1960 4000 bass on the 'bay!!

[jeff_ulmer]

Please do not go destroying rare steel guitars for the pickups! These are hard enought to find as it is. No wonder the prices on used Rics has gone through the roof!

[jwr2]

I think Seth is working for an unnamed collector in California ... the same guy who is buying my 1968 4001 ...

[marc61]

Sorry Jeff. It's the only way to get magnetized shoes.

[ken_swearingen]

may sound like an ignorant question,why cant the shoes from a v63 be magnitized metal is metal right the shoes dont look that much different.ted this may be a question for you.

[jwr2]

I used to work for a company that made magnets ... you don't just take iron and steel and magnetize it ... trace metals have to be added in the proper amounts ... for instance alnico magnets have aluminum nickel and cobalt added ... then they are magnetized and heat treated to make them stronger ... magnetizing steel is tricky ... it doesn't like to hold a magnetic field ... that is why the reissue horseshoe has alnico slugs in it ...

[jnbass]

are the slugs built into the bobbin?

[jwr2]

I have no idea what you guys mean when you say "bobbin" ... isn't that something from a sewing machine? ... sorry couldn't resist that one ...

but ric high gain pickups have a ceramic magnet under the coils and then they have iron slugs through the center of the coils and make contact with the magnet ...

the toaster has 6 alnico magnets and no ceramic base magnet and no iron slugs ...

the re-issue horseshoe has no ceramic magnet and no iron slugs but it has 4 cylindrical alnico magnets and a horseshoe ... the horseshoe modifies the magnet field, but it is not the soure of said field ...

by bobbin do you guys mean the mushroom shaped iron slug from the high gain?

when you place an iron slug on a bar magnet it focuses the magnetic field to the top of that slug ... also iron is a better magnetic field conductor than steel ...

[jps]

A bobbin is the plastic structure that the wire is wrapped around.