Jones-Hatfield Banjo Pickup

$100.00

Category:

JACK HATFIELD HAS RE-DESIGNED AND RE-INTRODUCED THE POPULAR GERALD JONES ACOUSTIC PLUS BANJO PICKUP!

The Gerald Jones pickup, known to produce the most natural pickup amplified sound possible, was out of production for several years. The pickup features a magnetic coil/inductor strip design and mounts on co-ordinator rods with thumbscrew. The 3.5mm” jack mounts easily in flange hole. No routing, drilling, screws or soldering required as with previous model. Installs in two minutes! Stelling banjo jack mounting bracket available upon request.

The Jones-Hatfield pickup was designed for the BLUEGRASS style banjo with two co-ordinator rods. The Jones-Hatfield pickup is NOT guaranteed for use in any other style of banjo. Refunds or replacements will NOT be issued if pickup is modified for use on non-Bluegrass style banjos.

IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE ORIGINAL GERALD JONES DESIGN:

More powerful signal – 10% more windings and a stronger magnet.

Improved shielded coil-to-jack cable, re-routed out the back of the pickup so it clears the co-ordinater rods.

Plastic non-conducting enclosure replaces metal enclosure – less interference with electromagnetic field.

Spacer on mounting bracket to more accurately center pickup under head.

Enclosed 3.5mm jack replaces open back 1/4″ jack – avoids possible electrical shorts if finger pick is dropped through flange hole or the jack gets bumped while the resonator is not attached to the banjo.

The smaller 3.5mm jack will not interfere with resonator mounting as the 1/4 inch jack did on the original Gerald Jones pickup.

Jack mounting bracket made from insulating plastic to avoid ground hum. Jack no longer mounts directly in the flange hole. Can now be mounted on Stelling Banjos.

Includes both 24″ cable to connect to belt preamp and 6′ cable to connect directly to amp or PA.

10-Year Guarantee! We will replace at no charge if purchased from Hatfield Music.

WHY DOES THE PASSIVE JONES-HATFIELD PICKUP HAVE A MORE NATURAL ACOUSTIC SOUND THAN THE ACTIVE FISHMAN PICKUP?  It’s because the Jones – Hatfield is a passive pickup, not an active pickup like the Fishman. An active pickup is one that has voltage supplied at the coil, like a condenser microphone. When voltage is applied at te coil there is a small amount of distortion. It is the same thing as over- driving the individual channel volume on a PA…or producing distortion on an electric guitar. An active pickup is how rock guitarists like Jimi Hendrix first created distortion in the late 1960’s – they turned the pot on the guitar and the individual channel on the amp (preamp) all the way up, over-driving the main amp.

With an active pickup there is no way to CONTROL the voltage and impedance in the coil – it is determined by the gauge of the wire in the coil, the number of windings and the amount of voltage going through the coil. These are all stationary aspects that cannot be altered by the banjo player. With a passive pickup such as the Jones – Hatfield pickup, the voltage is controlled by user via the pre-amp, such as the Schatten Mini-Pre or the Fishman GII guitar pre-amp.
The advantage of the Fishman GII pre-amp over the Schatten is that you have fingertip control of volume and TONE (with a three-band Equalizer)… on your belt…you do not have to turn around and adjust the amp or use a volume pedal which means fewer cables underfoot and electronics that can go wrong. The disadvantage is that the GII is much larger and bulkier clipped to your belt.

Better results will be obtained by taping the inductor strip under the head instead of placing it under the middle foot of the bridge…not only can the the inductor be positioned closer to the coil (which means more gain) but you can move it around for different tone…near the middle of the head for a mid-range tone, or nearer the tailpiece area of the head for a more treble tone.

The Jones – Hatfield pickup is designed for resonater banjos with two co-ordinater rods of equal diameter. Installs in any Gibson-style banjo (Gibson, Huber, Rich & Taylor, Crafters of Tennessee, Frank Neat Stanleytone, Arthur Hatfield, etc.).  The Jones-Hatfield pickup also installs on Gibson-style imports including Gold Tone, Gold Star, Recording King, Washburn, Epiphone, Aria, Ibanez, Morgan Monroe, etc).  The Jones-Hatfield pickup can also be used on Deering, and Stelling banjos (which requires a special jack mounting bracket, free upon request).

Though it can be rigged for many travel banjos, open-back banjos and Nechville banjos (which do not have two co-ordinater rods), Hatfield Music does not guarantee it will install in these instruments. Often a fake co-ordinater rod will have to be made or the pickup bracket can be glued or otherwise fastened to a square dowel stick. A 7/8″ clearance between the rod/dowel stick and the head is required.

ALL RETURNS MUST BE AUTHORIZED IN ADVANCE. REFUNDS OR REPLACEMENTS WILL NOT BE ISSUED FOR PURCHASES MADE FOR NON-BLUEGRASS STYLE BANJOS.

RETURNS DUE TO IMPROPER INSTALLATION WILL BE CHARGED A 15% RESTOCKING FEE

Weight 16 oz