A Chat With Kent Armstrong & Aaron Armstrong. The Armstrong history and Guitar Pickup Discussion.
Legendary pickup maker Kent Armstrong discusses the Armstrong family history with his son Aaron. They talk about the role their family have played within the guitar industry since the 1960's through to today. Starting with Kent's father Dan Armstrong - inventor of the famed Plexiglass Guitars and guitar-mounted effects units (such as the Orange Squeezer) through to Aaron Armstrong, who continues to hand-make high-quality guitar pickups today. This interview offers a lot of insight, not only with the importance of the Armstrong family within the guitar industry but also detailed specifics regarding pickup manufacturing.
2023 Update
Following on from last years video (2022) above, this is a short round-up of the changes and updates with Armstrong Music and Armstrong Pickups
What Is A Guitar Pickup? Legendary pickup maker Kent Armstrong discusses how a pickup works
Kent Armstrong discusses the basics of a guitar pickup and how it works.
Kent Armstrong Explains How To Replace A Magnet In A Humbucker Pickup
Legendary pickup maker Kent Armstrong discusses how to replace the magnet in a Humbucker pickup.
50 Years In The Music Industry - Kent Armstrong Discusses His Career As A Legendary Pickup Maker
Legendary pickup maker Kent Armstrong discusses his 50 year career in the music industry.
Kent Armstrong offer a large range of high-quality replacement pickups for guitar and bass.
Kent Armstrong’s path in the music industry was paved by his famous father Dan Armstrong - creator of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong Plexi Electric Guitar and studio musician. While Kent was still attending high school, he started working at his
father’s shop on La Guardia Place in Greenwich Village, New York. In 1970,
while Dan headed west to work with Neil Diamond, he offered Bill Lawrence a job at the shop. Kent continued to learn more about pickups working with Bill and when Dan decided to move to London in 1971, Kent followed.
In England, Kent began doing pickup repairs and rewinds while also operating a courier service with his motorcycle to supplement his income. By 1980 he had become established full-time as a very skilled and innovative pickup winder creating designs such as his bobbin-less pickups embedded in epoxy. While he had made a
humbucking pickup to fit the original rout in Robbie Robertson’s Telecaster back in New York, his first production design was the Z+ pickup used in early Schecter
guitars played by Pete Townshend. Over the years Kent has worked with countless guitarists - including re-winding pickups for Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and
Rory Gallagher to name just a few. He has supplied pickups so unique and diverse to many different guitar companies that to fully describe them would require an entire book devoted to his work.
Today, Kent’s Korean-made pickups are a culmination of many decades of designing pickups - they are made from the finest components and are available through WD Music Products and include the Archtop Series, Icon Series, Vintage and Split Tube.