DeArmond Rhythm Chief RC1100 - Distance to strings

[raban]

I just bought a dearmond rc1100 reissue pickup. I was disappointed that these come without any manual. Soldering is no problem. But i am wondering what the recommended distance to strings would be. Please tell me about your experiences! The pickup goes on a solid top archtop and i usually use ti bepop 12 strings. I will mount it to the pickguard without drilling holes in the neck.
Thanks for any help!

[hotpepper01]

This might give you just an idea.

In general there is not so much room for mounting the pickup lower or higher to the strings. Both the pickguard where the lip at the RH side of the PC will have to be glued to the pickguard and the screw holes in the arm determine very much where the pickup HAS to go. I would mount it as flat as possible will go. Once mounted you can adjust the individual string sound by ear by adjusting each of the screws on the pickup itself.

[raban]

Thanks for the reply. But i will install the pickup without the arm and will make a new pickguard. So i can definitely adjust my prefered distance.

[sgosnell]

To me it's just a personal preference. I like it somewhat close, but not so close that the polepieces can't be adjusted up. I've never thought about trying to use adhesive to hold the pickup to a pickguard, because that little tab doesn't give a lot of surface area for holding the pickup in place. What I prefer is Blu-Tack, which holds the pickup in place securely enough, but allows some adjustment and removal if needed. You can use a spacer under the pickup if necessary, to adjust the height. Whit Smith toured for a long time with a larger Guitar Mike mounted to his Gibson with it, and seemed to have no problems. Epoxy to a pickguard might work, but I've never tried that.

[Cunamara]

I have a humbucker sized Charlie Christian pickup on my carvetop, affixed currently with Blue Tack instead of the neck bracket. I think having the pickup coupled to the top of that way helps with electric tone. The original DeArmond pickups had felt on the back of the pickup that rested on the top, often sandwiching the pickup between the neck rod, the pickguard and the arch of the top.

I've wanted to try one of the 1100 re-issues, I really like that classic sound.

[sgosnell]

I think having the pickup coupled to the top fattens the sound a little, as the top vibrates it moves the pickup very slightly, somewhat imitating the sound of a set pickup, although not strongly. The reissue RC1100 comes with a felt circle on the bottom, which I remove and replace with Blu-Tack, which I much prefer.

[raban]

In the meantime I also contacted Guild and got the following answer:

The suggested pickup height for the Rhythm Chief would be the same as most any other single coil Pickup: ~2-3mm at the Bass Side, and ~1.5-2.5mm at the treble side.

[sgosnell]

It also depends on the strings being used. If you use bronze or brass strings, the bass side needs to be closer, because only the core is ferromagnetic, not the wrapping, and the core is relatively thin. Contrary to popular opinion, bronze acoustic strings do work with magnetic pickups, but the wrapped strings need to be pretty close to the polepieces because only the core is being picked up, and the cores of the middle strings are thin.

[Chazmo]

I have a DeArmond RC1000--the model with no polepieces--mounted on a guitar held with the factory-provided rod attached to the end of the neck. With the E strings held down at the last fret, the distance from the top of the pickup to the bottom of both of the strings measures a bit less than 1/8" (4/32" or about 3mm). I use Martin Retro Monel strings on the guitar and it sounds great.

[Cunamara]

I think that you will find support for the pickup on the bass side is necessary (hence the rod). Blue Tack is an excellent alternative IME, and makes mounting a pickup dead simple. Takes seconds.

[sgcim]

I bought an RC reissue, and it sounds nothing like a real Dearmond. They haven't cracked the code.