What Are My Pickups On My 360/12?

[Tommy]

They are stock pickups on a 360/12 I bought new in 1992. I know they are not "toasters," but what are they? High gain, low gain, single coil, where manufactured, good, bad, treasures, junk, is bridge hotter than neck.....? Please, any info at all on my pickups because I really have no idea regarding the specifics of them. Thanks.

[jdogric12]

Hi Tom. They are standard hi-gains.

[kiramdear]

As I understand it in a nutshell, the high-gains are wound hotter than the toasters, and the toasters' alnico magnet pole pieces have been replaced with steel poles on the high gain. That may be the only difference in spec.
Toasters can be thinner sounding and more articulate and chime-y while the high gains are more full and punchy while still capable of great twang and plunk when dialed in right. Some people say the magnets sound warmer than the steel poles. There are a lot of variations in hotness through the years for each style, and there are special hot toasters available, etc. If you look into it there are a million ways to go, including rewinding or winding your own, to be searched out in the various forums here.

One's not better or worse than the other. They are just different solutions to different needs.

That's my worm's eye view of it YMMV

[Tommy]

Thanks, folks.

I always hear about a vintage tone associated with "toasters." I wonder how much of that is really disecernable to a bedroom player like myself. I do love the pickups on mine and through any of my amps I sure get some chime. Just never knew what they were exactly.

[jdogric12]

There is enough of a difference, so that you will notice it even if you only use a practice amp in your bedroom.

[jimk]

I'm a pretty new Rick owner. My 360/12 came with the standard factory hi-gains, just like the ones in the photo above. I like the sounds I get from my guitar just the way it is. I use a compressor/sustain pedal which really helps me achieve the jangle and twang I want.

Right now, I'm not contemplating swapping out the hi-gains for toasters at all. And perhaps if I were really desirous for that sound, I might find another 360, or 330 12 which had toasters on it already. But that's just me. Sign me Happy with Hi-gains,

JimK

[Tommy]

Yeah, no pickup swap for me, either.

I take your word above that the difference in tone between toasters and my high-gains is noticeable. But I am happy with the way my Ric sounds. If I want to alter the sound in any way (more "vintage") I'm thinking of buying the new Janglebox2 compressor. Perhaps that provides just enough slight change that it won't displease my ears.

[kiramdear]

I have no urge to mod or replace my two pair of "early" high-gains (non-adjustable pole pieces). Never bothered to take a resistance reading on them, even. I just love 'em for their versatility and the way they break down when the gain is up.

I hope to be checking out a trio of hot toasters soon, and will be happy to report my impressions.

[kiramdear]

A word about balance: The bridge pickup is frequently spec'd hotter in order to balance the volume difference between bridge and neck p'ups. Its good to have them balanced in output so that they blend well together and so switching is easy. This can be accomplished by adjusting the heights of the poles and pickups themselves, too. Subtle adjustments can bring dramatic results.

Oh, and Janglebox is a very popular choice for rick owners here.

[jimk]

Kira, that's one of the things that I discovered pretty quickly. I wasn't quite satisfied with something, and so I fooled around with first raising the pole piece under the G course. That was close, but no cigar. So I lowered that pole piece back to where it was originally, and raised up the treble end of the neck pick up, and lowered the bridge pickup a little, too. Better. But the G course still sounds a little weak, to me. More fooling around here. (I'm having fun. How come it took me so long to discover all this world of electric guitars generally, and Rickenbackers particularly?)

JimK

[JakeK]

The best pickups ever, I feel, are the "hot" 12k toasters. The best of both worlds, I say!

[kiramdear]

The best pickups ever, I feel, are the "hot" 12k toasters. The best of both worlds, I say!

I hope to give you a yay or nay on that very soon.

When I got my 430, I replaced the foam pads and got the p'up heights right, and that made her sound perfect. On my 320, I've never touched anything in the setup since I got her. Don't mess around with a good thing, I say.

[pacealot]

Somewhere in between the two extremes has been best for me and guitar toasters. I unwound the hot toasters that came on my '97 V64 almost immediately after getting it, as it was too muddy out of the box for me (and I had just discovered the wonders of the internet and that little unwinding "secret"). But for all these years of using it, the bridge pickup was always just a bit too thin and squeaky, so last year, I freed up another hot toaster (from my 4001V63) and unwound it slightly, down to around just under 10K as I recall, and it now seems to be the best of both worlds. The neck pickup is still the same at roughly 7K-ish, and has always sounded lovely. If I were to do anything, I might knock a few hundred more turns off the treble p/u, but that's really just nitpicking!

I've never had the pleasure of a guitar Hi-Gain, but I suspect I'd prefer them in the lower range of winding as well....

[Clint]

Hi-Gains rule!

[badeggs]

There's also the "transitional" Hi-Gains:

These early Hi-Gains use screw-shafts for pole pieces (no button tops). Used sporadically from about 1969-1972.

They're sick pickups...and quite hard to find.