Brand new Rick 360/6! pickup question

chim · Post by **chim** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 4:35 am

The guitar is a Mapleglo 360/6, and I absolutely love it. Ive never held a guitar more inspiring to me.

Quick question though, when switched to the neck pickup, it seems my High E string is a little more quiet than the rest of the strings. What is the correct way to address this problem? I think I need to raise the pickup on that side, should i just get a phillips screwdriver and untighten the three screws on the right side of the pickup?

Thanks a bunch guys

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:50 am

I have the same issue with my 330. E-string is pretty durned weak. Except on mine, it's more the bridge pup. I never, ever use any bridge pickup soloed so it's not a huge deal for me.

Apparently, it's an issue with the construction of the pickup. It *is* repairable. Do a search in the tech help board.

Options:
1) Open heart surgery on the pickup - this involves deconstructing the whole thing short of unwinding it.

2) Replacement - if you want to try toasters or humbuckers, this might be a good time

3) adjust your picking technique and use a compressor

4) adjust the pole piece. Again, search the tech forum here.

5) TRY raising the treble side of the pickup normally. . . but I suspect this will raise the B string (which is very loud on my 330) nearly as much as the e and cancel out any benefits.

Then again. . .you could have a completely different problem than mine - hope this helps. Mark Arnquist is a tech who is familiar with this issue and can guide you through it. . .unfortunately I no longer have his e-mail address.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:01 am

Mark is changing to this address in the next few days.

[email protected]

By the way, welcome to the forum Chim.

chim · Post by **chim** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:39 pm

this is definitely strange. so do you think raising the pickup a little will help things? I tried it just a tad and it seemed to have boosted the volume a little. I'm a little sad that its a construction issue though; i have a rick 650D that is absolutely perfect that i bought straight from the factory. Interestingly, the tone i get when i play a chord sounds extra cool with the high E not taking over the mids, but I digress....

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 1:37 pm

Well, it's fixable relatively easily. . . not a fatal flaw. But yeah, I know what you mean.

chim · Post by **chim** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:28 pm

So this is definitely a pickup problem? its just ever so SLIGHTLY quieter. Do you think I should use musiciansfriend 45 day guarantee and return it and hope for another guitar with a better pickup? Or should I attempt to fix it.

chim · Post by **chim** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:38 pm

i really don't want to return it. I live in Houston, TX, if anybody here is a rickenbacker expert that can help me out. I'll be sending an email to arnquist shortly

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:09 pm

Question: have you tried to change the string? They'll much more like to go dead than for the pickup to be defective. You might also check both the nut and bridge slot to make sure the string isn't rattling around loose a bit or a piece of crud wrapped around it. Finally, raising the pickup is always the preferred (and simplest) way to troubleshoot and/or adjust this.

Lastly, wouldn't more logical advice be to contact our customer service ([email protected]) first as opposed to a third party?

chim · Post by **chim** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:15 pm

I haven't changed the strings yet. I have a set of flatwounds, but I have not put them on. The strings sound fine on the bridge pickup, its just that while on the neck pickup the G string sounds really loud while the high E string is a tad muted in volume. The bridge pickup is smooth all the way through.

I'll fire off a email to customer service, it never crossed my mind. I think I'm going to bring it to a shop to have them look at it.

Thanks a bunch John for your reply

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:41 am

"Lastly, wouldn't more logical advice be to contact our customer service ([email protected]) first as opposed to a third party?"

Thanks for the e-mail address!

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:01 am

William,

When I switched to a wound 3rd (G) that string quieted down quite a bit. Now the B string stands out like a sore thumb unless I'm careful. Wish somebody made a wound B

aristeas · Post by **aristeas** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:56 pm

I have the same problem with my 330 - the high E string just doesn't keep up with the rest on the bridge pup. It's like that with new strings too. I'm picking differently to compensate but it's still an annoyance. Is there a way to raise the pole piece on the high gains without mangling them?

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:19 pm

Sergio Silva has something on this in the tech forum. Supposedly you can twist them up with a pair of plyers and a counterclockwise motion. I have not tried this yet.

I took JH's advice and contacted the customer service website. GOt a response within about 20 minutes too

aristeas · Post by **aristeas** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 4:01 pm

Correction to my earlier post. My 330 has the same (quiet E string) problem on the neck pickup, not the bridge. And I think I may have found the reason.

The neck pickup sits flush against the heel of the neck on the top side (EAD) with only enough room to fit a thumb nail into the gap. On the bottom side (GBE) there is a larger gap - only about 2.5mm - but sufficient to skew the pickup. Being slightly skewed means the strings aren't directly over the pole pieces. This doesn't affect the other strings as they are over the body of the pup but when the high E vibrates it's only over the pole piece for part of the time when it's moving - hence the quieter sound.

The bridge pickup is also slightly skewed, but not enough to be a big deal. I've also contacted Jay Crowley at Ric Service and I'll post the outcome when I get it.

chim · Post by **chim** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:10 pm

another question : I plugged into the Rick-O-Sound jack, and I don't have any guitar output if i switch it on neck pickup. It only works on the bridge/middle position. Is this a common occurance? I never use Rick-o-sound anyway, but I was just curious if that jack is wired differently