Re: New Rick owner...need some help from you experienced guys!!
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:10 am
Fantastic. That's really helpful. Thanks so much!!! I shall begin the experimentation process tonight!
While I don't have any experience with this configuration on a Rick, I have a MIK Fender Tele with coil-tapped humbuckers in both positions, and find that the difference between the single-coil and humbucker sound is more pronounced in the bridge position, although it's still noticeable and useful on the neck p/u. I expect that you'd get a different range of tones if you put the HB in the bridge -- not necessarily better, but different.Does anyone have any experience switching this pickup configuration to hb in the bridge and the single in the neck? I play mostly church rock in one band and kinda dirty riff rock in the other. I usually try to get a decently thick sound. I am really happy with the way this thing sounds as it is and I could definitely be persuaded to leave it alone, but I am curious if I would benefit from the switch.
Switching the pickups wouldn't be an enormously complicated task, depending on how comfortable you are with a soldering iron. You would just have to be careful to figure out what goes where. Unfortunately, I don't think there is enough slack in the wiring to simply swap the pot positions without having to rewire them.
However, note that Rick Hi-Gains are sold as bridge and neck-specific. I'm not sure exactly what the distinction is -- presumably there difference in the winding, and maybe also some difference in the pole height or spacing. In any case, if you swapped the pickups on your guitar you'd be putting a bridge Hi-Gain in the neck, which would affect the tone, and probably not for the better. I'd be inclined to leave well enough alone.
