Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Folkie wrote:It turns out that Pick of the Ricks has a new 360/12C63 scheduled to arrive in December. I have my eye on that one. After all, what better Christmas gift than a George Harrison model?

I bought that one......

What do you think of it, Bob?

I advise ditching the cap; the first time I plugged in my C63 and selected just the bridge p/up, I thought there was something wrong. with the cap removed, the guitar sings!!!!!

Paul,

Did you try backing off on the treble on your amp or disabling the treble boost on your JangleBox? How did the guitar sound with both neck and bridge pickups and the cap installed?

Robert

IIRC, Paulie does not own a Janglebox. Instead, he owns a MXR Dyna Comp. I wonder where he got it from...

Just thought I'd mention that I'm the one who bought that 360C63 that arrived in December.,......love it......

Folkie wrote:Paul,
Did you try backing off on the treble on your amp or disabling the treble boost on your JangleBox? How did the guitar sound with both neck and bridge pickups and the cap installed?

Robert

Thanks for the tip, but I don't even own a Janglebox; never saw the need to buy one.
I don't use a ton of treble on my amp. I never understood the thinking behind cranking the treble on an amp, especially with a Rick.
The cap sucks tone and output. With the cap engaged and the bridge pickup only selected the pickup output is low and horribly thin, as though there's a short (based on experience). George Harrison and Mitch Easter both made observations similar to mine. Harrison generally used the middle position on his 12, and Mich Easter said he couldn't use his bridge p/up solo until he bridged/jumped the cap after reading about the process on this forum. I removed the .0047 cap and the bridge pickup sings without it!

Pete Townshend, Carl Wilson, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell all use the middle position on their 12-strings, too.

My 360/12 is not a C63, but an earlier V64, and therefore was made without the cap. I use the middle position most, but the pickup soloed doesn't sound thin at all.

I use the neck and bridge pickups together about 95% of the time, so I'm not too worried about treble overload. Even if that combination gets too harsh, I can always back down on the fifth knob to even things out.

Folkie wrote:I use the neck and bridge pickups together about 95% of the time, so I'm not too worried about treble overload. Even if that combination gets too harsh, I can always back down on the fifth knob to even things out.

Evidently there's some sort of compression effect or something like that, by employing the two pickups together with the blend knob, when the cap's in play; it's probably best for the sake of versatility, to install a push/pull mod, but in my case, I needed to use the bridge pickup for gigs immediately, and knowing my penchant for inadvertently knocking this or that knob on the guitar, could easily see myself activating and deactivating the knob randomly, so I unsoldered the cap, soldered in a short length of wire, and bagged the cap with the guitar's "case candy" for the future.

paologregorio wrote:...I unsoldered the cap, soldered in a short length of wire, and bagged the cap with the guitar's "case candy" for the future.

It's even easier to just solder a piece of wire across the cap so the cap is still in place; all one has to do is cut and remove the wire to restore the use of the cap.

jps wrote:

paologregorio wrote:...I unsoldered the cap, soldered in a short length of wire, and bagged the cap with the guitar's "case candy" for the future.

It's even easier to just solder a piece of wire across the cap so the cap is still in place; all one has to do is cut and remove the wire to restore the use of the cap.

So I hear. At the time, I couldn't remember how to do that, or find the post with the instructions. . . oopsie.

paologregorio wrote:I advise ditching the cap; the first time I plugged in my C63 and selected just the bridge p/up, I thought there was something wrong. with the cap removed, the guitar sings!!!!!

Paul,

I want to apologize for not taking your post as seriously as I should have. On receiving my C63, I immediately decided I really disliked the cap, because it seems to suck all the tone out of the guitar. All I get is ear-piercing treble and tons of loud rattles with my beloved JangleBox engaged. I'm currently having my tech disable the cap (He told me he can always reconnect it if it comes to that). Also, the guitar needs some setup attention, and my tech is going to string it with TI Flats. I hope the change of strings, combined with ditching the cap, and a good setup, will tame some of the harshness and the rattles.

Robert