Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

At left, and with the right side magnet removed, the coil wire is now more exposed. Since the pickup was potted, removing the magnet resulted in more frayed coil wires as the brown resin seeped its way in between the magnet and the coil windings and literally fused them together as one.

Also, with the resin removed from around the female banana jacks I was even now still somewhat surprised that I did not find a trace of the actual female jacks' sleeves as seen in earlier photos. All that was to be found were the two black plastic insulator spacers, along with two wiring 'lugs' and the nuts that are usually threaded onto the actual female banana jack sleeve. But no sign of any sleeve whatsoever.

At upper right, with the pickup turned more to the side, one gets a better view of the coil and even better view of the input jack area. Since we know that the female banana jacks were threaded, one would expect to see traces of the threads embedded in the resin in this area. The lack of such would seem to suggest it was either drilled or otherwise enlarged to the point that the threads are not visible.

Sharp observers may have noticed where the resin met the magnet in this photo as the resin forms a solid straight wall just back of the input jack area. Also, slight traces of the bar type pole piece protruding through the bottom plate may be visible in the enlarged view.

A top down view of the Dan Armstrong CB pickup with most everything stripped away. Only a small portion of the brown resin can be seen at the top of the bobbin, between the input jacks. At right, a touch of resin can be seen between the magnet and the coil itself. Notice the four holes near every corner on the brass plate - I often wondered why they would be there, but then it dawned on me that when the pickup was placed into the mold, the brown resin would seep its way through these holes and into the inner parts of the pickup where it would make for a sealed, or potted pickup.

As seen upper left, the remaining magnet was sealed so well that I had to use a small light-weight hammer, a plain screwdriver, and a few very light taps on the magnet to pry it away from the coil & bobbin. It finally broke free without shattering, and revealed just how much the magnet was sealed, or bonded to the coil. A close look at the magnet reveals the resin with coil windings still attached to it.

At upper right, the reverse is also true. While much of the resin and coil windings were stuck to the magnet, some of the resin can still be seen stuck to the coil wires as well. Sharp observers may again notice the bottom portion of the pole piece protruding through the bottom of the plate.

As seen at left, with the coil wire removed the bobbin is more plainly visable. Notice how there is more room for windings on the left side of the bobbin than the right. This may have been due to the way the coil wires were secured to the female input jacks of the pickup.

On the right, notice the middle hole on the upturned piece of the brass plate. This was no doubt also helpful in allowing the resin to seep into various cavities of the pickup. It is ironic, and even a little bit eerie to reflect upon the fact that some modern day Dan Armstrong pickups, made nearly 40 years later utilize this middle hole for a third input jack.

At left, another angle of the empty bobbin resting on the brass plate. When I tried to remove the bobbin from the plate it didn't want to move and I thought perhaps it was securred in place by the resin like most everything else with these pickups. But upon closer exanimation, the bobbin appears to have been glued down in place before applying the resin. The bar style pole piece seems equally secured in place, and while tapping on it with a hammer may dislodge it from the brass plate, I didn't want to go that far as I hope to have this pickup rewound & reconditioned again.

At right, is the odd couple. The stripped down, skeleton frame of a former CB pickup rests on an equally old, but still working Dan Armstrong CB pickup put into the photo for reference. For those that do not have, or have never seen a Dan Armstrong pickup, notice the female input jacks on the working pickup and compare it to the first few photos of the pickup that has just been stripped down. This pickup has both of the 2 black plastic washers residing on the outside of the brass plate, used to electronically isolate the female jacks from the plate. Notice the indention in the resin between the female input jacks, its presence is not surprising when looking over the past few photos.