DeArmond Guitar Mike Help...

[Duck Dodgers]

I have a DeArmond "Guitar Mike" that I was on an old archtop I have. I believe it is an early one as the top is flat (no indentations under the e and b strings).

Don't know if it works. I'm reluctant to try it because the cable between the pick up and the volume pot is falling apart. The cable from the pot to the input jack is a little frayed and could probably use replacing too.

I found some threads about these but nothing about how to open it up. I can't see anything obvious and I don't want to hack it.

Also, would anyone have a suggestion on what to use to replace the cable? Any thing more specific than regular shielded cable?

Thanks

[belwar]

I just got one off of fleabay the other day for cheap and was going to pop the top on it later this week. ill look at it when I get to the office tommorow and start taking it apart and let you know. you have have to do some permanent damage to fix it if you get my drift. as for the wire, there is often dearmond cable on ebay, which you could cut up. the same wire is on my dearmond mando pickup, rhythm chief, and guitar mic

[Duck Dodgers]

Sounds good...Thanks!

[guitician]

Do you have an ohm meter to read the coil? If you can read some few thousands of ohms I would say that it works and all you need to do is replace the cord. Splice a new cord to what's coming out of the pickup if your not looking for originality and just want it working. The control box has a back plate with a lip that can be popped off and you can access the Pot and wire connections.

[Duck Dodgers]

The cord is just falling apart, including under the strain relief spring that comes out of the pick up. But, I guess splicing it would be worth a try if I can't figure out how to get it apart.

I know some folks have re-built them so somebody out there must know the technique.

[guitician]

Can you ohm it? Yeah, splicing won't be the greatest looking but if you use teflon sleeving you should be able to make it function. Teflon won't be effected by the heat of soldering so you can scrunch it around the conductor before you solder it, then put it over to insulate it. I removed a "Mike's" cover before. I just ran a very thin metal tool between the cover and base plate to slightly expand the cover and break any adhesive bond.

[Duck Dodgers]

Across the Plug: 528K w/Knob full CCW, 9.8K w/Knob full CW

Sound about right?

[guitician]

Sounds good, if you can get the center conductor insulated and all wired up nice, it should work fine. The cable is thinner than standard guitar cable, so you may have to look around for something suitable.

[Duck Dodgers]

Pup to Volume knob cable measures a fat 3/16". RG 58/U and 59/U coax is pretty close.

Volume to plug is a little bigger but has a fabric covering on it.

I'll check around and see what I can find.