Rickenbacker 420 Mods - Should I?

[aoresteen]

I have a 1971 Mapleglo Ric 420. The pick guard needs replacement due to cracks in it. Easy enough - I'll send it to Pick Guardian and Tony will make a new one.

Here's my dilemma. I bought this 420 as the 420 Mapleglo was my first decent guitar that I got as a Senior in HS back 1970. I hacked up my first 420 by installing 3 Gibson humbuckers (ugh! ) on it and in 1975 traded it in on a Gibson '73 Les Paul Deluxe. Both are long gone - never to be seen again!

In May of 2000 after about a two year search I found a 1971 Mapleglo 420 that I bought (my current one) for sentimental reasons. Since then I've rarely played it - it stays in the case most of the time as the single middle pickup is a bit limited in it's tones. I'd like to play it more so I was considering doing what Georg Harrison did to his '62 425 - add a pickup.

George basically changed his 425 into a 450 two pickup. What I'm thinking about is to add TWO more toasters (7k) making it a triple pickup guitar, kinda like John Lennon's 325.

I'm not aware of any 400 series guitar have three pickups - perhaps there were some. With three pickups I'd get the widest variety of tones and I would play it a lot more often. But then it would no longer be a 420. I have no plans to sell it anytime soon so I'm not worried about 'resale' value. I would have to route the body but that I can do - here's an example of my routing skills:

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topi ... -townsend/

So what do you think? Should I add two more toasters to my 420 or leave it be? Thanks!

[iiipopes]

Leave it be and purchase a 600-series guitar. You can modify a new guitar easily and without stigma because they are still being made. Please don't change the 420. And the only pictures I've ever seen of George playing his 420 (which was originally called a 425, in spite of having no vibrato) was with the single pickup. I believe it was changed after he gave it away, in spite of some statements to the contrary.

[aoresteen]

Leave it be and purchase a 600-series guitar. You can modify a new guitar easily and without stigma because they are still being made. Please don't change the 420. And the only pictures I've ever seen of George playing his 420 (which was originally called a 425, in spite of having no vibrato) was with the single pickup. I believe it was changed after he gave it away, in spite of some statements to the contrary.

George gave his 425 to In the late 1960s or early 1970s to George Peckham with the condition it never be modified. The addition of the 2nd pickup had to have been done while George H owned it, not later. Peckham sold it in 1990 via auction for £56,500 and it had two pickups at that time. Last year the 425/450 sold for $657,000 at auction! The owner as far as I can tell was not identified.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-18/g ... on/5460466

http://www.guitaraficionado.com/george- ... -week.html

The Julien's auction notes clearly state that the guitar was modified BEFORE Peckham was given it:

http://www.julienslive.com/view-auction ... d%2F124%2F

"Prior to Packham receiving the guitar it was modified from its original state with an additional pick up added. Peckham kept the guitar in the condition he received it with no further modifications."

There is financial liability for an auction house's representation of goods being auctioned, especially for a guitar that was expected to sell for over $400,000. They had to have the description correct.

Interestingly, they also quote an exert from the book "Excerpt from the upcoming revised book Beatles Gear by Andy Babiuk"

"The modified Rickenbacker was sold at auction in September 1999 at Christie’s, and the purchaser contacted Harrison, enquiring about the guitar and its alterations. Harrison confirmed that it was indeed the guitar that he had given to Peckham – but he did not remember making the modifications to the guitar. Peckham on the other hand said that modified Rickenbacker was the way he received the guitar from Harrison."

They clearly believe that the modifications were done before Peckham got the guitar.

I've never seen a photo of George with the 425 modded with two pickups either. Peckham browed the 425 from George to use on the British music show "Top of the Pops." with his band The Fourmost. It would be interesting if the tapes of that show could be found as that would prove when the 2nd pickup was added. I wonder if the tapes exist or still photos from the show. George later gave the 425 to Peckham.

BTW, I have a 620/12 and a 650D already.

[8mileshigher]

Good advice there from iiipopes.
I would not recommend to take a router to an old guitar.

[Medicus1963]

Hi,
I recently got a Jetglo 420 from 1967 Looks like Georges guitars brother!! It was already routed for a second Pickup. Now it has the Original Layout with one Pickup and of course new Pickguard. Would not change that ! Maybe i can get some 60s Toasters and make one Pickguard with two Pickups ! The 420 makes it easy to interchange ! What do you think of this idea ?

Greetings

Peter

[Rubsoul]

Good advice there from iiipopes.
I would not recommend to take a router to an old guitar.

I also personally would not alter a vintage guitar.

[iiipopes]

Thanks for the enlightenment. I wish somebody could find a picture of the guitar in George's hands after the mods.

[aoresteen]

Thanks all!

Well, for now the router is safely back in it's case. I'm going to use my 1995 Epiphone S-310 that I call "The Rickster" instead of modding the 420. She has a Ric humbucker at the bridge, a vintage toaster in the middle with a '99 Epiphone mini-bucker at the neck.





Sounds great & is fun to play. I need to swap the stings for some flatwounds. My other thought is to mod a Squier Stagemaster NLT to have three toasters. They look like this:



Or a hardtail Rally model:



Thoughts?