Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well they work differently. The original has the metal pieces that surround the string. The whole area around the strings is magnetized and you get a warmer tone.Yes, the reissue has more output.Lollar claims he will get the best of both worlds from his pickup. We will see.

I think he'll sell the **** out of them unless Rickenbacker produces more reissues for individual sale.

Here's an example of a Rick Turner horseshoe pickup. This particular one was on Ebay in early January.

I have had a V63 reissue horseshoe, plus a beater V63 (damaged by previous owner) that is in for repair, and presently have a C64S MG.
Personal opinion is that the C64S MG sounds more like a real horseshoe to me, and that's my .02 cents worth on that.

FYI Bobampeg I have not taken off the pickguard to look and see if there is a cap in there but it sure sounds like it, especially when compared to my 4003. I just don't like taking them apart until there is a good reason to.

As far as the Jason Lollar reissue I have corresponded with Jason at length, and provided him with photos, measurements (both physical and electrical) from my N.O.S. pair:
see this thread:

"The Vibrola" Rickenbacker Technical Forum"
N.O.S. Holy Grail

The only thing I have not done is to physically place it in his hands, still considering having him do a re-charge for me but......

I have decided that they are going to go into a C64 FG, which only makes sense to me as I would then have as close as I will ever come to the original and present states of Sir Paul's Rickenbacker. And as a bonus one with flats the other one with roundwounds.

Which means it is possible that there may be a reissue C64 horseshoe for sale here some day, after all it would be just an extra.

I,d go along with Eden in that the originals are probably too weak for most practical players here, and the new pick ups cover far more sound today. But if you like that 60,s subtle warm sound...That Turner re-issue looks far too perfect for my liking!! I quite like the old aesthetically challenged shoes on my 64...one side sits considerably higher than the other. No chance of confusing them with todays versions...

Steve,
I take all my basses apart within the first few day after recieving them, why? I just have to know those things, and you never know what you're going to find inside. I take SVT's apart for fun. (it's not really fun) but it's fun after you get it apart. If you have a cap inside you will get almost no bottom or mid out of that pickup, will be all sharp treble and with both volumes on full the bass pickup will be the predominant one.
Last night for example I took the truss rods out of one of my 4001's and put them in from the body end like an early 4003 just to see how it would work. I had two problems, one I didn't have a wrench that would fit the small nuts and two the ends of the rods would not allow the pickup back in. To do this properly and I think it would work (idea from JH) would be to get bigger nuts and cut off the ends of the truss rods. I might try it again with the proper parts when I'm back in the USA.

How very interesting. A few years ago I did this very mod on my 1976 and 1980 4001s, and on a 1980 4001 I once owned - with excellent results. Yes, the neck pickup on all three had to undergo a little modification too, and on both the 1980's a little (very little) routing was required between the bass pickup cavity and the fretboard. Also, two narrow, shallow recesses had to be cut on the pickguard underside to accomodate the top of the truss-rod ends.

Good, I may have some questions for you when I get back. I'm going to try to hit Las Malvinas this week to look for that wire, as soon as my monthly pittance comes in.

Many thanks, Bob.

I guess a couple of good things to say about the old horses is that they blend nicely with the toaster, and they sound different every time you plug it in!

Now here's my thing, I'm planning my project and what I want to do is have one pickup, the horsehoe, get a gold pickguard a truss cover(no name of course)made and have all black hardware on a black bass.

Problem is that the horseshoe would be silver colored.You think I could just paint it black?Use a black ring from a 4003?

You could have it powder-coated

What does powder coating entail? Who does that kind of work?

look under industrial coatings or call a auto paint shop that does custom work.

For me, since I'm cheap, I used acrylic enamel and oven cured the coating for the shoes.

Powder coating is a very simple process: your parts are first beadblasted then hung on a rack that has an electrical charge, and fine powder is applied and then it's baked for 10 or 15 minutes depending on the coating. Then you have an extremely durable finish. Jared's method of oven baking works as well.

Don't try to powdercoat horseshoes that are intended to be magnetized or used as polepieces. The powder being sprayed is fused to the metal with heat. That heat will absolutely kill the magnetic properties of the horseshoe forever.

I can think of two alternate ways. If it's raw steel, that is, no existing plating, then a rust converter coating is the way to go. It makes the surface turn to a black, shiny magnetite surface that'll never rust or corrode. I use this down right on the ocean with good results and it's used a lot in ships these days as primer, instead of the old red stuff. If it's plated, use epoxy spray paint out of a can. With care it can be almost as smooth as black chrome and certainly smoother than powder coat. That's how I did the prototype BT parts and some of those guitars are still in service today, looking good after, what 15 years or so?