Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I just to buy a Ric 350 V63 Liverpool and I plan to mod in the future with the iiipopes master mod.
Anyway... I don't understand why John Lennon and everybody after disconnect the middle pickup. Sometimes read 'cause the guitar is muddy with all pickups, sometimes for more differents tonal variances.
I think with all the pickups connected sounds deep and bright with Strato tone character.
I will fit the iiipopes mod for more variety of tones not for bad or muddy tones.
What do you think about?

Another reason middle pickups are often disconnected is because of the unpleasant sound they make when struck with a pick. For a lot of players, the place where they strum is exactly where the middle pickup sits, so this can be problematic.

I am not sure why John did it. I did the mod because without it, to my ears, it wasn't quite what I was wanting to hear. I found that with all 3 pickups engaged, the crossover to the high-end treble using the blend pot came in so far to the extreme, that there was not a lot of difference between the middle and treble switch position. At that point, it was keeping the low end too far out of the mix for my tastes. Using the mod, I am able to dial in the sweet spot that I am looking for (closer to a 330 or 360 in the center position with the blend leaning towards the bridge pickup).

That being said, I personally don't find the non-modded configuration all that muddy, and I often use it when I want to thicken my tone up a bit for different styles of songs. To my mind the mod just adds to my on-board sound options and it took an already versatile instrument to the next level.

Exactly Ken, the mod add more versatily but disconnect the middle pickup only don't.
The question is if Lennon disconnect all his 325 or only the hamburg Ric.

I'd guess the pick noise too. But he may have discovered an added benefit in punchiness, since the scooped 3-pickup sound just doesn't cut through a live band mix (or recording for that matter) quite as well without some manipulation.

Old pics of Johns 58 show how bad the middle pickup was wore off. My guess was he was tired of hearing it scratching away as he tore it up. I know on my C58, I couldn't help hitting that pickup while playing. I got rid of the guitar. I really don't miss it...

That's the reason Tom Petty and Campbell order his 350 without middle pickup? The pick noise on the middle pickup?

Wire the guitar with my mod diagram and you can have either/or.

Yes iiipopes, I think this is the solution.