Pickups discussion

Nejc

So, I am a guy who besides GJ loves to play a lot of chord melody based jazz (Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow etc.), and since I am really satisfied with the feel of the GJ guitar over some other archtops, was wondering if someone has some suggestions which pickups to use to get the muddier tone of an archtop. I know its like trying to get an apple out of a banana but still any replies are most appreciated!

Scoredog

actually a simple answer...a magnetic pickup...probably 4 main options
Krivo-cheapest and my favorite
Peche ala Mouche
Stimer (never tried this one)
Guzz

Jazzaferri

Someone else can remember the name of the reissue but a good original Stimer on a good GJ has that vibe.

BillDaCostaWilliams

This video provides an example of the sound from the Dupont Stimer reissue:

Buco

Krivo.
I've been told a couple of times my guitar sounded like a warm sounding archtop when I used a Krivo with a tube amp.

Nejc

Thank you for all the responses! I am currently looking at krivo pickups and the stimer s51. I guess a lot of amps are set for the brighter more acoustic tone since that is what I mostly hear listening to yt videos. Thats why I was a little skeptic about the GJ pickups, but I guess I was wrong.

Buco

I remember @MichaelHorowitz made a comment once how most of these electric pickups can actually sound very warm contrary to what most people think.

Al Watsky

I would recommend the Lace ultra slim.
It is a hum bucker.
If you want your GJ guitar to sound smooth the ultra slim will do it. If you want it to sound "vintage" it will do that too. Thats why amps have tone controls. The usual things that are used by the vintage time machine folks are most often single coil , noisy feeble things.
The Lace is a nice high tech piece of gear that can be mounted permanently or stuck on with double side tape or with mastic.
Either way it has what it takes to make a GJ guitar sound as much like a Jazz guitar as you would like, yet it still has the flexibility to do what ever is necessary.
I've installed them on several guitars and its a great product . Silent , modern and balances well with the GJ string set.