Archtop guitar neck pickup wiring

[jmusser]

Hi, I haven't been back here for awhile, but I know this is where are the answers are. I have a Harmony archtop guitar that I want to add a mini humbucker neck pickup to. I was wondering if there is a schematic around that has the pot and cap values for the volume and tone controls? This pickup is the kind that I believe is called "floating", because it has two arms that stick out to screw into the sides of the neck, and butts up aginst the end of the neck. It is not mounted to the body. I plan to make a DeArmond Rhythm Chief style control box that mounts underneath the right bottom corner of the pickgaurd.

[Mark Hammer]

My sense is that, in the absence of a desire for crystal clear tone (and maybe even a desire for its opposite) - that is, unless you're Tuck Andress -, volume and tone pot values that load...a lot...are preferred.  For example, maybe even 100k.  I don't know this for sure, but if you go back far enough in guitar history, you'll see that higher-value pots were a more recent phenomenon.

FWIW, I have a wonderful mid-1930's Kalamazoo archtop (a KG-11, I think) that I've been dying to stick a neck pickup on.  Only trouble is, the damn thing is of a historical period where no one anticipated retrofitting pickups as a commonplace occurrence, so there is maybe 3/8 clearance between the body and the strings up by the end of the fingerboard.  There is nothing commercially available that will fit that space without necessitating cutting a hole in the body, and for obvious reasons that's a nonstarter.  I did manage to buy some teeny neodymium magnets though, and have some ultrathin copper-clad board that I can use for producing a bobbin of acceptable size.  I have just about every gauge of relevant magnet wire (from 36 clear through to 44).  All I need is a suitable jig and some time.  I guess the winding challenge is that of having about 3/16 of space to work in .  My usual winding jig (a hand drill clamped to the counter) is not really precise enough.  The other thing is that putting any sort of reasonable number of turns on there is likely gong to require use of #43 or even #44 wire, which puts some serious constraints on how much tension can be applied.  That's why, 10 years later, I'm still pickup-less.

[bipedal]

I've installed a couple of aftermarket pickups in my guitar arsenal ("guitarsenal"?), and each has come with wiring recommendations, including suggested pot & cap values -- info was provided either in hard copy form or online via the manufacturer's website... 

You might get a good sampling of suggested values for various configurations here or here -- may not be exactly what you're looking for, but perhaps a starting point?

- Jay

[jmusser]

The Kalamazoo's are really nice. I know they were made by Gibson, but that's about it. I've also seen some Cromwells ( I think that's the name) that were of the same era, and also supposed to be made by Gibson. This one is an all birch Archtone 4 string tenor. I have a couple harmony flat top tenors. One's an all birch Stella 949, and the other is a Harmony 1201T with the select spruce top, and mahogany back and sides. Up until I got the Stella, I would have never expected birch topped guitars to sound good, but they do. They are quieter, and have their own voice. One thing about them, is that they're solid birch without being laminated. The 1201T sounds as good as any vintage Martin. It would take a good one for me to trade straight across for. I believe all these were made in the late 60s. In your case, you may have to mount one a little farther down from your neck a few inches, side mounted off of the pick gaurd.

[asfastasdark]

Does the pickup body (eg. casing) look like this:


?

In that case, you're dealing with a P-90, a dogear P-90 to be exact. Not that I have any pot/cap value suggestions, but then at least you'll know what to search for .

[Mark Hammer]

The Kalamazoo's are really nice. I know they were made by Gibson, but that's about it.

I got a terrific history of Gibson given to me when I toured the old facility in 1982, and Julius Bellson wrote about the Kalamazoo line in it (  http://www.michiganhistorymag.com/extra/kalamazoo/gibson.html ).  Kalamazoo guitars were....wait for it....also made in Kalamazoo, MI by Gibson, and were the budget line.  What does that mean?  Well, it means that mine came with an unbound neck, unbound F-holes, and a folded sheet-metal tailpiece.  There.  Gibson just saved themselves a couple of bucks in production costs, and passed the savings along to you, the customer, so you could buy a guitar for $40 instead of having to break the bank and spend $50 on the deluxe with all the trimmings.  The guitar itself is a parlour-sized archtop, and is as fine an instrument as you'd expect from Gibson in the 1930's, and has one of those very pronounced V necks that let you bar chord in comfort until long after the cows have come home AND fallen asleep AND woken up again.

Lots of folks don't know this but Gibson had a line of wooden children's toys too, over the first half of the century.  I guess if it wasn't good enough for a neck, there was no reason a hunk of wood couldn't be used for a toy boat or wooden truck.

[petemoore]

  My brother has this history of Archtop Harmony guitars he likes to tell.
  It's one of my favorite 'design stories'.
  300,000 Harmony guitars made every year for more than a decade, 1 million in the best year.
  They don't make 'em anymore, but used a press to shape the archtop, mass production to make them affordable...'nothing too fancy' means they'll never be a top dollar fetching investment type item.
  That puts them up for reasonable prices at garbage and yard sales, and they go for...they make a great deal for anyone who wants archtop, I havent seen one lately, played a few and they were all good pieces to work with, great quality and no expensive bells and whistles.

[frank_p]

Hi, I haven't been back here for awhile, but I know this is where are the answers are. I have a Harmony archtop guitar that I want to add a mini humbucker neck pickup to. I was wondering if there is a schematic around that has the pot and cap values for the volume and tone controls? This pickup is the kind that I believe is called "floating", because it has two arms that stick out to screw into the sides of the neck, and butts up aginst the end of the neck. It is not mounted to the body. I plan to make a DeArmond Rhythm Chief style control box that mounts underneath the right bottom corner of the pickgaurd.

Supposed to repair one, but only, I don't know when.  The guy is broke. So I will just ask him a guitar lesson in exchange.  I'll take some notes if it's getting done...  DeArmond floating pickup with folded metal control box.

Also,

Benedetto neck pickup is about 3/8in thick I think and in a wood cover.  The pickup (or bobbin) should be more thin.  It's the S-6.

http://benedettopickups.com/closeup_s.htm

But they are single coils and sound a bit (well a lot) thin.

They are made not to route the arched top plate.  Perhaps a homemade similar but even thiner one could do the job.

A guy from my town that plays in that band:
http://www.myspace.com/lakeofstew
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=VldcDq96WBE&feature=related
Have an old Kalamazoo mandolin.  Pretty stunning instrument.  The body is made from a single piece of flamed maple that is carved hollow.  Fantastic look and sound.  Can't believe it was a low budjet instrument at the time...

The last time I saw them, there was an electric failure.  The café staff putted some candles and they continued to play all evening.  Was a great moment.