Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A typical single coil is heavy on the low end and the high end of frequencies .
The more windings , the hotter the pickup , but you lose treble as the output increases.

With a humbucking pickup ,with coils that are side by side (like a Gibson type) you get a pickup with a noticable midrange bump or peak .Because of this the treble and bass are not as pronounced.

To try and counteract this , 'underwinding ' coils is done to achieve a clearer tone /more treble.
However , this just asks for whimpy sound .That is why you may have a High Gain pickup with more guts to it .

Another case in point ...Gibson makes their standard issue Humbucking /PAF style pickup , they also make a P-90 'Soap bar ' pickup ...they have about the same output , but the P-90 does not sound anything like the humbuckers.And some of them are 'hotter' .

BUT!!!! They also (as is typical of ALL single coils) attract hum from your source of electricity.
Whether it is 50 or 60 cycles , you will hear this .

I hear the phrase , "Wow , these single coils are really quiet !"
Well I hate to tell you but they are not !
The whole circuit might be shielded well , but a single coil does not have any hum cancelling properties -no matter who makes it .

Stacked pickups that fit into a single coil slot are just a variation on the two coil idea .
They counter act the 50 or 60 cycles from your electrical supply .They just happen to fit into a single coil cavity or pickguard.

I have often wondered if Rick has ever contemplated making a stacked Toaster pickup ?

OK, having digested that (which all makes perfect sense), let me ask this: How would a 1M pot affect the tone of the HB-1? I have heard that it brightens up the sound, although some say it adds hiss.

By the way, thank you folks for all of your help; the world of hopping up and tricking out guitars is new to me, and a fun experiment!

Think of a pot this way ....it opens up like a window to let air in .

A window with two panes that is 2 ft by 2 ft and one pane that opens is a 250K .

A window with two panes that is 2 ft by 2 ft ,and both panes open, is a 500K.

A window that is 4 ft by 4 ft and has 4 panes of glass that all open is a 1 meg pot .

The trick here is this ... how much wind comes into the window?

If you blow the same amount through a tube at the window , the 250 might get all of it , the 500 K would more than likely get all the air that is blown in , but the 1 meg is such a large opening that the area of the window does not have wind coming in to the whole area .

I realize that this is rather abstract , but I don't know how else to illustrate it .

A 1 meg , just opens up so much that at some point it does not do a lot , and seem to take forever to turn on , or it may turn on to full long before you get to "10".

My Combo '56 Combo 400 has a 1 Meg pot.

Many 1950's guitars have 1 Meg pots ...Why?

Many of these same companies made amps , and the volume pots in many guitar maps of the 1950's were in fact 1Meg .
This was a way to make both units work and keep the cost of production down .

Fender and Rickenbacker and others did this , check Valco/Supro out also .

Well, regarding my...er, pot situation*: I think I'll keep it like it is. The guitar sounds great and is definitely different-sounding than my other two Rics.

BTW, the instrument I've been working with is a stripped-down '65 360 O.S., with its original toaster at the neck. Pics, etc. to come.


*I feel a seperate post coming on from this bad reference...better nip it in the bud now.

* What's a nice joint like you doing in a post like this?

Ohhhhhh boy.