Help with prototype / vintage Dan Armstrong pickups.

[Lusus]

Hey, everybody this is my first post here. I've been a lurker for a while, and have found very useful info in the past from almost everyone here.

I have some interesting pickups today that i'm hoping someone can help me get more info on. I bought these on Reverb a little over half a year ago, the seller said they were purchased from Dan Armstrong's estate after his death.
They were in a lot of 18 pickups but I only had interest in these 3 so i struck a deal to separate the listing for just the 3.

Without further ado here is the pictures: https://imgur.com/a/6SQOWjr

If anyone has any info about these, or knows who I can contact to get more info I would be very grateful!

The sad thing is the pup marked #1 and the pup with no number don't work. They give me a reading of something like 500k DC Resistance. Which to my knowledge means they're dead or there's a wire break somewhere, I don't know that for certain though.

I am hoping to get them repaired. I haven't ever sent pickups in for repair though, so i'm a bit lost.
I got a quote from seymour duncan custom shop and it was about $170-$180 after shipping. Is that the route I should take? Or is there other quality pickup repairman I should consider before sending them to SD?

Sorry for the long post and thank you for all the help when I was a lurker, and thank you in advance for any help you can provide on this!

 

[Artie]

Re: Help with prototype / vintage Dan Armstrong pickups.

Long posts are good. It gives us the info we need to provide an intelligent answer. And welcome to the forum.

So here's my 2-cents worth. I don't think anyone does a "repair", per se. I think they'd simply rewind them. If you get them rewound, they won't really be what they originally were to begin with. You kinda lose the "Dan Armstrong" touch. I can't help but wonder if you'd be better off just buying some off-the-shelf Duncans that fit your needs. But wait for other responses.

Also, those appear to be potted. I'm not sure those can even be opened up.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help with prototype / vintage Dan Armstrong pickups.

If the Custom Shop is going to repair them (and not rewind), that would be a pretty arduous process of unwinding, finding the break, and rewinding. If that is what they are doing, that would explain the high price. The Custom Shop is certainly capable of doing that, and you would have the best shop in the world repairing your pickups for you.

 

[Lusus]

Re: Help with prototype / vintage Dan Armstrong pickups.

Long posts are good. It gives us the info we need to provide an intelligent answer. And welcome to the forum.

So here's my 2-cents worth. I don't think anyone does a "repair", per se. I think they'd simply rewind them. If you get them rewound, they won't really be what they originally were to begin with. You kinda lose the "Dan Armstrong" touch. I can't help but wonder if you'd be better off just buying some off-the-shelf Duncans that fit your needs. But wait for other responses.

Also, those appear to be potted. I'm not sure those can even be opened up.

I updated the Imgur post with pictures of the inside and without the tape. I'm not as knowledgeable as most here on the inner workings of a pickup, so let me know if they still look potted / unopenable.

I took the magnets out a while ago for the pup missing them, they were completely loose from the glue being old (I think) so I gently removed them.

If they had to be rewound I think I would just keep them as is. Like you said it would be better just to buy different pickups at that point.

If the Custom Shop is going to repair them (and not rewind), that would be a pretty arduous process of unwinding, finding the break, and rewinding. If that is what they are doing, that would explain the high price. The Custom Shop is certainly capable of doing that, and you would have the best shop in the world repairing your pickups for you.

I used their website repair/rewind options last time to get an idea on the price. So maybe it would be better to email the custom shop and see if this is even a possibility or if they would even want to do this at all. I might get a more accurate quote for the price too.

Thanks guys!

 

[Artie]

Re: Help with prototype / vintage Dan Armstrong pickups.

I updated the Imgur post with pictures of the inside and without the tape.

Ah. Much better. The original pics looked like they were epoxy potted. Those definitely look repairable.

 

[Lusus]

Re: Help with prototype / vintage Dan Armstrong pickups.

Quick update.

It seems the SD Custom Shop isn't willing to repair them. I understand, but I am a little sad.

I'll look around for other pup repair companies, but if anyone has any experience or suggestions I'm all ears, or eyes rather.