Anyone seen or used these pickups before?

[paologregorio]

I ended up buying Alnico IIIs from Magnetic Hold. Sérgio specified Alnico III magnets, so I went with Magnetic Hold instead of Master Magnetics, as the latter company does not carry Alnico IIIs. Shea over at MH was really easy to deal with, and was able to ship the magnets to Sérgio directly. The minimum order was 40 magnets/$50. The only drawback, if it can be called that, was that I had to send MH a cashier's check or money order, as they were not able to accept credit cards. I posted payment on either Friday or Monday, and was notified via email today that the magnets had shipped.

[rickcrazy]

I'll be sure to let you know when I receive them, Paul. Cheers.

[rickenmetal]

hmm, Guitar Fetish pickups:
http://store.guitarfetish.com/vintagestyle.html
don't know anything about them, those polepieces look really small...

I think if I really wanted side-by-side humbuckers in a Rick I would go for TV Jones flatmounts, but there you can't get a set of their neck and bridge pickups because they have height differences.
(the Rick HBs seem to be stacked humbuckers)

[soundmasterg]

The RIC HB's are side by side, though they are not as wide as your standard Gibson style. They are made just like the Gibsons with two coils side by side, but a samarium cobalt bar magnet in between them on the bottom, and there is also some circuit board material on the bottom that the leads are connected to.

Greg

[rickenmetal]

I don't think that proves anything unless you have opened one up. You have to see where the polepieces line up. The placement of the coils also tells something, but if they are side by side with the coils laying down, the design is also different and there would be only one set of polepieces (or a single blade, if that is the design used). Of course, I don't recommend anyone to open one up unless they are broken and the problem cannot be fixed without opening the pickup (for example if the wires coming from the pickup are bad).

I would say they are not Gibson type side by side humbuckers from the way they react when you pass an ebow over the pickup.

[soundmasterg]

I don't think that proves anything unless you have opened one up. You have to see where the polepieces line up. The placement of the coils also tells something, but if they are side by side with the coils laying down, the design is also different and there would be only one set of polepieces (or a single blade, if that is the design used). Of course, I don't recommend anyone to open one up unless they are broken and the problem cannot be fixed without opening the pickup (for example if the wires coming from the pickup are bad).

I would say they are not Gibson type side by side humbuckers from the way they react when you pass an ebow over the pickup.

I have opened one up,though not completely. The neck HB2 in my RIC 230 went dead and I was trying to find the break in the wire. Of course the whole thing is epoxied and while I found the break, the pickup is pretty knackered now so I had to get another one to use in the guitar. Since they aren't made anymore I was lucky RIC still had one and that I won the auction. The HB1 they use now is very similar to the HB2 and basically mounts differently, and it too is epoxied so have fun with that if you want to take one apart. They are a very similar design to a standard full size Gibson humbucker with side by side coils and the magnet in the middle on the bottom. They use blades for the pole pieces that contact each side of the magnet, so that part is different and will change the sound a bit. The whole pickup is narrower so of course each bobbin is narrower too. Using the Samarium Cobalt magnets gives lots of power and lots of highs, which to my ear makes them a bit harsh in the high end. I've emailed in the past with John Hall about these pickups and he has told me that there is nothing special about their design and they are very much like a standard humbucker and there is no patent number to reference regarding their design.

Just because you are making assumptions about something, don't assume that others are also and have no knowledge of them. They are side by side humbuckers and not stacked...believe me. They also are not a sidewinder type humbucker.....the coils are side by side with the magnet in the middle on the bottom just like a Gibson HB.

You can see the parts breakdown of them here, but they don't show the bobbin arrangement unfortunately.

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/gpickups.pdf

Greg

[rickenmetal]

I was making assumptions purely based on how it reacts to an ebow, I was not giving a definite verdict as I would have to see the coils to do that.

So they have 2 blades on the top and the blades are placed inside of each coil?

[rickcrazy]

That's right.