The JAZZBUCKER
As making full-acoustic archtops is my passion I was
always looking for the right
floating pickup. I love the DeArmond Mod.1000 but
unfortunatly itīs out of production
since many years and also not well-balanced for
todays strings, plus they hum.
Iīve got every single floating pickup there is on
the market in my drawer.
Donīt like any of them, also most are too thick to fit
to many archtops. So I had to come up with a new pickup.
The Jazzbucker is the result of years of development.
It now can reproduce a typical full and deep
PAF sound plus by the flick of a mini switch, that
beloved "DeArmond" sound - and itīs still
humbucking (remember, the DeArmand Mod.1000 is a
singlecoil pickup).
And it is just 8,5mm high (fits also early L-5 and
Super 400 etc.)
The polepiece magnets are lightly pressed in and
can be adjusted by the use of a well fitting screwdriver.
The JAZZBUCKER comes pre-adjusted for wound G-strings
and a side-thongue with a screw for mounting
at the pickguard.
On request also available with a bracket, if you
already have holes under the fretboard.
On request available completely soldered together with
a mini vol and tone control with small buttons
plus a sideways mini switch (PAF / DeArmond sound) and a socket.
The "DeArmond" sound is an old Bill Lawrence trick: one
of the coils goes trough a condenser to ground.
So this coil works just in the bass frequencies. The
result: attack of a singlecoil, but full bass and no loss
of volume. And the best of all - itīs still
humbucking.
For those who prefer an oldtime more acoustic gypsy
sound I recommend to use just one coil (singlecoil),
the pickup will still have enough output. If you like
the option of having all 3 sounds just use a simple
3-way switch (on-off-on) instead of a 2-way (on-on).
You can find wiring diagrams
here.
Here I made a replacement pickguard for a pre-war
Gibson made of
rare very-old-stock tortoise celluloid. All controls,
the miniswith plus a socket
are fitted to the pickguard. So there are no extra
holes needed and the old guitar stays
in perfect original condition.
Thats how flat everything is. No need to worry when you
close your guitarcase
I used a piece of ebony to stabilize the
Pickguard.
The JAZZBUCKER is available in nickel, chrome, gold,
raw (unplated german silver, for that vintage look)
and black-chrome