Favorite 360/12 Control Settings

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jsegovia
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Favorite 360/12 Control Settings

Post by jsegovia »

Does anyone have any favorite settings on their Ric 12 strings, to get specific sounds from favorite artists or songs or just good sounding tones?

On my Gibsons I usually leave volume and tone knobs full open although on my Fenders I usually roll tone down a bit, but not sure what folks usually do with Ricks.

Right now on the 360/12 I'm really enjoying the treble pickup by itself but my favorite tone is both pickups, volume and tone up full and the blend knob just a little bit past halfway up (if you're looking at the front of the guitar and the neck is pointing towards your right, the knob is in between 12 and 1 o'clock). Keeps most of the brightness of the treble pickup but introduces some nice fullness from the rhythm pickup.

Does anyone know where George Harrison and Roger McGuinn used to set their controls?

Thanks!

Jesse
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jdogric12
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Re: Favorite 360/12 Control Settings

Post by jdogric12 »

jsegovia wrote:Does anyone have any favorite settings on their Ric 12 strings, to get specific sounds from favorite artists or songs or just good sounding tones?

On my Gibsons I usually leave volume and tone knobs full open although on my Fenders I usually roll tone down a bit, but not sure what folks usually do with Ricks.

Right now on the 360/12 I'm really enjoying the treble pickup by itself but my favorite tone is both pickups, volume and tone up full and the blend knob just a little bit past halfway up (if you're looking at the front of the guitar and the neck is pointing towards your right, the knob is in between 12 and 1 o'clock). Keeps most of the brightness of the treble pickup but introduces some nice fullness from the rhythm pickup.

Does anyone know where George Harrison and Roger McGuinn used to set their controls?

Thanks!

Jesse
A couple years ago I stopped diming all my guitars. Can't imagine ever going back. So for Ricks and just about everything else, I put the bridge pickup at 10 & 10, and the neck pickup at 8 or 9 & 8 or 9. It leaves the solid low frequency foudnation of the neck pickup in place without muddying the mids too much.

Your 5th knob "12 o clock" thing will be hard to compare... the pots can be at different angles, so it's all relative. I leave my Rick 5th knobs in the middle so I have flexibility in either direction. Unless it's a vintage Rick with wonky difference between the two pickups' outputs, then I'll leave it wherever it sounds the most balanced, again for maximum flexibility.

Harrison was famously quoted as saying he never understood the 5th knob and it didn't really seem to do anything, which is a shame because it can be really useful. If you dime everything but the bass tone, and turn bass tone to 0, it's a poor man's wah!

btw the 5th knob is a reverse volume knob on the neck pickup in case anyone didn't know.
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sloop_john_b
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Re: Favorite 360/12 Control Settings

Post by sloop_john_b »

I had a 1980 620/12 that Mark Arnquist had worked his magic on. Not only did the guitar play phenomenally well (with a well-cut nut, who needs a 660/12?), but he wired the 5th knob to blend in as much or as little as the .0047 treble cut cap as was desired on the bridge pickup. It was super useful and fun!
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