Gibson Johnny Smith vs Armstrong PAF

[Woody Sound]

I’m still itching to try the Shadow Attila Zoller. Very wide wound single coil.

[bluejaybill]

As long as we are reopening this topic, I’d like to share my experience, or I should say, odyssey:

I have a Campellone Special 17”, very much like an L5C, and I ordered it with the Lollar JS pickup. The pickup sounds very good, though as some have said , a bit thin and, for want of a better word, “acousticy” sounding. Very nice and a sound that a lot of people like and use. I found that rolling off the tone helped to warm it up a bit.

My problem with the the JS was that for the life of me I could not get the strings to be balanced on my guitar. I tried everything, even removing some of the screws on the offending strings as Lollar suggested, and as JS himself did. No dice. So that and the fact that I wasn’t 100% pleased with the sound started me on a path of looking for alternatives. I tried the Biltoft JS next. The pickup is not a true JS design, instead more of a minihumbucker design IIRC. It sounded very good, but didn’t solve the string balance issue for me.

I spoke with Mark and my local repair person about other options, and they both suggested the Armstrong. The problems for me were, one, it’s was getting expensive changing out these pickups, and two, I wanted the more traditional gold JS look. But sound wins out in the end, so I bit the bullet and sent my original pick guard to Mark and had him make me a duplicate with the Armstrong. I also had him put an RCA jack in line, so I can now switch back and forth between the two.

So I now have both, but I have not had the Lollar JS back in the guitar since I mounted the Armstrong, which I believe is his classic Alnico PAF. It sounds great, much fuller than the JS, and in fact can get very close to a “Wes” style sound- nice and full but clearer on top than, say, a 175. I still roll off the bass and tone a bit, and the pickup has a bit more hi mids than a vintage PAF, but it sounds excellent. I actually was recording it yesterday and was very happy with the results. One thing that I really like is that when I play normally I get a nice fat sound, but when I dig in a bit I get a nice stringy “pop” to emphasize the note.

Most importantly, since you can adjust both magnet’s pole pieces on the 12 pole, it is easy to dial in the string balance so that the strings are very even.

To complete the picture, I use a Fat Jimmy 1x12, a Fender BF/brown face variant, and if I need to play at a low volume, below the “sweet” spot, I have an Empress EQ and compressor that I sometimes use. For me it’s not usually needed, but to anyone having any tonal issues I recommend the Empress EQ, it can solve just about any problem.

[deacon Mark]

Try a Bartolini they are fantastic. I have one on my sunburst Heritage Johnny Smith.

[GuyBoden]

I’m still itching to try the Shadow Attila Zoller. Very wide wound single coil.

I've had a Zoller AZ48 pickup mounted on a pickguard with a vol, tone pot and jack socket for a floating pickup for many years, it's still in my cupboard.

I've just taken a picture of it:

[garybaldy]

I’m still itching to try the Shadow Attila Zoller. Very wide wound single coil.

The one I have has the neck brackets. I wasn't very impressed with it - poor balance and non adjustable, and boxy tone.

[jads57]

A wider pickup will have a larger Aperture to give a fuller sound. Mini humbucker vs Regular Size one. I think floating pickup vs installed will also have bigger sound as well. But I’m not a luthier, and I just go by what I hear and have tried.

I also had Peter Biltoft Vintage Vibe Pickups wind a Double CC Rider floating humbucker for my Elferink Tonemaster Archtop awhile ago. I like it as much as the K.A. hand wound PAF it came with. Not sure how to describe the difference in tone. Both are really nice!