Why does no one make a floating DeArmond copy?

[Tanigumi]

With the prices for vintage above $500.00 it seams strange there are no offerings.

[Mark Hammer]

That may be because, while there is a modest market for archtops, the majority will be designed around pickups pre-installed into the top.

I think it is also fair to say that floating pickups anticipate a certain amount of clearance between body and strings; something which can't always be guaranteed.

So, in many respects, while your assumption is largely correct that things which command high prices also identify a market, it's a bit of a business risk, which I imagine someone would only undertake as a pure labour of love, rather than as a revenue stream.

[Tanigumi]

Mark Thanks for your input! Do you play an archtop?

[David Schwab]

There are the Kent Armstrong and Benedetto floating pickups. But no one makes a monkey on a stick.

[Mark Hammer]

I have a 1937 Kalamazoo KG-21 that, unfortunately does not have sufficient space between strings and body to mount any commercially available pickup in (it's about 1/4-3/8" clearance). I've attempted to wind my own, using some very small neodymiums, but I used the wrong adhesive and the structure cracked. The bobbin was two pieces of credit-card thin PCB board, with the flatwork and magnets held in place (well...for a little while) with cyanoacrylate. I'll have to try again with a different adhesive, because I am NOT cutting a hole in the top and I am not going to get the sound I want with a piezo bridge.

[Tanigumi]

Obviously passion for such things exist.

[jonson]

There are some copies made in Germany but I can never remember the guys name. These are from Finland and very nice too.
Floating single coil pickup for archtop guitar :: SWINGMASTER

[David King]

I did a 4 string tenor floating pickup a few years back. I can't say anyone beat a path to my door after that escapade. My suspicion is that each guitar would need a custom application. Lace/Actodyne were doing custom low impedance pickups with transformers for a while. I'm not sure if they still do. Those things were about 1/8" thick except the bump at the end for the xformer. I think a balanced, low impedance pickup that could feed a desk or mic preamp would be a reasonable option but archtop players are all pretty set in their ways.

Wow that swingmaster is the real deal.

[David Schwab]

There are some copies made in Germany but I can never remember the guys name. These are from Finland and very nice too.
Floating single coil pickup for archtop guitar :: SWINGMASTER

That's a nice looking copy!

[David Schwab]

I have a 1937 Kalamazoo KG-21 that, unfortunately does not have sufficient space between strings and body to mount any commercially available pickup in (it's about 1/4-3/8" clearance). I've attempted to wind my own, using some very small neodymiums, but I used the wrong adhesive and the structure cracked. The bobbin was two pieces of credit-card thin PCB board, with the flatwork and magnets held in place (well...for a little while) with cyanoacrylate. I'll have to try again with a different adhesive, because I am NOT cutting a hole in the top and I am not going to get the sound I want with a piezo bridge.

The kent Armstrong pickups are 3/8" thick:

* WD Music Products - SLIMBUCKER SIDE MOUNT JAZZ PICKUP CHROME

he also makes a Dobro pickup that's 7mm thick:

kent armstrong pick-ups

[David King]

Kent also does his kitchen table pickups with the cast resin cover and those I've seen thinner than 3/8".

[jonson]

My Dearmond copies are only 1/4 inch thick but I do not sell them. These are good.
Welcome to Jazz-Guitar.com

[David King]

Those nice looking Statler pickups are 10.3 mm thick which is .4" -a shade over 3/8".

[jonson]

Those nice looking Statler pickups are 10.3 mm thick which is .4" -a shade over 3/8".

Yeah sorry about the thickness there David but my point is there are guys out there making floaters you just gotta keep looking. Around this world there are some great looking things being made and we are only the tip of that iceberg so we just gotta say I ain't got it so f****** it I'll make it.

[Mark Hammer]

Kent makes a decent pickup. Unfortunately, I have maybe 3/8" between the string and body, Some of that space would need to be between the surface of the pickup and the string, leaving 1/4 or less (likely less) for the actual pickup itself. The neodymiums I'm using are 1/10" thick and 1/4" in diameter. The total height of the magnet, flatwork, and glue was (and will need to be) somewhere in the vicinity of 3/16", if that much. Apart from getting the right adhesive, another big challenge is winding a coil that slender/short without precision equipment.