater (on a Heritage Sweet 16) very well. If it's available in a built-in format, I'd consider very carefully using it in a spruce-topped archtop.