Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

John, is the horseshoe pickup original? I thought they were gone by '69?

leftybass wrote:

thb_bassman wrote:Nice, John!
What do you have there?

1969 4001 LH, Mike.

I affectionately call it, 'mine'.

The name fits it perfectly!
Congratulations! Absolutely a beauty, a lefty, and all yours!
And it must be rare among the rare, too. I don't recall seeing or hearing of many '69s

jps wrote:John, is the horseshoe pickup original? I thought they were gone by '69?

No Jeff....You are right in that they were gone by '69---at least the evidence points to that. I am pretty certain it would have had an early high-gain there from the factory. It has a mid to late-80s h/s now....I am just as interested in why it's there and how long....IMO a while....probably bought new in the 80s for the bass.

It looks good there; I would just keep it on the bass.

brycycle wrote:

rickfan60 wrote:So i'm a *^%#*@$%, am i Wints? in that case, i want my money back .

*^%#*@$%, = Great Guy!

My Feb 69 has it's original horseshoes, and I mean original, not from a lapsteel, but the Dec 68 has a hi gain. As ever YMMV...

It's all good...

Andy, is there a difference between original and lap shoes from the same period? Shape?

They are exactly the same John, which is why you can drop them straight into a bass from a lap steel.

wints wrote:They are exactly the same John, which is why you can drop them straight into a bass from a lap steel.

+1

I did a project thread on how to build you own horseshoe pickup back in about 2004 but it apparently did not make the trip to the new forum program. Here is a picture of the nearly finished pickup.

Thanks Andy and Ted. The two sets I've got from laps are more flattened from the pic Ted showed, and are both even in height above the coil. I was curious and asked because I wondered if the bass ones had the rise on top and not flatter.

One of my sets is from my '62 lap steel, and the other set from a homemade lap I bought that was made from Rick parts. Unfortunately that one had a coil that was open so I'd have to rewind the 8 pole coil to use it.

Also, in case anyone is concerned about raping my '62, I put a bass higain magnet under the pickup coil and a bass chrome plastic cover on the lap and it sounds amazingly like the horsey magnets did. Now if I was any good at playing it....

rickfan60 wrote:I did a project thread on how to build you own horseshoe pickup back in about 2004 but it apparently did not make the trip to the new forum program. Here is a picture of the nearly finished pickup.

assembly-wo-sm.jpg

Aww, man!
I'd sure like to read that, Ted, and I'm sure many others would. Any chance you could re-do the highlights for the new forum?

Sure. At the risk of angering the ghost of Jerry Byrd I can repost the pics and some instructions. I made two of those pickups and sold them both. A while later I was asked by the purchaser of the first one to make another. I had the materials but was reluctant to do it. The thought of vandalizing another 50's vintage lap steel just did not appeal. In the end I really regretted it because the one he wanted required me to disassemble a transition high gain (ouch). After all was said and done he claimed the pickup did not work properly and has bad-rapped me here about it ever since. But that is another story.

John - In my project thread I strongly suggested using the leftover magnet from the bass to make the lap steel work again. I am glad you did that. While not period correct it does prevent an otherwise fine instrument from being useless.

rickfan60 wrote:John - In my project thread I strongly suggested using the leftover magnet from the bass to make the lap steel work again. I am glad you did that. While not period correct it does prevent an otherwise fine instrument from being useless.

Ted, I had very strong qualms against taking shoes off a lap. It all started after I had listened to David Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name" again and I've always loved both the album and the steel work on it. I found a '62 Electro lap auction and when it did not sell, contacted the owner and made a deal for his asking price shipped. Then reality set in when I tried to learn to make it sing. It sat for a couple weeks and then the devil took me and I pulled the shoes and made a horsey for my '91 4003MG BT bass I never really bonded with. After that change and putting in a '73 neck higain this bass is now one I both love the tone of and the feel. Since I still wanted to play the lap, putting a bridge higain magnet under its coil seemed the natural thing to do. More than satisfactory. and assuaged most all the guilt.

wints wrote:

brycycle wrote:

rickfan60 wrote:So i'm a *^%#*@$%, am i Wints? in that case, i want my money back .

*^%#*@$%, = Great Guy!

My Feb 69 has it's original horseshoes, and I mean original, not from a lapsteel, but the Dec 68 has a hi gain. As ever YMMV...

It's all good...

I guess that this could mean that my '69 (April) could have had a horseshoe in it rather than a high-gain, but I have no way of knowing really.....ymmv a lot...there aren't any new screw holes for the surround....

Didn't Jeff Rath's '68 have a horseshoe with a high gain style surround?