Info re: a DeArmond Pickup

[Mick-7]

I found the pickup pictured, in a box in my closet. Don't know if its a neck or bridge pickup, just #53004 marked on the back.

Can ya' all tell me anything about it? - it's tonal personality, etc. Thank you.

[customxke]

It’s a DeArmond Gold Tone pickup. I can’t comment on how they sound.

[Jimmy Mack]

They are excellent sounding. They are made with Alnico V magnets. They are bright, but not too bright, clear sounding. I have used them in a Guild X170 that had an ice picky tone on the 1st string of the bridge pickup, smoothed it right out!
And I used one in the neck position of an Epiphone Lucille. The stock p/up and a Gibson 57 Classic were both muddy, so in went the Goldtone. Worked great! Clear and bluesy.
I had DeArmond Jet Star with them in it stock, and they were warm but clear and smooth.

I bought a few of them on sale at MF when they were blowing them out ($30.00) and sold them off for $75 - 90. They went fast because people like them.

[Mick-7]

They are excellent sounding. They are made with Alnico V magnets. They are bright, but not too bright, clear sounding. I have used them in a Guild X170 that had an ice picky tone on the 1st string of the bridge pickup, smoothed it right out!
And I used one in the neck position of an Epiphone Lucille. The stock p/up and a Gibson 57 Classic were both muddy, so in went the Goldtone. Worked great! Clear and bluesy.

Thank you. I have a Michael Kelly Korean made ES-335 copy, very nice guitar, made during the first couple of years they were in business when they were looking to establish their brand and the workmanship was superior (I think they're made in China now). However, the pick-ups on it are dull so it sounds like the DeArmond may work well.

Not sure how to discern if it's a neck or bridge pickup, measure its output I guess but I'll have to find some specs on it. I'm hoping it's a neck pickup. I cannot recall where I got it, probably on eBay about 20 years ago.

[Doug B]

You might want to email Guild as they handle DeArmond (I think)

Doug

[Jimmy Mack]

I wouldn't be too concerned whether it's a neck or a bridge p/up. They weren't wound very "hot" so no danger of too muddy in the neck position. If you install it and like it, that's all that matters. Can't say how it will balance with another p/up in the bridge position, but you can raise and lower both to change the balance (usually). Pickups work the same way in N or B positions, it's just that they are wound more or less to work most efficiently in a 2 p/up situation. In a single p/up guitar, it wouldn't matter at all....unless it was "overwound" or "underwound" and you didn't care for its tone.

Install it, you will like it!

[Mick-7]

Looks like these pickups were standard issue on some DeArmond guitars 20+ years ago.

Here's a DeArmond X-155:

[Mick-7]

You might want to email Guild as they handle DeArmond (I think)

Doug

Thanks but it doesn't look like they can provide info on pickups this old - 20+ years old.

[Jimmy Mack]

Probably not, since Guild was sold ... and sold again...............

I like them a lot, and I am fussy! Some people said they were a cross between a Gibson and a Gretsch Filtertron. ???
I just know they are very clear and sweet. Many fans out there.
As I said, I sold mine real fast (at inflated prices), so, they must be good. I still have one. I'm saving it for ...who knows what?

I guess I used to just buy a lot of good stuff - just in case (LoL)

[Jimmy Mack]

Looks like these pickups were standard issue on some DeArmond guitars 20+ years ago.

Here's a DeArmond X-155:

The funny thing is, that you could buy these all day long (and other DeArmond guitars) with these pickups, for not a lot of $$$. And then you had the GoldTone pickups to keep. Maybe the guitars were keepers too? But I liked these pickups better than the Guild p/ups on my X170.