Robillard has made more than 40 albums fronting his own band and with Roomful of Blues.
One of today’s most notable DeArmond players is the revered blues and jazz guitar virtuoso Duke Robillard, a deep student of vintage tone who has learned how to recreate many historic guitar sounds. We asked Robillard to share his expertise and experience with DeArmond pickups, which goes back to the mid-1950s, when he and his father built his first guitar for a school science fair. They took the neck from an old, acoustic Kay Kraftsman and cut a Tele-shaped body from two pieces of 3/4" plywood, inspired by the guitar James Burton played on TV’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Then, they recycled the Kay’s bridge and tailpiece, and ordered a DeArmond. “A week after that, I was in a band,” Robillard says.
DeArmond originally referred to its pickups as “guitar microphones,” as they were designed to amplify acoustic guitars without altering their organic tone. Of course, once plugged into an amp all bets on that were off, given the breakup characteristics of the small combos that were common at the time. The RH pickups, which James and Szabó, for example, used, are held in place by clamps. The FH and Rhythm Chief models are floating pickups, mounted by what’s often called the “monkey-on-a-stick” method. Essentially, the pickups are held in place by a metal bar that’s screwed to a guitar’s body, and the pickups can slide up and down the bar, like a simian might scale a tree, to find the sweet spot.
DeArmond’s Rhythm Chief 1100.
By the time Robillard founded the swing and jump blues band Roomful of Blues in 1967, he was playing a Gretsch Synchromatic archtop fitted with a DeArmond, in quest of the authentic vintage tones he heard on records from the ’30s, ’40s and early ’50s. “Then I went to a Gibson ES-125, where I ended up finding a way to make a Rhythm Chief 1100 work in the neck position,” he recounts. “Then I added a P-90 for the bridge. I didn’t want to use a guitar with a cutaway because I wanted every setback that the guitar players in 1940 had. That stopped me from going high on the neck all the time, which I think was a discipline that made me a better musician.”
“The cheapest model [the 1000] is really the best sounding one.”
Today, he uses a variety of DeArmond pickups on his guitars, but his favorite is the vintage DeArmond that was marketed as, simply, the “Guitar Mike,” which has screwdriver-adjustable pole pieces. And he applies the tricks he’s learned over the years, like placing stick-on felt pads under DeArmonds positioned near the bridge, to raise the floating pickup to the correct height. He also notes there is an alternative to attaching the monkey stick behind the bridge. “A lot of jazz players would shorten the bar and have it flattened out, so you could screw it to the side of the neck. That became popular with guitarists who played Strombergs, D’Angelicos, and L-5s, for example.
“The cheapest model [the 1000] is really the best-sounding one,” he continues. “And you need to use a wound G string on an archtop, or it’s going to howl like crazy. It isless of a pickup than a microphone. You can actually talk into it, and I’ve done gigs where something went wrong with the PA and I’ve sung through the pickup.”
Robillard’s latest album, Roll With Me, includes “You Got Money,” played on his DeArmond-outfitted J.W. Murphy archtop.
These days his favorite archtop is a J.W. Murphy with an 1100 with a shortened bar attached to the side of the neck. He puts stick-on felt pads under the treble side to keep the pickup height as he likes, and to preserve the natural sound of the guitar. You can hear Robillard play his DeArmond-outfitted Murphy on “You Got Money,” a track from his new album, Roll with Me, on Bandcamp.
One more recommendation: “Use a small amp because that’s what they sound best with,” he says. “Small tube amps are what these pickups were made for, but if you’ve got a closed-back cabinet they tend to feed back on the low end. Keeping the bass side of the pickup lower helps with that. When you’re setting up the pickup, press down on the last fret and get the treble side high and the base side low, and then just balance it out till you get the right sound.”
This month's featured 6129 Silver Jet does not pose such an issue. The guitar has only had one very active owner. According to Reverb seller Guitars West, based in Southern California, it was that owner's only guitar. He bought it new in 1956, likely for around $255. Then, from rockabilly club nights to bar mitzvahs, it traveled with him to every gig. With scuffs and buckle rash, the guitar has the play wear to prove it, while the binding—having never been enclosed for long—is intact.
From rockabilly gigs to bar mitzvahs, this 1956 Gretsch Sparkle Jet has led a long and active life, which has kept its binding and hardware intact.
One can imagine these DeArmond pickups roaring through a Dual Twin amp and rising above the din of a honky-tonk—that sparkle top gleaming like a misplaced disco ball, its silver sparkle aging to a golden patina. At some point, the guitar lost its pickguard. At another, its neck joint was reset. (Wood glue deterioration is another ailment common to old Gretsches.)
By 1958, those beautiful block inlays would become the more common thumbprint style and the single-coils were swapped for Filter'Trons
But it's easy to see what made that first owner fall so hard, as, pickguard aside, this Jet still has its original parts. Notice the knobs' straight-arrow position indicators, only found on Gretsches from '55 to '57. Its Melita bridge was one of the first to offer individual string-length adjustments. This guitar has the classic Gretsch control set: pickup selector on the upper bout, master volume by the cutaway, master tone in the lowest spot, and neck and bridge pickup volume dials. By 1958, those beautiful block inlays would become the more common thumbprint style and the single-coils were swapped for Filter'Trons. In the early '60s, Gretsch grounded this design by making all Jets double-cutaways.
Among this instrument's signs of age are belt rash and a neck-joint reset, which is common for '50s Gretsches.
A revived Gretsch brand reintroduced the single-cut 6129 in 1989. The late Chris Cornell played a gold sparkle reissue in Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" video, sparking a Sparkle Jet renaissance. For 30 years, they've been continuously available in one form or another, including 2021's G6129T-89 Vintage Select Sparkle Jet—an exacting recreation of the now-vintage '89 reissue.
Under those pickups covers are a set of single-coils. Filter'Trons became standard in 1958. The Melita bridge was among the first to offer individual string-length adjustment.
Original '50s Silver Jets in pristine condition are rare—for the reasons mentioned above—but recent examples have sold north of $10,000. This particular Jet, having quite a few miles on it but still plenty of fuel, is currently listed for $6,895.
Sources for this article include Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars by George Gruhn, American Guitars: An Illustrated History by Tom Wheeler, and the Reverb article "What's So Special About the Gretsch Sparkle Jet?" by Ron Denny.
RatingsPros:Characterful Dynasonic pickups. Lively top end. Surprisingly versatile. Well put together. Cons: Expensive for a Korea-made instrument. Street: $1,499 Guild X-175 Manhattan Special guildguitars.com | Tones:  Ease of Use:  Build/Design: Value:  |
