KENT ARMSTRONG Pickups?? I LIKE!

[Shane]

I dropped by my local guitar shop today and the tech had just installed KENT ARMSTRONG (?) custom pickups into a 1994 Gibson Les Paul Standard. It was strung with Les Paul Signature strings (009). He had a KA Vintage in the neck and KA Hot Rod (both nickel covered) in the bridge. He was jamming on it while I was in the store which is what caught my attention. That pickup combo gave the most amazing tones. The lead "Vintage" pickup was less chunky sounding than a Burstbucker 1 but creamier than an Antiquity. The "Hot Rod" bridge pickup was a fattened up PAF sound, similar to a Burstbucker but with warm thick mid's and highs without being harsh. I was shocked!

I was about to order Burstbuckers (1/2) for mine but after hearing the KA's I'm switching. Just thought I'd let you know my experience. I'm going to try and post some soundfiles after I install mine. Has anyone else had any experience with KENT ARMSTRONG pickups? Apparently he is big in JAZZ circles but relatively unknown for rock guitar. Happy tone hunting.......

 

[RW Foster]

Post up some sound files, I'd love to hear them. I just ordered some Burstbuckers (#2, #3) on the strength of recommendations on this forum. Haven't got them yet.

 

[Xeries]

Has anyone else had any experience with KENT ARMSTRONG pickups? Apparently he is big in JAZZ circles but relatively unknown for rock guitar. Happy tone hunting.......

Glad you had such a positive experience. I have a pair of his humbucker sized P-90s in a Dearmond S-73 and they absolutely rock! The exact sound I was looking for. The model number is WPU900C & WPU900CR(reverse for hum cancelling). They are definitely worth taking a look at, especially if you play an SG or SG style guitar. :!

 

[jono]

I put Kent Armstrongs in my much-reviled epiphone LP about a year ago and found them to be a good pickup and much improved over the stockers (obviously). I used the vintage in the neck and the HPAOR1 in the bridge. The vintage is real nice - sweet and full. Wasn't so keen on the bridge which is hot @ 15k. I don't think they're anywhere near the Rolphs but I can't be arsed to swap them between guitars to do a real comparo. KA's are available in double creme though and come standard with 4 wires if you're into coil tapping and in the UK they're extremely cheap and I think quite a bargain.

 

[Sol]

Hi Shane,
I totaly agree with you, the handwound custom range they do at
Kent Armstrong are fantastic !
It's a real shame that the budget range has thrown so much confusion around. A lot of people think that the Korean range under the 'Sky' label
are the only ones they do !

We build a small amount of Custom guitars built to customer spec, and
always recommend Kent's hand built pup's (along with, Fralin,Holmes etc)

My brother had a Tele neck pickup that stopped working and I sent it to
Kent to be looked at. He recomended a rewind so he rewound to the specs my brother wanted ( 7.8 K) .
Now, I'm in the middle of building a Tele for myself and have some Lindy
Fralin hot vintage for the neck and a blues pickup for the bridge.

We have swaped the neck pups, the Kent Armstrong rewind for the Lindy
Fralin, just to compare.
It was close, but we both prefered the Fender that Kent Armstrong rewound for my Bro, it had a sweeter more dynamic sound thet you can really lean into, if you know what I mean

 

[P.A.F_guy]

I dropped by my local guitar shop today and the tech had just installed KENT ARMSTRONG (?) custom pickups into a 1994 Gibson Les Paul Standard. It was strung with Les Paul Signature strings (009). He had a KA Vintage in the neck and KA Hot Rod (both nickel covered) in the bridge. He was jamming on it while I was in the store which is what caught my attention. That pickup combo gave the most amazing tones. The lead "Vintage" pickup was less chunky sounding than a Burstbucker 1 but creamier than an Antiquity. The "Hot Rod" bridge pickup was a fattened up PAF sound, similar to a Burstbucker but with warm thick mid's and highs without being harsh. I was shocked!

I was about to order Burstbuckers (1/2) for mine but after hearing the KA's I'm switching. Just thought I'd let you know my experience. I'm going to try and post some soundfiles after I install mine. Has anyone else had any experience with KENT ARMSTRONG pickups? Apparently he is big in JAZZ circles but relatively unknown for rock guitar. Happy tone hunting.......

I am interested in hearing from others who have tried these? they sound like they might be:wow

 

[Bluejazz]

I have some KA's in a Benedetto Benny. They're were custom wound and came with the guitar. Very warm sound. Great depth of tone, and not real screamers. They were meant to be used straight into a tube amp, although an OD pedal is ok. Playing them clean in a tube amp....best tone I've ever heard. But part of that is the guitar.
I can't speak for the other KA models. I'm sure they have different designs for various uses.

 

[John Catto]

Kent is Dan Armstrongs (of ampeg plexiglass etc. etc.) son. He learned to wind pickups from his father and Bill Lawrence. For the past 25ish years he was THE top pickup rewind guy in the UK and only recently relocated back to the states (his pickup rewind business here continues to operate in his absence). He made pickups for many UK builders (not to mention Benedetto (sp?) archtops) and has always had a real good product. His current product line is produced to his specs overseas for the "mass" market and as such seems to carry a big "bang for the buck" combined with low cost. I have no experience of his full size humbuckers but have always thought his fender singles were real good and a lot of people speak very highly of his P90s. I have one of his "hot-rails" type tele bridge pickups in my thinline and that is an amazing sounding pickup, not to mention the nicest made pickup of this type that I have seen from ANYONE (it even has a chrome plated grounding plate on the base), and that is one of his "mass-produced" pickups. I believe he still does hand winds to order in the states.

 

[Fulldrive2]

I have to admit I have only seen and heard the import stuff from Kent Armstrong. They weren't very good. Glad a better product exists from them but they need a top notch marketing person in the states. Virtually no one knows about the high end products

 

[1958teaburst]

been to his house and talked to him many times. He is a very good friend and a good guy also.

 

[toni]

Shane,

could you record a little soundfile for us ?

 

[Yelly]

Kent is a great guy. I have spoken to him many times on the phone. I haven't needed to use him for years but his rewinds were superb.
He once did a miraculous job on some custom bass pickups for me. I sent him the originals (from a Washburn) and Kent sent me back some of his own cast into a block of resin/plastic that looked exactly like the originals. What a piece of work.
Does anyone know if he still hand makes orders in the UK, I sort of lost touch when he moved from "Nickleydean"?

 

[gee-tar]

A good friend of mine (Roy) had a guitar built for him, to his own personal design and specification, by his good friend the one and only Sid Poole (who made the most finely built electric guitars on the planet before his recent death - even Paul Reed Smith himself is agreed on this, and even here we all accept the quality of PRS constructions and finishes). Roy and Sid worked together on the project on a no-compromises basis - the finest mahogany body, a quilt top that Paul Reed Smith himself suggested they use for the project and so on.
Sid spent literally as much time finishing the frets on a guitar as the large manufacturers do building and finishing an entire guitar. He was a master.
Now I've played the guitar in question and it does - I truly, truly promise you - have everything a Lester does and more (Roy himself owns about 10 fine LPs, none of which can match the Poole).

Roy (a long-time Kent Armstrong user) specified Kent Armstrong pups for his baby, and when Sid heard the finished product, from that day on, Sid Poole himself urged all his future customers to have them installed instead of the usual order of Duncans / DiMarzios / Gibsons etc.

Who needs more confirmation?

 

[Gitfiddler]

Kent Armstrong is THE MAN for archtop 'PAF' style pups in my opinion and is the only modern p'up recommended by...

www.archtop.com

I've got one of his hand wound floating PAFs in my Heritage Golden Eagle...amazing, clean, note blooming sound! 12 adjustable pole screws for specific string volume too!

Sounded so good, I ordered a KA jazz humbucker for my Heritage Sweet 16 through WD Products...at a discount. BUT unknowingly got one of the Korean models with KA's name on them! :dead: Not much better than the original Heritage Schaler, so it came out and I had Kent custom wind a gorgeous gold plated 12 pole piece PAF. Once again...amazing, clean, note blooming sound.

Kent personally replied to my email inquiries until completely satisfied. Very cool!:dude

 

[VOLTAGE]

I heard the hot rod vintage is better than a JB? it does not have that upper mid spike and is much more PAFish?

 

[YTLP]

I've got a set in an el-cheapo Flying V I have. It's got the M213K PAF at the neck and a M214K Distortion at the bridge. The PAF is OK but the Distortion kicks but. I'll have to get around to trying it in a "real" guitar one of these days. They also split for single coil use better than any other humbucker I've tried.

 

[Doug H]

Yeah, I have his "high output" (not the "distortion" model but the one below that) and whatever is below that (forget what it's called) models in my Carvin DC-127. For such high output pups, they sure preserve a lot of the guitar's acoustic tone. And like the Rhoads fan mentioned above, the split tones are excellent, and not that weak-ass puss-o-matic tone which is the usual result of split coils.

 

[papersoul]

Are all of his current pickups made over seas? I'd like to try one. What would you guys recommend fro the bridge of a Les Paul if I want deep bass, solid mids, and sweet(smooth) highs. Maybe a medium output but with nice growl.

 

[Gitfiddler]

Are all of his current pickups made over seas? I'd like to try one. What would you guys recommend fro the bridge of a Les Paul if I want deep bass, solid mids, and sweet(smooth) highs. Maybe a medium output but with nice growl.

Papersoul, you might try contacting Kent Armstrong via WD Products website. WD's Larry David can pass along your requests to Kent for his recommendations. But be sure to specify you want Kent to personally make/wind your p'up. Good hunting!