I really love the way it looks, but it would even look better if I'd put a toaster and horseshoe cover on the pickups. Rickenbacker doesn't sell these, but is there a luthier would could make them or is there some other way I could get these? I've read that someone on this forum makes horseshoe covers, but there are like 50 people on the waiting list.. There must be some other way..
you can get a toaster pickup to put in there ... Ric used to sell reissue horseshoe pickups but now they don't and they shut down anybody who makes them ... pretty much the only way to get one is to buy a 4001c64 ... if they ever decide to make them available again they will sell a lot of them ...
Also the high gain pickup can be converted to have a toaster cover ...
There is a process that invoves removing the pole pieces, cutting off the buttons, and reinserting them? I'm not 100% sure, but you can check Sergio's "Winding Up With The Best" forum towards the bottom of the page for more info on how it's done.
I have converted several high gain pickups to toasters ... I remove the iron mushroom slugs and then drill the holes a little larger and insert 6 steel rods or 6 alnico magnets from a dismantled jazz pickup ... it won't work on a pre 1990 high gain and it can go wrong and the pickup can be damaged ...
for all it's worth get a toaster and put it in ... it is a lot easier ...
Jeff's done a few toaster conversions for me and they all sound great. Oddly enough, the guy who I got the original idea from lived in Hawaii and was doing this to high gains and putting them in lap steels. He didn't even replace the pole pieces after he removed them and claimed there was no difference in sound.
the reason I did it was I needed pole pieces for converting 4003 pickups from 4 to 5 string so I got a few 6 sting high gain pickups and pulled the iron slugs out ... then I thought ... hmmm ... I can turn these into a toaster pickup ...