Kent Armstrong HR1R

Humbucker that fits in a single coil slot, can be coil-tapped for single coil playing too.

I installed this in my cheap Tanglewood Strat copy in the bridge position, replacing a Mighty Mite single coil bridge pickup. I have
Mighty Mite single coils in the neck and middle positions. I installed the humbucker as I wanted to beef up the bright sound of my strat copy with a hot distorted tone (the MMs sound great clean, but this humbucker gives the guitar an extra dimension for soloing and distorted sound in general. )

The output is significantly higher that the MMs, sounds fantastic with distortion whether using just a smattering of overdrive for blues or cranked up to 11 for leather-trousered ROCK! I have coil-tapped the humbucker so it can be used in single coil mode too. As a single coil it provides (as you'd expect) a less beefy version of the humbucker sound but still provides a distinct usable distortion tone for further sonic versatility.

Not a great clean sound in either single coil or humbucker mode (doesn't have the strat quack or glassiness) but that isn't what this pickup is designed for and I have those bases covered with the MMs anyway.

I play this through a Fender Princeton 650 amp through the overdrive channel, I can achieve a nice Eddie-Hazel-from-Funkadelic tone with minimum effort. Great for just about any traditional distorted tone.

I've been playing for nearly 15 years and sometimes I could swear that my cheap strat copy with the MMs and Kent Armstrong sounds as good as my Fender USA strat. For the price you can't go wrong, I was merely upgrading a cheap guitar but it has almost become a rival to my Fender thanks partly to this pickup.

If you want to add a beefy distorted tone to your strat at minimal cost then buy with confidence. Be warned though that upgrading and modifying your guitar becomes seriously addictive! :o)

Pickup features: Can be wired SC and Hum
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Korean so-so's - the real so-so's
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): rock, blues, fusion
Reason for pickup change: Korean so-so's are so so-so

Perceived output level: High output, high sensitivity
Tone: Humbucking sweet, Single coil growl
Sonic evaluation: I have this wired with three push/pull pots to change HBs to SCs. I have been playing for about a week and I still haven't gone through all the Pup combinations. I like fourth position in both HB and SC mode. SC sound is much different than any Strat I have played, but still very nice - the quack is very light. I haven't gone through any of the HB/SC combos in depth yet- the SCs can be heard over the HB. You have to play clean - you can easily hear the mistakes.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: rock metal fusion blues

Comments: Very interesting. Price is inexpensive. You will like them alot. There are so many sounds that it is confusing. You should write them down. Five position switch, three push/pull pots make alot of choices since you can turn one into a SC and not the other, or vise versa, or both on or both off. They are not Kinman Woodstocks or PAFs. Just say different.
Take one off for the sensitivity and one for not nailing a vintage Strat sound. This is a Strat by the way.
Give the rest of the rating an 8. These are good pups and very, very different from what you're probably used to. Great for tapping by the way. I think slide will be awesome.

Pickup features: hum passive
Impedence or other specs: ones I got were 13k-ish DC

Model of guitar or bass: American "Deluxe" Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: EMGs
Other pickups on guitar: Previously stock Fender "Noiseless" shite
Artists using this pickup: none that I know of
You musical style(s): mainly blues
Reason for pickup change: Original pickups were in no way acceptable. EMGs were quite nice in their own way but ate batteries like toast - couldn't stand dismantling the guitar to change them any more

Perceived output level: average for a ferrous hum but a bit low for a ceramic, which they are
Tone: rather bright - again, typical for ceramic - nice balance for Strat
Sonic evaluation: Little Mesa model 1 comby or direct into my board

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I think they'd pretty much work anywhere you'd use a Strat anyway.

Comments: I am totally satisfied with these pickups. I build instruments as well and often use Kent's pickups; never had a problem.
The "noiseless" PUs that came with this otherwised nice guitar were absolute crap, and while it doesn't sound much like a traditional Strat any more (some of the Strat sparkle has been replaced by that hum meatiness) it's a sound I can work with happily. (The neck PU by itself, in particular, does a nice job of that old-style "singing blues humbucker" sound.) In the bridge position, some will miss that ubiquitous Fender jangle but to be fair, it's just a different sound, not an unusable one.
In the combination positions, most of the "quack" is gone but the new sounds are - again - very usable and quite interesting. I rewired the beast from scratch, and get a great sound from a combination of the neck & bridge pickups - kind of reminiscent of that Beachboys/Jaguar sound. (Not that I'm into that, but it can be a nice effect.)

Pickup features: Single coil sized humbucker (strat re-placement)
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: '78 Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: seymour duncan Hot Rails
Other pickups on guitar: Stock Strat
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Alternative and Classic Rock.
Reason for pickup change: My guitar was knocked over and broke the duncan Hot Rails that I had been using. I bought the Hot Rails because of the super thin sound of the stock strat pickups.

Perceived output level: Pretty damn sensitive. Fat sounding. This is a loud pickup, so the downside is that it makes your other pickups seem under powered. Be prepared to buy high output replacements for them too if you plan to switch pick-ups mid song. Definate output difference.
Tone: Lows and Mid's are sweet. A real growling distortion. Highs need a little EQ tweaking on my rig to get a nice clean sound. But it can be done! I use the HR1R in the neck, I plan to install a rio grande - muy grande in the mid position for more options on my clean tones.
Sonic evaluation: This pickup smokes the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails that I replaced. Both are single coil sized humbuckers, but the Kent Armstrong is punchier in my opinion. I have recently moved it from the bridge to the neck. I get a killer CSN&Y Neil young tone out of it. Fat and Punchy... thats even through a Marshall Valvestate VS265R Combo. (Solid State Powered 2X12, 65watts per side, with Tube pre-amp)Fat and Puncy through a Solid State?? YES!
If you want to fatten up your Strat - This is the pickup your looking for! If you like the Les Paul Sound, But want to keep the Strat...the HR1R is the ticket.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play Alternative Rock, Classic Rock and Hard Rock. http://neemans.cjb.net ...I use this pickup in the neck position because it has a killer lead tone there. I wouldn't hestitate to say that it would rock in any position.

Comments: I would buy it again in a heartbeat. If your wanting to keep the thinner sound of a single coil, but only want more output, go with a Rio Grande - Muy Grande or one of Kent's Hot Single coils.
But if you want a fat, harmonically over the top tone, then this humfucker is it! It will do wonders for your tinny strat distortion tones.