Rickenbacker 370-12 Roger McGuinn questions

[Bitterend17]

I recently purchased a 1988-built 370-12 Roger McGuinn Limited Edition. Does anyone out there have experience with this guitar, especially the useful life of the battery? I have the impression that the standard akaline battery doesn't last long, but I am not sure what to expect. Will the battery drain at all when the guitar is stored and not connected to a guitar cable? The person I bought it from said the battery was fresh before he shipped it, but it was close to dead when I received the guitar and tried it out. I had to put a new battery in for it to work. Any info about this guitar's battery life would be appreciated. Thanks.

[libratune]

In my experience, the battery life is not much affected by being hooked up to the controls in the 370-12 RM. If you put a quality battery in there, it should last at least until it's stamped shelf life. If you are an active player, that will obviously cause more drain on the battery and thus you'd be aware by the loss of sound quality when the battery started to lose power. But in either case -- stored or played -- the battery should last at least a couple of y ears.

[jdogric12]

Welcome John and congrats. I have an RME1 as well but have had any quick drain problems. I use Duracell Procells. You can buy them for a decent price in bulk on Amazon. I'm not sure if leaving a cable connected would matter, but I wouldn't do it, for other reasons.

[8mileshigh]

Maybe there's a problem with the output jack socket, causing a constant drain on the battery? I think I had that on one of mine.....back in the mists of time. As for battery choice, John Hall recommends a lithium battery, which I've had in mine for a few years now with no sign of giving up yet!

[johnhall]

We have always recommended lithium batteries for this guitar. Roger has also always been an advocate of these as well. Originally Ultra was the only brand easily obtainable but now there's many makers, including Eveready.

On the surface they seem terribly expensive but in the end they are not, as they last at least three times longer than even a quality alkaline. But that's not the best reason for using them. A critical part of the compression circuit involving gain is voltage controlled; as the voltage goes down, the gain rises. Alkalines have a long voltage wind-down taper as they die, making the circuit gain rise, with undesirable side effects, such as bringing in Radio Moscow! Lithiums just work then die.

[Bitterend17]

John Hall - yes, I've got a lithium battery in it now but still concerned about possible battery drain problem. When I bought the guitar seller said it was a new battery but battery nearly dead upon arrival and I experienced all those low volume/distorted sound problems on Settings 4, 5, and 6 (the compression settings). Then I hooked up my multimeter to the positive side of the battery clip and the positive terminal of the battery and with no cable plugged in to guitar, meter was reading 8+ volts, which I think it should not show any volts, telling me that some kind of problem was causing slow drain. I removed the std/ROS jacks and couldn't see any evidence that the "fingers" of the jacks were touching without a cable inserted.

I have the guitar with an experienced repair guy right now to have him confirm the issue. If his meter also shows a drain going on, and if he can't find the cause, he suggested replacing one of the 3 volume pots with a push/pull pot so that I could kill any power from the battery when not playing it. I absolutely do not want to mess with the complex compressor circuitry for fear of bigger problem. If the push/pull pot/knob were done, in the off position I would not have to worry about in-the-case battery drain. We'll see.

[wim]

If you store it with the rotary switch in the position where you only get the pickups, can't remember the number sorry, is there any tension in the electronics?

[Bitterend17]

Wim - Don't have guitar here at the moment so I can't check to see if drain occurs in non-compressor settings, but the Owner's Manual does say that it is important to remove the guitar cord when not in use: "The circuit will switch off automatically when the guitar cord is unplugged, in order to save the battery." So how the 6 position switch is left when the guitar cord is removed should not affect battery drain - there shouldn't be any power drain.

[Bitterend17]

8mileshigh - you may have been right. Repair guy says he thinks the output jack was the problem. The tight space was causing the contacts to connect when no cable inserted. He worked on the jacks and says the battery no longer showing drain when unplugged. Fingers crossed that this will do it. Happy to have this beautiful guitar back in my hands.

[gtoira]

I just purchased a 370/12RM that really hasn't been used much in many years. I don't know if the compressor is set/working properly. Is there anywhere in Southern California where I can bring it to have it checked out by someone FAMILIAR with the E1 compressor? It sort of works, but even with the new battery installed, only Position 5 seems sort of good. Position 6 does receive Radio Moscow, Position 4 is muddy and weak, and Positions 1-3 don't sound at all like my 370/12W. Also, is the Rick-o-Sound jack supposed to work or is it just an additional mono output?

Other posts on this site refer to the setting of the trim pot on the compressor board. This is easy enough to find, but I don't want to reset it to anything other than the 2.5V written in sharpie on the boards itself. However, where do you measure with the voltmeter that voltage? Is it across the legs of the trim pot? WHat compressor switch position? Guitar plugged in? other control positions?

Help. Just want to make it Stock and verify proper operation.