Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I had some reissue toasters that were both 6.22k. I've since had those rewound to 12k toasters but they aren't in anything yet. Most of the reissue toasters that I've seen are closer to the 7.4k most often quoted.

Greg

I wonder if the very early reissues were around the 6k range and then RIC standardized to the 7.4K winding?

Could be since those ones I had that were lower were early reissues. I like hotter ones myself.

Greg

soundmasterg wrote:Could be since those ones I had that were lower were early reissues. I like hotter ones myself.

Greg

Yeah, the 7.4k reissues just cut it with the RIHS pups at 11.8k.

On a 21 fret guitar the 7.4k's work quite well in the neck with a 12k toaster in the bridge, but having a 7.4k in the bridge doesn't balance out too well. It seems just fine on the 24 fret guitars though.

I'll be experimenting with some hotter toaster in the neck position on my bass one of these days too.

Greg

My '92 360/12V64 (bought used) came with "de-wound" high gain toasters in it. I forget what they measured out at, but the neck pickup quit working so I bought a pair of scatterwound Toasters from POTR. One of them was DOA due to the one wire on the back being broken off - note to POTR: Don't ship pickups in plastic bags in a soft bubble envelope...

Anyway, I soldered that wire back on and everything's fine now. My bridge pickup measures at 7.35K and the neck at 7.33K - close enough for me.

Just saying take a good look at how the wires are soldered on - I was ready to send that DOA unit back until I took a good look at it. The solder break was almost microscopic but it was enough to break the circuit.

You were lucky! The negaive terminal does not take kindly to having the broken wire resoldered to it!

When adding a reissue 7.4K neck toaster to a 70's 4001 with 1/2" spacing, I have to say I don't like the sound. Too soft and all bow, bow, bow - missing the higain's mid bite and clank. I love the look though and am willing to work on the sound. Also the oft mentioned difference in lower output from the toaster ain't working for me. I have raised the neck and lowered the bridge to the practical limits and still am not satisfied with the balance. BTW the .0047 cap is bypassed giving the treble pickup some increased bass output. I see that Sergio overwinds Toasters to 12K to good results in guitars. However the stock 4001 bridge hi-gain comes in at around 6.8K. Would this make the neck too overpowering and make the bass lose more treble bite? Would overwinding the Toaster just make the softer low frequency attack more pronounced? I am looking for classic Rick bass balls and clank, with vintage bass asthetics. Any suggestions?

Replace the poles in a new 11.4k high gain with set screws and put a toaster cover on it.

ricosound wrote:I am looking for classic Rick bass balls and clank, with vintage bass asthetics. Any suggestions?

Think of the toaster as something to fill out the sound. Start with the bridge pickup and dial in the toaster to taste.

I guess a specific question now that I think of it would be does overwinding change the resonant peak and therefore the sound charecteristics of the pickup? I know magnetic pickups are a black art, but what comes into play more, coil winding or magnet type and design. Seems the best approach would be to debutton and toaster cover a late model higain.

Sergio - Using the existing Toaster as a base, is there a combination of winding or magnet replacement that would get the desired result? There was a discussion awhile back that debated whether the 1/2" vs 1" spacing makes much difference in sound other than the elimination of some dead spots on the neck. I didn't notice much. Now Toaster vs higain, that was huge. I would describe it as Toaster = soft and scooped, higain = hard and detailed.

More wire, all other things staying equal will increase inductance, increase DC and AC resistance, and increase the Q. What this means for the sound is that the increased DC resistance will choke the highs a bit, and give a more powerful but midrangy pickup.

What I'd probably do is to take an older button top high gain, take out the poles and put in jazz bass magnets, like Jeff Rath does, and then put a toaster cover on. I've got one that he did for me that is the ~9k high gains and it sounds fantastic, although I'm matching it up with a newer 14k button top 4003 pickup. If you're trying to match it up to the horseshoe, then you may want to use a different version of the high gain.

Greg

No horseshoe, just a plain old 6.8K '77 single coil uncapped. Like Jeff says, I have found that even though the neck has lower output, the blended position sounds better this way. So I lowered the neck and raised the bridge and I get better results. I don't see any usable sound from the Toaster soloed anyway, so I can switch between the treble bite of the soloed bridge or fuller blend of the middle position. I just used to use the bassy sound of the soloed neck, but it's no big deal. I guess the difference in switched volume was a bigger concern than necessary.

A "high-gain toaster" pickup is the way to go, really. Meaning? A high-gain in toaster's clothing Seriously though, the neck pickup (a high-gain toaster built by me) on my 1970 21 fretter is constructed thusly: a bobbin having four adjustable polepieces (Allen socket set screws) using two moderately strong bar magnets for gauss, and a coil wound to IIRC roughly 7.0 K give me the best of both worlds.
Using the existing toaster? Hmm... Too much trouble. It's easier to find a post-1990 4003 neck high-gain pickup and to mod it so as to fit in a toaster cover.

Sergio, have you ever tried the Alnico bar magnets from a P-90 pickup (or copy) as a base to build a pickup for a Rick?
You could sort of make somthing that looks like a high gain (for those who want that look) but have the subtlies of Alnico.
Transparent, but still a warm output, and great control as it gets overdriven...
Could work on guitar or bass...
emac.