430 pickups vs. standard hi-gains

[kiramdear]

Oh, that looks really great, Johnathan! Good work! You'll always feel proud when you play it in the future. Simple upgrades and maintenance that you do yourself give a real feeling of satisfaction and make it truly your guitar. I like the jetglo finish, too, Mine's a natural clear finish - I guess we can't call it mapleglo because it's made of mahogany. I think that fact' is the biggest factor in giving its unique sound. I call mine my Rickencaster.

[jdawe]

Thanks, Kira. I know exactly what you mean.

I think I have a later-model 430 than yours, since I don't have the mahogany body. I'm not sure what my body wood is, but it's something light-colored that isn't super-dense and is fairly light-weight -- I'm guessing alder, since I don't think it is as hard or dense as maple, but I'm really not sure. Whatever it is, it gives the guitar a bright tone that I think comes pretty close to the classic "jangle" of the Rick semi-hollowbodies. It can do pretty credible Peter Buck-type sounds and that type of thing and can also make some snarly Keith Richards noises, although it tends to flatten out and get muddy at really high-gain settings.

I just bought a Korean-made Fender Telecaster that is actually very un-Telecaster like -- it has mahogany body and coil-tapped humbuckers, and sounds more like a Gibson than a Fender. It's a very nice guitar and can do a number of things that my Rick doesn't do so well (which is why I bought it), but for some things the 430 just sounds way better, particularly with the new foam pads under the pickups. I'm having a lot of fun rediscovering why I like my 430 so much.

[kiramdear]

Interesting. I thought they were all made of mahogany. I wonder what the body wood options were for the 430. Anybody know? Oh, mine's a 1975 example, by the way.

[jdawe]

When I ran my serial number on the Rickenbacker web page, it came back saying that my guitar was made in December, 1975. However, I later notice that 22 of the 25 430s in the Rickenbacker Register are listed as having a 1975 build date (the other three say 1976). This seems a bit of an implausible coincidence, and I suspect there is some kind of bug in Rickenbacker's record-keeping. Since the serial numbers are on the bridge plate, it may be that all of the bridge plates were manufactured in 1975 and 1976, but that the guitars themselves were made at different times.

I came across one reference on the interent to someone with a maple-bodied 430, but I have no idea if this is accurate. I don't think my body is maple (just the neck), but I'm not all that knowledgeable about different woods (although I think I can recognize mahogany).

Another thing I've been curious about that someone might be able to shed some light on is whether the 430 neck (bolted on, and made of maple with a very thick rosewood fretboard and a flat, or almost flat, radius) was unique to the 430, or whether it was adapted from a neck that was being used on other 1970 Ric models. To my regret, I don't have any other Rics to compare it to.

[kiramdear]

I don't know of any earlier bolt-on neck models than the 430, though others followed - the 230 and Glen Frey models and the 3000 series basses I am familiar with. Maybe someone can fill in the spaces about that. The 430 was designed by John Hall and it was said that it "employed a number of innovations in its time and broke some new ground for Rickenbacker." I may misquote slightly.

[ericheartsu]

Sorry to bring this up from the dead, but would any of you guys be willing to post some pictures of what your pickups look like now, using the mouse pad foam to raise it?

I'm trying to fix up my 430, but i'm kind of a dunce when it comes to understanding this stuff!