Replacing a pickup on an ar503ce - need some advice

[chinabird]

Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster...

I've been thinking of replacing the pickup on my 503 archtop (recently bought used on Reverb, manufactured in 2014). As far as I've gathered, it's a Kent Armstrong HPAG-1.

Did anyone go through the process? 
Any advice or impression will be greatly appreciated.

Specifically:
1. Did anyone experience any difficulty with the rounded shape of the HPAG-1 tabs vs the rectangular tabs on most other pickups?
2. Did you swap the rest of the electronics or just the pickup?
3. How many wires should the new pickup have? 4 or just 1?

BTW, the leading replacement candidate is currently a Seth Lover, but I have no idea how it's going to pair with the guitar, so I'm open to suggestions...

Many thanks

[AlanSam]

Hi Chinabird - and welcome! I'd like to offer you some advice on your guitar pups, but unfortunately I know next to nothing about this subject. I am sure someone will weigh in with some advice. Maybe you could have a play with this site's search facility? Also there is an electric guitar subsection which you might page through.

[chinabird]

Hi Chinabird - and welcome! I'd like to offer you some advice on your guitar pups, but unfortunately I know next to nothing about this subject. I am sure someone will weigh in with some advice. Maybe you could have a play with this site's search facility? Also there is an electric guitar subsection which you might page through.

Thanks Alan! Tried searching before I posted, but didn't yield any results specific enough...

[RoyBoy]

I would help to know what you're hoping to achieve by switching to a Seth Lover. If you want a classic jazz tone there may be better options. Kent Armstrong also has another line of hand wound pickups made here (not to be confused with his Asian factory produced PU's). Archtop.com carries them and offers good descritptions of the various models.

Seth Lovers are highly regarded in the electric world and may well satisfy you unless you want a more classic single coil/p90 type of sound. Good luck in your search for the perfect tone!

[chinabird]

I would help to know what you're hoping to achieve by switching to a Seth Lover. If you want a classic jazz tone there may be better options. Kent Armstrong also has another line of hand wound pickups made here (not to be confused with his Asian factory produced PU's). Archtop.com carries them and offers good descritptions of the various models.

Seth Lovers are highly regarded in the electric world and may well satisfy you unless you want a more classic single coil/p90 type of sound. Good luck in your search for the perfect tone!

Thanks RoyBoy! 
It's not that I'm looking for a very specific tone, just that the current KA pickup is somehow a bit dull, making me weirdly ambivalent towards the guitar, and I want something that'll make it come alive and bring us closer together

If I had to put it into words, perhaps I'm aiming for something more along the lines of a Peter Bernstein tone - I believe he uses a Classic 57 (as a floater, though) - or something along the lines of the Ibanez Super 58 neck pickups from the eighties (such as one can find in the GB30 guitars).

[Chris Pile]

Chinabird - before changing out pickups, can you tell us why you think it sounds dull? Kent Armstrong units have a reputation for clarity and high fidelity. Could it be your choice of strings? I've found a change of strings on my Eastman archtops to be a dramatic improvement from the roundwound strings on it when I purchased them. I have an AR-810 and an AR-804, both strung with D'Addario XL Half Rounds (.012 to .052) which give me that classic Sixties warm jazz tone I sought. They are quite flexible and easy to play, and have no finger squeaks when playing fast changes.

[chinabird]

Chinabird - before changing out pickups, can you tell us why you think it sounds dull? Kent Armstrong units have a reputation for clarity and high fidelity. Could it be your choice of strings? I've found a change of strings on my Eastman archtops to be a dramatic improvement from the roundwound strings on it when I purchased them. I have an AR-810 and an AR-804, both strung with D'Addario XL Half Rounds (.012 to .052) which give me that classic Sixties warm jazz tone I sought. They are quite flexible and easy to play, and have no finger squeaks when playing fast changes.

Hi Chris, I don't know why exactly, but something with the lower strings simply isn't working for me (though it did improve greatly upon string change to flatwounds, which was the first thing I did).
It's completely possible the problem (if it's a problem at all) lies with me - be it my expectations, my technique or my amp. The whole thing is so subjective, it's hard to tell. One thing I did find was that the acoustic tone improves greatly when I turn the guitar at an angle towards me (perhaps it has something to do with the archtopness? I haven't had a similar experience with my acoustic guitar, for example). But that of course has nothing to do with the pickup.

[Chris Pile]

Suggest you think on it some more until you decide, or ask a competent and experienced luthier to look at your guitar and how you play it.

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Suggest you think about some more, or check with a competent and experienced luthier who can see your guitar and how you play it.

[Wildfield]

Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster...

I've been thinking of replacing the pickup on my 503 archtop (recently bought used on Reverb, manufactured in 2014). As far as I've gathered, it's a Kent Armstrong HPAG-1.

Did anyone go through the process? 
Any advice or impression will be greatly appreciated.

Specifically:
1. Did anyone experience any difficulty with the rounded shape of the HPAG-1 tabs vs the rectangular tabs on most other pickups?
2. Did you swap the rest of the electronics or just the pickup?
3. How many wires should the new pickup have? 4 or just 1?

BTW, the leading replacement candidate is currently a Seth Lover, but I have no idea how it's going to pair with the guitar, so I'm open to suggestions...

Many thanks

While I'm no expert, I've replaced quite a few pickups over the years.  I have a single p/u Eastman AR603-15 in which I replaced the stock humbucker with a Kent Armstrong 16-pole handwound PAF.  Love the sound of that particular pickup and have installed the same model on a few of my guitars including a G&L ASAT Blues Boy and a handmade Stephen Holst archtop.  Most recently, I installed a floating version of the KA 16-pole PAF on my Ibanez GB40th.  Happy to post photos, if anyone is interested to see.

Re:  Kent Armstrong HPAG-1
It looks like a pretty standard PAF to me.  I would guess you could use the existing Eastman p/u ring with the mounting screws and springs that come with the p/u.  Shouldn't be too difficult.

Re:  Did you swap the rest of the electronics...
The first few p/u swaps I did, i just cut the existing pickup wires and spliced them to the new pickups.  I admit...doing it that way is a bit of a hack job but it was easy and it worked.  The majority of pickup swaps I have done over the years has involved removing all of the electronics (pots, p/u jack, switch, etc.).  Once out of the guitar, I can "sweat" the existing pickup wires off of the pots/switch, etc. and then solder the new pickup(s) to the existing pots, etc.  This the next cleanest way of doing it, short of replacing all of the electronics...which I have also done.

Re:  How many wires should the new pickup have?
Depends on the p/u.  Some come with 4 insulated wires with an outer braided shield; others come with just one insulated wire and outer braided shield.  If you have the 4 wire config, you can download a wiring diagram from Seymour Duncan specific to your setup and follow the directions.  Same for if you have only 1 wire.  If your AR603 only has one pickup, it should be super easy since you don't have to deal with the switch or second p/u.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Best,
Darryl

[RomanS]

Have you tried playing around with pickup height at all? I'm a single coil only guy, and find that all humbuckers have muffled low strings, but you might gain a bit more clarity by lowering the pickup on the bass string side only (and raising the individual pole screws to compensate for the lower volume).