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Old 09-09-2020, 09:00 AM
asilker asilker is offline
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Default Options for DeArmond sounding pickup into my Princeton?

Hey folks! I've got a Lyric in my J45 and my HD28 and it does a great job.

I also have a 000-18 that I love and a silverface princeton reverb - I'd like to fool around with a vintage style magnetic soundhole pickup to plug into the princeton. I'm imagining something that sounds in the ballpark of this D18e: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Xh...oMusicExchange

The only current stock pickup I can find that looks like it might be comparable to those old DeArmonds is the Gretsch Deltoluxe. There are plenty of vintage single coil DeArmonds but I'm wondering about current production options out there.

Anybody have a fun idea?
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:34 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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I've had a classic DeArmond soundhole pickup in a laminated 12-string since around 1980. My main amp then, and in recent weeks, now, is a mid60s Princeton (non-reverb model--Chris Stapleton copied me, but I forgive him). I've never had a Princeton Reverb, but in some cases they were known to break up at a lower volume than the non-reverb models like mine. But at a low enough volume that shouldn't be an issue.

I think it's a fine combination. The classic Fender black or early silver panel sound works well with this sort of thing (and straight into a clean guitar amp was how those pickups were used on stage in the day). I have a Fishman neoD somewhere that I may have used straight into a guitar amp a few times, but it was so long ago that I don't recall the experience.

I don't know what current soundhole pickups most replicate the DeArmond from back in the day alas. I'd be interested to know if anyone has ideas. I know there's a new, different-design DeArmond branded soundhole pickup from Guild, but I haven't tried it. I almost expect that some pickup maker somewhere, after their segment of the music business has worked at duplicating other off-the-beaten-path old pickup designs like the goldfoil et al, will try to do a DeArmond clone and name it the Elmore James or Gabor Szabo model.
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Old 09-09-2020, 05:49 PM
TNO TNO is offline
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The thin gold foils used on Harmony and Airline guitars are perfect for that. You can even find vintage ones with acoustic mounts. There is a guy making copies now at very fair prices but I can't remember his name.
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Old 09-10-2020, 09:43 AM
asilker asilker is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TNO View Post
The thin gold foils used on Harmony and Airline guitars are perfect for that. You can even find vintage ones with acoustic mounts. There is a guy making copies now at very fair prices but I can't remember his name.
Please bounce back and let me know if you happen to recall

Again, it looks like the Gretsch pickup I mentioned above might be similar. Also Supro is making gold foil style pickups for under $100 - but I'm not sure how to mount that in a soundhole without drilling
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Old 09-10-2020, 04:59 PM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by asilker View Post
Please bounce back and let me know if you happen to recall

Again, it looks like the Gretsch pickup I mentioned above might be similar. Also Supro is making gold foil style pickups for under $100 - but I'm not sure how to mount that in a soundhole without drilling
Many years ago, before gold-foils were a "thing" I mounted a "real" one on the top of an old Silvertone acoustic. The ones I'm familiar with are real thin, no where near the thickness of a typical humbucker or Fender single coil.
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Old 09-10-2020, 06:58 PM
roylor4 roylor4 is offline
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DeArmond toneboss. I gig with mine in my Recording King. In stock at Amazon and other places too
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Old 09-11-2020, 07:18 AM
asilker asilker is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roylor4 View Post
DeArmond toneboss. I gig with mine in my Recording King. In stock at Amazon and other places too
How similar is this to a baggs M1 or M80?
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Old 09-11-2020, 09:42 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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Went looking on the Internet and found these options. I have no experience with any of them. All of them are sold as "vintage" sounding magnetic soundhole pickups. There are relatively few reviews of any of them I found, but some say they sound like the old DeArmonds.

Guild Tone Boss. Branded DeArmond, but says it's a humbucker (the originals were single coils).

Gretsch DeltoLuxe. Also said to sound like the original DeArmond in a few reviews. They are thin in depth, and some suspect they may use sheet magnets like the traditional gold tone pickups did.

Victory Toaster or Traditions model. These look like gold tones cosmetically. The Traditions is a hotter output model might be good for the Elmore James tone.

Just a note about the original DeArmond pickups that they all seem to want to emulate. They are not designed to sound like a nice acoustic guitar played acoustically or recorded with a microphone. They are for all intents and purposes electric guitar pickups*, they pickup the strings and any resonance the strings are reacting to from the guitars body. So, they sound a little more like an hollow-body electric guitar with a vintage single coil pickup than modern pickups that seek to sound more like an acoustic guitar. They were designed and work fine plugged into a regular amp, and those amps can add even more "electric guitar" color to the sound.

That said, this is a perfectly valid sound. Elmore James and Lightning Hopkins used the DeArmond pickups. Not a few folkies who moved to "folk-rock" used them for a time in the Sixties to early 70s. They are similar to the DeArmond add on pickups used on acoustic archtops by jazzers, and Gabor Szabo used a flattop guitar with a DeArmond soundhole pickup in the same era. Also not unlike the Beatles Gibson J160e or the electrified Martin from that time.

Personally, I happen to have fond memories of that era's music, and I think they are a way to get more use out of an otherwise playable all-laminated acoustic guitar that might not have the greatest sound unamplified.

*Some may be designed to reduce the volume from the B string and increase the volume from the G string as typical acoustic guitar string sets have a non-magnetic wrap on all but the top two strings. The inner steel wires on the wrapped strings are still magnetic of course, just at a lower level than the B and E strings that are just plain, and magnetic, steel on acoustic or electric guitar string sets. Monel acoustic strings are another option for the magnetic pickups/acoustic guitar combination, as their Monel string wrap is a nickel alloy, and nickel is magnetic.

Some modern magnetic soundhole pickups have adjustable polepieces to adjust string to string balance. The vintage DeArmonds didn't and these three brands that are trying for the same vibe also don't have adjustable polepieces.
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Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses....
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