Kay "Kleenex" and "speed bump" pickups

[kiwi blue]

Anyone have any experience playing Kay Barney Kessel Kleenex or speed bump pickups?

There's some-one selling (separately) a Kleenex and two speed bumps on a local auction site. Just wondering what they sound like.

I've been reading up and the Kleenex pickup seems well regarded as smoother P90 sort of sound, but people either love or hate the speed bumps.

I'm considering them for a Tokai strat that's already been carved up a bit under the hood, so I don't mind modding it a little for installation. I doubt the Kleenex would match up with the other two as it's around 12k compared with 5.6k, so I'd be shooting for either the Kleenex on it's own (probably for the neck position) or the two speed bumps.

I play mostly blues, but not blues rock - more of a 50s delta/Chicago sort of sound but also leaning towards a Mississippi Hill Country sound.

Also interested in installation issues if anyone has any experience there.

[Martinp]

do you have pictures of the pickups? I have an archtop that has a Teisco p/u hat could be described as a Kleenex, but I could use confirmation - at the very least I'll know what it's called.

[Rob DiStefano]

"kleenex pickups" - gotta love it.

[voodoo_idol]

Kay Barney Kessel aka "Kleenex Box" pickups

[Guitarmadcat]

I recently sold a '50s Kay lap steel with a speedbump - the sweetness of tone was quite exquisite. I was sorely tempted to remove it from the guitar but then, who am I to alter the course of history!

Don't know what it would've sounded like in another guit - but that sound . . . .

[voodoo_idol]

Kay Speed Bump pickups



Not to be confused with Gibson P-13 pickups found on Harmony and Silvertone guitars of the same era.

[voodoo_idol]

I would go with the Kleenex box pickup and pair it with a P-90 or HB of some sort.

[Teleterr]

Aren't they made by DeArmond ? DeA s are great for Blues. Thick and for some reason "old timey" sounding. (old Blues guys often played cheap guitars so thats probably why). DeA s are sort of P90 topology wise , but the ceramic magnets face up toward the string instead of along it. And wide shallow coils for the thick sound. Yeah, probably good w a 90 or HB. Some have a fairly strong output.

[nic'o'caster]

Is the DeArmond speed bump close to the P13 Pickup found on numerous Harmony guitars from the fifties ? I've read those were made by Gibson for the Harmony Guitar Company. I've got one and it sounds quite good but very bassy with not much treble.

[kiwi blue]

According to this the speed bumps are not Dearmond.

http://www.musicpickups.com/Non-DeArmond_productss.html

The Kleenex box ones are reputed to be Dearmond, but that site doesn't confirm or deny that.

I found some youtube clips of the speed bumps in a Kay Speed Demon that sounded very cool - brittle, slightly hollow sounding and almost dobrolike in that guitar. I would expect the hollow dobro-like quality to be in large part due to the thinline hollow body of that particular guitar. I couldn't find a decent clip of the Kleenex by anyone who could play well enough to really demonstrate it. And of course you can't tell too much from badly recorded video clips.

I'm leaning towards the speed bumps, as a matched pair. I'm sure I'd like the Kleenex too. The Kleenex closes in about 10 hours, so I'd better make up my mind soon. The speed bump auctions still have a couple of days to run.

[kiwi blue]

Originally Posted by nic'o'caster

Is the DeArmond speed bump close to the P13 Pickup found on numerous Harmony guitars from the fifties ? I've read those were made by Gibson for the Harmony Guitar Company. I've got one and it sounds quite good but very bassy with not much treble.

IIRC from what I've been reading online, those are different pickups. They have a raised ridge down the middle like speed bumps, but the P13 ridge is flat instead of rounded

[kiwi blue]

I snagged both speed bumps. Should have them next week, but it'll be a while before I find time to install them in the Strat and report back. Work and a busy family life mean guitar related things move slowly in my world ha ha.

And it's not just a matter of whipping out the old pups and wiring up the new ones. There will be work involved in mounting them. At the very least the pickguard will have to be recut for the wider pickups. The guitar currently has some narrower goldfoils in it, mounted directly on blocks under the pickguard, and those blocks may have to go.

The gold foils are ok but a bit lacking in something. They never seem to cut through live. I think they're later than the really sought after mid-60s ones, and from what I've read they seem to be variable anyway. I pinched them off a Guyatone lap steel that looked more like an early 70s gat, but it's hard to tell.

[fraser]

ive got a speed demon.
those speedbumps are really great.

[axe-victim]

The Kleenex Box pickups are Gibson P-35's. Some info here.

[kiwi blue]

Originally Posted by fraser

ive got a speed demon.
those speedbumps are really great.

Nice! A shame mine didn't come with a guitar like that. I don't think many Kays found their way into our corner of the South Pacific, although I do know of one other local guitarist who found a Kay that he really loves. I think it's a solid body but I haven't seen it and have no idea which model it is. His main electric axe used to always be a Les Paul but he likes his Kay better.