Swap Hi-Gains for Toasters, questions...

arrow201 · Post by **arrow201** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:31 pm

Seriously thinking about swapping out my hi-gains for toasters
since i strive for the clean / jangly sound.

The guitar is a 1990 Jetglo 360/12WB. Measuring at the jack, the current
bridge hi-gain is ~10.5k. The toasters Ric supplies i heard are ~7.5k
and read they sound quite good ...agreed ?

I have an electronics background and can solder well, but haven't
attempted swapping pups, so want to be absolutely sure...

Questions:

1) referring to this link:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/cart.asp?category=Pickups

...looks like there's separate toasters ...one for the bridge (sku: 00030)
and one for the neck (sku: 00031) ...this is correct ? what's
the difference...mounting ? ohms ? ...looking at my 2 hi-gains, they
appear to be exactly the same (?)

(...****....just noticed Ric is out of stock for the toasters~~~~)

2) Can the pups be exchanged with the guitar tuned or do the
strings have to removed / loosened to slide the pups in/out ?
(without scratching the finish of course)

3) Looking at a lot of vintage models, grommets are used between
the pup and the body. Hi-gains have foam (at least that's what mine came with),
ok to use the foam with toasters ? If so, maybe while i'm at it, to
replace the foam, Sku: 03802 ?

http://www.rickenbacker.com/cart.asp?viewitem=03802&category=viewitem&buffer_category=Miscellaneous

...only $5/each

4) I've read about also adding a .0047uF cap ? ...this filters out the lows / adding a bit
more jangle ?....worth doing ? ...if so, where is it installed ...a marked up
schematic available ?

Caveats i can think of off hand are to make sure cloth is over the guitar to prevent
solder/resin splatter and to not screw on the pick guard to tight when reassembling
to prevent cracking the guard ...anything else from experience ?

..thanks !

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:03 pm

1) The neck one is the bass guitar one and the center mounting holes are threaded because the bass mounts to the pickguard. The 00030 has those holes drilled out to allow the wood screw used on guitars to go through. You want those in all positions. They are otherwise identical.

2) You'll probably have to loosen the strings to allow room for the pups to slide in or out. Removing them may be excessive - loosening enough to pull them out of the way should work.

3) Not sure on this - probably just asthetics (sp?) to maintain the vintage vib.

4) The schematic would be here: http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19502.pdf
C3 with the asterisk is the one.

I hope this helps enough - hopefully someone who has done this to a guitar will pipe in - I've done it to a bass.

teb · Post by **teb** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:15 am

You might check with Mike Parks. He's had toasters in stock when I've ordered them.

http://www.the-music-connection.com/ricpart.htm#strings

You can slip a toaster into the neck position without de-tuning the guitar, but I can't remember whether I could at the bridge as well. In any case, it's a little easier (and probably safer for the finish) if you loosen the strings a bit, so that you're not fighting them during the process. The poles on toasters hang down farther into the cavity than on high-gains, so getting the toaster in is more difficult than getting the high-gain out.

Foam works fine with toasters. I kind of like the way it keeps dust and anything else from getting under the pickups. Whichever method you like the looks of best will work.

You may also want to try using a neck toaster and a bridge high-gain. I spent about a week playing with two 360/12's, two toasters and two high-gains, switching pickups around and trying different combinations and that's what I liked best with my system. The HG can always be converted to a matching toaster cover if that's what you end up with. The two types of pickups do have somewhat different tones and I liked them both and didn't really want to lose one of them. The mix of both types and the ability to blend them with the fifth knob or choose either one or both with the toggle gave me the broadest possible range of sound adjustability.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:32 am

You may also consider sticking a toaster in the bridge position that has been wound hotter so that the volumes between the two pickups balance out better. I did this in my 350v63 with a 12k toaster in the bridge and the volume between the pickups are prefectly balanced now, and the tone of the bridge pickup is part way between the usual ~7.4k toasters and the hotter high gains.

For a 12 string, I would probably prefer a toaster in the bridge around 10k personally rather than the 12k I went with in my 350v63 6 string. It would chime a little bot more and get a little closer to that 60's vibe, but still be a bit hotter so it isn't so bright and low volume as compared to the neck pickup. I had a local pickup maker friend wind the pickup for me, but I'm sure you could always convince Sergio to do it for you. Its not hard at all.

I plan to go with the toaster combination I mentioned on my 330/12 one of these days soon as I like the toaster sound better than the high gain sound for a 12 string.

arrow201 · Post by **arrow201** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:58 am

Thanks for all the info !

arrow201 · Post by **arrow201** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 2:30 pm

Got my toasters in last week (7.4k) from Ric and installed them this morning on my
'90 JG 360/12WB ...crisper, brighter sound

The output was better than i expected from what i read by others ...seemed pretty
close to the output of the hi-gains that we're in there ...i measured
the hi-gains at 11.8k when i took them out ...i thought they'd be higher then that,
a friend of mine has a 360/12v64 with toasters which measure 11.9k (which
i expected) ... a tad more than my hi-gains !

i didn't install the .0047uF cap though ...want to try it first without it
i have concerns of the sound becoming too thin ...how much of a difference
is there with the cap in ? ...sound much thinner ?

...again ...thanks for the help ...the change over went very smoothly

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:22 am

The .0047 capacitor works fine only if you use a very hot pickup. Putting it in line with a toaster in the bridge position will make for nice tone, but for very low output. You'll be better off using a maxed-out 7.4 K toaster in the bridge position and no capacitor in line therewith. But if you really want to use the capacitor, then a "souped up" high gain pickup in the bridge position is your best bet. This is exactly what I did on my 4080 many years back.