Different pickup mounting choices.

[Kevin Stephen]

I have an old, '64, De Armond single coil that I have mounted to the wood pickguard on a Peerless archtop. I replaced the metal cover with wood to match. The PU is pretty microphonic, but as a result sounds wonderful. I was just thinking about changing the mounting to the neck extension instead of the pickguard & wonder about the difference in the sound that would result. My concern is that, since the PU would not be as isolated from the rest of the guitar as it is on the pickguard, it may pick up more unwanted mechanical noise. On the other hand, it may pick up some positive vibrations from the body. What started this, is that I want to angle the pickguard away from being level with the strings & that would necessitate a change to the current bracket. Any insight will be appreciated.
BTW the pickguard is mounted to the neck extension & does not contact the guitar body anywhere else.
Thanks,
kev

[Michael Lewis]

Many of those pickups were made to rest on the soundboard due to the lack of available space between the strings and the top of many guitars of the time. Most came with felt on the underside so they wouldn't rattle when in contact with the top. You can make your bracket accommodate the angle so you can put the guard where you want it. If it is metal just bend it, if it is wood or plastic it has to be altered to accommodate. I doubt your pick up will sound much different mounted on the fingerboard support, though it might actually pick up less noise in that position. Noise generated from fingers, pick, etc. from the guard as opposed to the solid anchor of the fingerboard support lead me to think the support would be a cleaner sound. Probably not a lot of difference though.

Think the process through before altering any old parts.

[Kevin Stephen]

Thanks, I'll just have to play it a while & see if the noise is objectionable. Decided not to change the slope of the pickguard. I am using the original PU holes in the neck to fasten to & if the PG were to slope down, it would block the screws. I would have to drill new holes or make a new PG that would allow access to the screws. I do not want to have any screws showing on the top of the PG.
Thanks,
kev