Success on Moving the Pole Pieces!

Building pickups from the ground up

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70ssano
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Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:14 pm

Success on Moving the Pole Pieces!

Post by 70ssano »

First of all I want to thank Sergio for the advice.

I really enjoy playing my RIC 360/6, but every time I would get going on it, the darn high E string just wouldn't have the volume of the other strings, especially playing solo notes up the neck. No matter how much I adjusted the pickup height and slant, I couldn't fix it. So back into the case it would go.

After finding this site and posting my problem, Sergio told me he once had a similar problem and swapped out the D and high E pole pieces.

When I finally got up enough courage, I made the decision to go for it all. Here is what I did...

1. Unsoldered the bridge pickup from the pots.

2. Dis-assembled the cover and pried off the magnet with a pocket knife.

3. Using a towel and a bench vice, I punch out ALL the pole pieces from A through high E with a dull awl.

4. I measured each one and placed them in order from shortest, A, to longest, High E.

5. Using channel locks and popsicle sticks, to protect the pickup from scratches, I carefully re-inserted them back into the pickup.

6. Glued the magnet back with GE Silicon II Household Glue.

7. I then repeated the steps for the neck pickup and put everything back together again.

What a difference! The volume is strong through all the strings on both pickups. The high E finally has some punch and sustain.

Thanks again!

John
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doctorwho
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Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 3:28 pm

Post by doctorwho »

Nicely done, John!
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
rickcrazy
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Joined: Thu May 30, 2002 4:11 am

Post by rickcrazy »

You're welcome, John.
A Rickenbacker bass is much like the Jaguar E car - perennially ultra-fashionable.
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