Tonefiend Forum

The gold-foils and "Hershey bars" and whatever they were named, whether built by DeArmond or by Harmony/Kay/et al. by their foreign manufacturers, were bar magnets with tape wrapping and then loosely wound coils wrapped right around the magnet and shut in a case. Most of the models with apparent pole pieces apparently only cosmetically had pole pieces. If standardly available parts were sized slightly different, it would probably be pretty easy for DIY winders to replicate.

I think Curtis Novak may have some designs that approximate the sound but I'm not specifically aware of anyone specifically cloning. I do have my suspicion that Nelson Instruments might be in that vein in their Dynamo or Rhythm Chief pickups: https://www.nelsoninstruments.com/instrument_type/electric-guitars/ (I think Rhythm Chief was the name of an old Dearmond pickup design.)

In rough concept because of the construction style I've wondered at the similarity of the gold-foils and the Burns Tri-Sonic pickups. The Tri-Sonic magnet setup is really different, but I'm still curious how they might compare in an apples-to-apples setup.

Eastwood Guitars are manufacturing a gold-foil style pickup for a few models. I'm going to try to push my luck with Mike and try out one of his guitars that's equipped with 'em.