The model 260 is a humbucker with built in transducer! It's balanced especially for Bronze strings.
This pickup is unique in being the only DeArmond pickup with two separate sensors - a set of humbucking coils and 'DeArmond's exclusive Piezo-Magnetic Sensor (PMS)' which both operate together. The piezo is attached to the long arm.
It was introduced in 1980.
The 1983 catalog showed:
"The 260 is a technological breakthrough in acoustic guitar pickup design. It incorporates the incomparable quality construction and quick mounting ease of the 230, plus, with the addition of new electronics, offers unequated high-end response.
The heart of the 260 is Dearmonds's exclusive Piezo-Magnetic Sensor (PMS) which is fully contained in the pickup head. Instead of using only a conventional magnetic coil, the 260's PMS system combines the punch of a magnetic humbucking pickup with the richness and extended range of a transducer. The balanced humbucking pickup reproduces the strings vibrations while the transducer reproduces the vibrations of the guitars's body. These two distinct sounds are combined and pre-mixed revealing the unique ambient tone quality of your instrument.
The balanced output of the 260 enables you to use your favorite bronze strings and obtain an equal volme response from crisp bass strings to sparking treble strings.
We encourange you to compare DeArmond's model 260 with any other acoustic pickup in today's market. Quite simply, the 260 is the best.
Specifications:
TYPE PICKUP: Proximity magnetic induction and contact piezoelectric
TYPE MAGNET: Alnico
MAG. STRENGTH: 750G
RESISTANCE: 9K Ω
HOLE SIZE: 3 1/2 - 4 1/8 in."
Some info in this video where they compare 6 different pickups:
Ralf