Kent Armstrong toaster?

[espidog]

Now there's a challenge... Find the earliest thread that hasn't yet been archived, and bump it!

You may have hit on an interesting point re. the copyright thing, though. From my investigations, the KA Toasters are available from WD Music here in the UK, but WD Music's USA website doesn't list them at all. Intriguing....

[henry5]

Not in the UK. Rick Toasters are £150 ($300) over here, and if I bought one direct from the USA, I'd end up paying a small fortune in import duties.

Everything Ric costs twice as much in the UK. A case costs over £220 ($440).

[johnallg]

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Replac ... ront_SRK1F
http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Replac ... Rear_SRK1R

"A unique addition to the Kent Armstrong pickup line," - Rrrrright.....

[kiwibass]

Hi,

I´m new to this wonderful forum, so this is in fact my first post.

For that reason, I´d like to take this opportunity greet and thank everybody taking part in this both helpful and entertaining forum, and I´m really looking forward to adding my own contributions in the future!

I´d like to share my experiences with the SKY / Kent Armstrong toaster i´ve bought for my FG 4003.
(btw.: this bass is in fact the ebay project bass mentioned in a another thread a few months ago when some forum member was looking for an instrument he could restore. It had obvious fire damage at the neck, and consequently the fretboard was off, came w/o hardware and pickups, etc.)

I was quite sceptical at first, mainly because they´re Korean - made and fairly low priced. But on the other hand, they´re indeed part of the official Kent Armstrong pickup range - nothing fishy going on here!

Over here in Germany, original Rick parts are both hard to get and INCREDIBLY expensive - just like in the UK, if not worse.
So for me, these Kent Armstrong toasters became an option, considering that i could always re-sell them if the results were unsatisfactory.

Let me get down to the point: they´re suprisingly good!

IMHO, they sound better than - say - the ´79 hi-gain (which head a dead magnet) and the early 90´s Seymour Duncan humbucker I´ve tried in the neck position. I´ve yet to come across an affordable Rick toaster to be able to tell the difference, but as for now, the Armstrong does the job. It´s simply all there: the twangy and sparkling character mostly associated with toasters, a pleasant flat response ranging from bottom to top - with rich harmonics only a single coil pu can produce (sorry, Seymour!), and just the right output impedance to match my hi-gain bridge pu.

So don´t let the price fool you - THEY WORK!!!

And no - i´m not on Kent´s payroll...

Kind regards,

Karsten

[ricosound]

I'm sure fake TRCs and bridges work too. The problem is infringment is infringment, and RIC wont stand for it.

[doctorwho]

Welcome, Karsten!

[kiwibass]

I'm sure fake TRCs and bridges work too. The problem is infringment is infringment, and RIC wont stand for it.

That´s absolutely true, but on the other hand: what can you do?

Of course I´d LOVE to buy genuine Rick parts to get my instrument in shape, but it´s Rickenbacker´s rather chauvinistic policy of making spare parts (un)available even to owners of original Rick instruments that forces many of them to look for alternatives.

If Rickenbacker only made spare parts available more easily and at a reasonable price, albeit under the condition that one would have to send an old part back to the factory, there would simply be no reason for Rick owners to buy third-party products. At the same time, it would become far less attractive to other manufacturers to offer such parts.

So, IMHO, this often-dicussed infringement issue is at least partially a home-made problem.

Regards from Heidelberg,

Karsten

[heinpete]

If Rickenbacker only made spare parts available more easily and at a reasonable price, albeit under the condition that one would have to send an old part back to the factory, there would simply be no reason for Rick owners to buy third-party products. At the same time, it would become far less attractive to other manufacturers to offer such parts.

Hi Karsten,

first of all I do not consider RIC spare parts extremely expensive (20§ for the Brige PU cover in comparison to more than double of that for the part on a F****R J-Bass) and secondly you really had the option to send back your old/cracked TRC and buy a new one from RIC plant.

[johnallg]

For those outside the North American Trade area, you can always have a friend, relative, or willing party get the part for you and send it on.