Unwinding high gains

[fiveightandten]

Hi fiveightandten --- did you ever try posting an ad for that super-hot High Gain in the Marketplace - For Sale section of the RRF ? ?

There just might be Ric owners, on the Forum, who are in bands that play that type of music, that someone might just be looking for a deep low end, gainy sound. I wouldn't unwind that pickup until you've exhausted the chance that someone out there might really be looking for that type of sound. Lots of us end up buying and selling different pick-ups on the RRF for setting up our different Rics, for specific sounds. And there have been several types of High Gains issued over the decades, that have different tones.

I'll post the neck pickup on on the forums in case anyone is looking for one. Thanks for the insight.

You got it done in an hour? That's fast. Almost too fast. Plan on two hours to get the neck pickup to match. Don't take off any more than you did on the bridge pickup - it will sound thin. As a matter of fact, consider leaving a little bit more on, since the neck pickup needs a little more wire on the bobbin to give a little higher inductance and more mids with a hair less treble to get a good round tone to better contrast the bridge pickup. Use the 5th knob to balance, especially if you retain the .0047 inline capacitor to the bridge pickup.

I think the bridge took me about an hour and a half. I say "at least an hour", as I could see someone getting it done quicker if they were faster. I just used a pen, and wore a pair of nitrile gloves to protect my fingers and had at it. Surprisingly, I didn't break the wire at all while unwinding it. It's definitely quite fragile though.

Interesting you say the neck needs to be hotter. I was always told that the bridge needs to be a bit hotter to balance correctly. The string vibrates less near the bridge, so it takes a higher output pickup to match the neck. The neck, which sees a more energetic section of the string, needs less output. Is that not correct?

In any case, i'll see if there is anyone looking for a 15.7K high gain before unwinding it. Though i'm quite happy with the outcome of the bridge. I was ready to sell the guitar. But it's actually usable now, so i'll be keeping it. I have 3 Les Pauls. The 620 definitely doesn't sound thin, even with the bridge wound down. It has as much low end as my 10 lb Les Paul Standard (1992, same era).

Thanks again for the help.

[iiipopes]

Interesting you say the neck needs to be hotter. I was always told that the bridge needs to be a bit hotter to balance correctly. The string vibrates less near the bridge, so it takes a higher output pickup to match the neck. The neck, which sees a more energetic section of the string, needs less output. Is that not correct?

The "conventional" wisdom for all other makes and models of electric guitars is that they want more winds on the bridge pickup to induce a stronger signal to match the signal of the neck pickup over which the strings vibrate with greater excursion, hence induce more of a signal that way. Since most other guitars are not made primarily maple, although concededly many have maple or ash as an integral component, it is a completely different concept of tone, so this approach works for many other guitars.

HOWEVER, the whole point for most people having a Rickenbacker is to have the chime and jangle. So if you overwind the bridge pickup, you defeat the purpose. But all guitars need contrast if they are going to have two or three pickups, so if a few more winds are put on the neck pickup to increase its inductance and intra-coil capacitance, thereby draining a tad of top end along the way, that gives contrast and a very "sweet" middle position tone. And with a Rickenbacker, the relative volume levels of the pickups can then be adjusted and balanced via the 5th knob to the shade of the player's desire.

I have a guitar that has two pickups exactly as the "conventional" wisdom describes - a pair of mini humbuckers that there is about a 10% difference in the winds - more wire on the bridge pickup, using the same wire, bobbins and magnets. I'm considering unwinding one coil of the bridge pickup about 500 ohms' worth of wire to get an "unbucker," to give more top end, and then install a 300 ohm resistor in line to the hot lead of the neck pickup to balance everything back out.