Guitar pickups re-imagined

A new, truly distinctive pickup

Welcome to Archie Lyle where we are developing a completely re-imagined and truly distinctive guitar pickup with a bold vision that looks and sounds simply remarkable.

Clarity, Balance, Amazing Dynamics…

By embracing a fundamentally new approach, we are able to increase dynamics, colour and clarity as never before with balance across all strings.

Drawing on technology new to the guitar pickup world, and a completely original design, we're expanding what is possible in your search for that unique sound. Whether you enjoy jazz, blues, rock, slide, punk or metal we think this will change how you are able to express yourself.

We will be introducing an exciting alternative to traditional electromagnetic pickups. Does it sound better? Check out what players are saying below.

To keep up-to-date and be among the first to hear about our upcoming Kickstarter campaign and how to become a VIP backer, sign up to our newsletter below.

How it works…

  • Utilizing a small electric field instead of a traditional magnetic field, the AL-1 takes advantage of the capacitive effect to detect the vibrating guitar strings. 

  • The charge blade holds the electric field which is a very sensitive means of picking up the guitar voice, providing increased dynamics, clarity and balance across all strings. 

  • Rubbing the blade once or twice with a finger or your thumb and sliding back into position is all that is required . This 5 second process provides an electric field with enough charge for  20 to 30 minutes of playing. All entirely analogue!

What players are saying…

  • "Buttery smoothness. This gave me exactly what I'm looking for in a pickup. Dynamism, versatility and punchy tone that would get me heard in the mix. Very microphonic. I really appreciate being able to whisper or shout into a mic when I need to and this pickup lets me do that on a guitar. "

    Fraser M.

  • "I loved it! The warmth was unmatched by any pickup that I have tried before without being overly hot. The dynamic range was also impeccable capturing the quietest of inflections in my playing to the loudest funk strumming I could achieve. The optional cover also keeps your hand in place for correct posture. Loved it entirely"

    Aaron W.

  • "This pickup sounds unique. It is a very crisp and precise sound. With the warmth of a humbucker but the bite of a single coil. There is a huge dynamic range. I felt that I could play a lot quieter than usual yet when I dig in, it can get nice and loud and reach a biting point. "

    Taliesin L.

  • "Great sound and interacted particularly well with high gain. Full in the lows while nice and bright in the top end. The hum-canceling was perfect. Overall particularly impressed. Love the sound with the pickup and the reverb. It had both the twang of a single coil and the fullness of a humbucker. Normally I find you only get one or the other."

    Luke W.

  • "Unlike a lot of active style pickups it is punchy and still keeps the subtle sound that passive pickups have."

    Drew B.

  • "I really enjoyed the tone of the pickup. Really full sound especially compared to the existing single coil on the guitar. I used my slide to test it out as I use that a lot in my playing and I was really taken by it. It complemented my playing style. Such an interesting invention and totally deserving of funding. "

    Ruariadh R.

  • "Loved the pickup. As I said it feels somewhere between a single coil and a humbucker. Depending on how you dial the tone you can have a jazzy sound to a very bluesy drive sound. And then the stark contrast between the semi-hollow body and the solid body - It is almost as if the pickup adapts to the guitar you use. It exaggerated the features of each instrument."

    Ed D.

  • "Incredibly responsive! It has a lovely singing tone and the versatility between playing softly and aggressively really shines through. The attack is instantaneous and seems much faster than a traditional magnetic pickup. "

    Jack W.

  • "Getting a nice tone on an electric is always something I've struggled with but I was very pleased with how this pickup sounded and the difference between the original pickup and the new pickup was crazy. The Archie Lyle pickup was so clean. "

    Lori B.

The Archie Lyle prototype pickup installed in a solid body electric guitar with the EMI shield attached
Archie Lyle prototype pickup installed in a semi-hollow body electric guitar with the easily detachable EMI shield removed
The Archie Lyle prototype pickup being played for the first time by an artist who normally plays acoustic guitar and loving the dynamics of the resulting sound.
The Archie Lyle prototype pickup installed on a semi-hollow body being played in a jazz and bluesy style through a valve amp
The Archie Lyle prototype pickup being encountered for the first time!
We had to drag this amazing player away from the guitar installed with the new Archie Lyle prototype pickup to allow others to have an opportunity to sample its amazing diversity and dynamics.
The Archie Lyle prototype pickup installed in a solid body electric guitar being played by a slide guitarist impressed by the wide range of frequencies generated.
Encountering the Archie Lyle pickup for the first time!
The Archie Lyle prototype pickup installed in a solid body electric guitar getting a full outing from a slide guitarist for the first time!

 FAQs

  • The Archie Lyle AL1 will fit into the space left by removing a standard humbucker pickup from the guitar. You can use the original pickup ring in which to mount the pickup.

  • The pickup is a drop in replacement for a humbucker. As with any after-market pickup, installation is relatively simple. Firstly, you will need to locate and detach or de-solder the original pickup leads. The original pickup can then be removed by loosening the guitar strings and the mounting screws. Then simply replace the original with the Archie Lyle pickup using the two spring mounted screws and return the assembly to the guitar, routing the wires to the same location as the original, and then re-solder the signal and ground leads as per the original pickup. Tune the guitar and you should be good to go!

  • Yes - we use a small pre-amplifier installed in the main body of the pickup along with 2 x standard CR2032 or 2 x rechargeable LIR2032 batteries all housed in the same casing.

  • The action of inserting the charge blade fully into position powers on the pickup. Extracting the blade half way will switch the pickup off.

  • This depends on how much time you spend playing the guitar with the pickup enabled. If you remember to switch off the pickup after playing, a pair of batteries should last a month or more.

  • When inserting the charge blade through the slot in the outer case, a status LED light is momentarily illuminated to provide an indication of battery charge status. If the LED is dim when inserting the blade, this indicates that it’s close to the time to change the pre-amp batteries.

  • No - we have carefully designed the battery casing so that once the charge blade is removed, the battery case is free to pop up and, using a small tool, the batteries can be extracted through the same slot in the case used by the charge blade - No screws need to be loosened and no strings need to be to de-tuned. The batteries can be replaced very quickly indeed. If you misplace the battery change tool you can easily use a thin rod or similar shaped device to push the battery case out of the housing.

  • No - the cover is optional. In some environments, electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated by other electrical equipment nearby can cause a small level of background hum. The easily detachable cover is intended to reduce the the level of background noise and hum to very low levels.

  • The pickup needs the blade to maintain the required electric field to work. Should you misplace your blade, you will be able to order a replacement from our website. When not in use, simply leave the blade half-extracted from the pickup body.

  • We have a very robust, tried and tested prototype, loved and coveted by all players who have tried it. We are now in the process of raising funds to bring the prototype to full scale production. With a manufacturing team already in place, who are well regarded for Quality Control procedures and attention to detail, we are very well positioned to achieve full scale production.

    We are planning to launch a Kickstarter program in the very near future with the aim of using funds raised to manufacture the first batch of full production Archie Lyle AL1 pickups. This will be a very exciting development for us!

    Please sign up to our newsletter to keep up-to-date on timings and developments.

    Thanks for taking an interest and we look forward to shipping the product to eager guitarists soon!