Design your Sound

Since man first beat the drum, musicians have been searching for their own individual sound, and that is exactly what we are here to supply!

Where most pickup manufacturers will offer you certain pickups with set parameters, here at Armstrong pickups we offer you the opportunity to set the parameters yourself. There are five main factors that will change the tonal characteristics of a pickup.

They are:

  • Design & layout of coil(s) & magnets
  • Gauge of wire
  • Number of turns of wire
  • Type of magnet
  • Strength of magnet

By changing one of these parameters you will change the sound of the pickup. The more parameters you change the more you change the sound; likewise, the more you change a parameter the more the sound will change.

For Example:
If you wanted a standard Gibson PAF humbucker (which has 5,000 turns of .063mm gauge wire on each of the two coils which are side-by-side and have an Alnico V magnet separating them), then I would recommend my father’s excellent range of pickups which, although mass produced, use the same materials and techniques used to make the Armstrong custom pickups. However if you wanted a Gibson PAF pickup but with a sweeter, softer tone than standard then we could make one, but instead of the Alnico V magnet we would use Alnico III. Or maybe you would like it to sound jazzier? Then we would use a larger gauge of wire, probably .071mm.

The art of what we do here is knowing what changes to make in the specifications to achieve the kind of sound you are after. The hard part for you is trying to put the sound that you want into words, but once we understand the kind of sound you’re after we will design the pickup to fit your specific needs. So, whether you’re after the silky smooth sounds of Wes Montgomery, with just a bit more cut through, or the penetrating attack of Zakk Wylde, with even more screeching highs, you’ve come to the right place.

Just get in touch and tell us how you want to sound.

Disclaimer:
We can design pickups to sound like many of the world’s most famous guitarists. However we can’t make you play like them: that part’s down to you. 😉