Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I took it down to 8.4K. Now it's much more focused / sharper, more so I think than that 8K high gain I had and I think the RI HS is a bit “clearer” (hard to say without a side by side comparison). In my ears it now complements the toaster much better than it did at 11K. And of course, the strength of the output signal is a better matches. Btw, I use a 10nF inline cap (compromise between 4.7nF and bypass) and a 22nF tone cap - sound very good soloed with the tone all the way down.

Thanks, Geir! Pics!!!

They ended up slightly more opened than needed, but it’s ok.

IF you want to close them up a bit just gently squeeze them together with a bench vise; of course, you should put something in the vise to protect the finish of the shoes. What you did looks fine, although it does look like the E-A shoe can be closed up a bit, or is it just that the pickup is adjusted at an angle relative to the surface of the body with the E-A side higher than the G-D side?

Yes, the A-E side is 1 mm higher. Looks worse in the photos. But yes, next time I go under the hood I’ll take it off and close the shoes a little bit.

Actually, having the shoes different is accurate on a lot of horseshoe pickups.

Thanks for the report, Geir, and it is what I was expecting. Now I need to work up the courage to unwind the one on my '04 retro project. The RIHS is a LOT hotter than the scatterwound 7.4k toaster in the neck....

I don't know why but the HS just looks beautiful and completes that perfect Rick "look" somehow.
In the end it seems the HG and HS are both great designs, regardless.

anyone know when the experimentation with the treble higain started...and i'm not talking about the use of toasters in the treble position. has anyone seen an experimental transition from horseshoe to higain ?

All I've seen are the green higains from late '68 through '71.