Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Peter,

how can I measure the readings...I know nothing about tech stuff. And what does the change in the readings mean in practice tonewise?

In what sense do you think I shouldn't go non-stock? Collectability-wise or tonewise? As for collectability-wise, that's why I was asking for pickup ...

Hi all! Having offered my 480 for trade elsewhere here, I have come to the idea of letting it go, after all. But I need new pickups, or at least one for the bridge. I'm thinking HUMBUCKERS OR PAFs. Yes, maybe it's heresy, but to really make use of this beautiful guitar (great action, playability ...

Hi all! I'm looking to jangle up my 480 (not the jangliest of Rickys). A compressor should do the trick, I hear.

I'm tempted by the Janglebox, but it's a bit too expensive for me. Anybody tried the Barber Tone Press? Looks promising, with its blend knob, which you can use to blend the dry signal ...

Hi! Here's me and my 480, playing cool:

Noel, I may have been a bit misleading in my opening. I'm not exactly after a massive rock fuzz. Instead, a natural-sounding overdrive with quite a bit of gain. Something like Teenage Fanclub and the Jayhawks. Anybody care to suggest something that way?

Hi all! Being a new owner of a Rickenbacker 480, I find that it really hates most of my overdrive/distortion boxes (Hotcake, Hermida Audio Mosferatu, V-Stack, Proco Rat). Most pedals just seem to sort of squeeze the sound into a over-tight mush, and basically none of them live up to the highs of the ...

Nick, about the asking prices: some 480s were ridiculously expensive. I saw (a very nice) mapleglo 480 go for $1925! But that's the highest price I encountered. I also saw another mapleglo one go for 1250 euro. Other finishes seem to be less expensive, the most common finishes (at least to me) were ...

I found this on Harmony Central under Rickenbacker 480. Anybody know anything about this? Should I do it?
"The trebble pickup sounded like a thin megaphone when I first got it. after studying the circuitry I found a capacitor in line with the pickup which removes the bass from the pickup and passes ...

Patrick,

that's funny, since the most of 480s I've seen were actually jetglo! But your view on keeping is worth thinking about.

As for lead tones with 480, I agree. And even better, I like the way the guitar does bluesy soloing with many string at the time (know what I mean?). The sound stays ...

Hello all. As a new 480 owner I'd love to hear other 480 users' tone tricks with this guitar? What type of music do you play with it and how do you achieve your tone? For example, what distortion/overdrive units do you use? I find that my Proco Rat works nicely with a tad of distortion with the 480.

Hi! I am a new happy owner of a 1975 Rickenbacker 480. This is my very first Rickenbacker. Here it is:

http://archives.rickresource.com/oldattachments/40275.jpg

I understand that this is perhaps not the jangliest Ricky there is. Still, I can hear there is some jangle there, somewhere. I got ...

Hi all! I have a question about the pickups used in 480s. Simply, what pickups are they? Are they hi-gains? Did 480s come with different pickups?

Hi. I mailed RIC about the possibility of exchanging my old nameplate for a new black one. Here's their answer:

"Sorry to inform you that we haven't made the 480 I a long time so any nameplate we have here might not line up with the existing holes, might
not retrofit. RIC also discontinued the ...

Hi! I have a lacquer-related question. What type of lacquer was used on Rics in the mid 1970s (especially on model 480)? Was it cellulose (is this the word) or some more contemporary type of lacquer? I'm trying to calculate the price of re-finishing a 1975 480. I've heard that cellulose lacquer is ...

Hi all! This is just to clarify my previous mail, which wasn't written as well as I should have. I was asked by Ricsrus to change my mail, so here goes. Ricsrus don't have any nameplate spares (due to legal reasons). They simply work with a legalized UK distributor to arrange swopping of old ...