Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Yes, horseshoes are pretty... pretty hard to play with them in the way.

Horseshoe, like the Pickup Cover is the ideal place to pivot your palm with a pick, or rest your thumb if you're using fingers.

I dig the qualities of both the high gains and the horseshoes within their own respective merits, but I think a point that doesn't get brought up very often is the fact that the HS pickups and toasters were designed to compliment each other in the creation of a uniform tone. The original sound of these two pickups with the .0047 cap on the HS is what created the unmistakable vintage tone. This is why my 1968 4001 is my favorite to record with. It just sounds better to my ear than post HS 4001/4003 basses. The tonal quality of the vintage pickups vs the repros isn't necessarily what I'd describe as night & day on an individual basis, but when played in unison at vol pots on full, there's a unique tone there that can't be nailed with the newer pickups.

my old 68 was the same way ... the horseshoe and toaster and capacitor were a nice combination ... but when I put 2 4003 high gains in the 68 it really came alive ... it had balls of steel and kicked but in a way it never could with the old pickups ... part of the magic of t a 68 4001 is the wood and the construction as well ... those thin necks really resonated superbly ... but I never could get my 68 neck to flatten out like a modern 4003 or 4004 neck does ...

I think someone is dreaming here!

Jeff - good point about the wood & construction.

Sidebar - I hope you kept the old '68 pickups just for integrity's sake.

ya I put them back in and sold the bass ... I only play 5 stringers these days ... but if I kept it I would have left the 4003 pickups in it ... it freakin screamed ...

HA HA! Right on. My '79 4001 JG is like that. It's got the V63 reissue pickups with the HS rated at 14.5k. I'm not sure what the toaster is rated at, but it's a good balance. Plus, I did wiring mods that have made it versatile as heck, too. Series/parallel, phase normal/reversed, and .0047 cap in/bypass.

I love the Toaster / Horseshoe combo, and have no issues with the shoe in the way. I anchor my thumb on it and play between it and the bridge.

"More likely, with the reissue HS selling for $450 consistently, one would think that it's only a matter of time before they come back to the RIC catalog."

I wonder what the price may be when they do come back out?

As I hit the "buy it now" button, someone beat me to it on this one last night.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2004-Rickenbacker-Horseshoe-pickup-very-hard-to-find_W0QQitemZ150041958007QQihZ005QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hard luck Dave that was a good BIN. The H/S on my very early v63 prototype that I sold was magnetic and much thinner than the one shown on this auction. The reason I sold the bass was because of the H/S. Really liked it's sound, really hated playing the bass with it in place.I play finger style and on my 4001 I play right over the top of the back pick up. No can do with a H/S.

I was waiting for that horseshoe to come up with a BIN. It was obvious that with the C64 listed w/o it, that it was being listed. $350 is not a bad price. They usually sell for around $100 more...