Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I recorded the sound of the Scatter Wound 7.4 Kohm toasters on my 24 fret Model 350 this evening. I decided to do this after my interesting discussion with Tony Carey about the differences in tonality of toaster on 21 versus 24 fret Rickenbackers.

This will allow you to hear all seven variations using the modified wiring. The fifth knob controls the volume only of the middle pickup. It has been my perception that the toaster sounds just fine on the 24 fret 350 and I offer the following chording demonstrations as evidence.

The Model 350 is plugged straight into the brilliant chanel of the Voc AC-30 with the bass and treble chicken-head knobs facing one another (that is about 1/4 bass and 3/4 treble. I recorded the output with a condensor microphone of average quality. There are no effects on these recordings.

The results can be heard by visiting the links below.

1. Neck Pickup Only
2. Middle Pickup Only
3. Bridge Pickup Only
4. Neck and Middle Pickups
5. Middle and Bridge Pickups
6. Neck and Bridge Pickups
7. Neck Middle and Bridge Pickups

Just a reminder of the look of the Model 350.

Peter, the color on that guitar looks pretty accurate on my monitor. (Great picture of a beautifully personalized 350, BTW.) Am I imagining things, or is the old pickguard gold much mellower and "sandier" in color than the new color, as seen on the vintage reissues? The guard on my 660-12 before I replaced it, had an almost greenish tone compared with the one on your 350. I know I'm not imagining this...or am I?

Beautiful, Peter!

Peter, the neck/middle and middle/bridge both sound like there is some out of phase. Would you explain a bit more?

You are right Bill. I mentioned before that my 350v63 in the neck/middle combination sounds a little like a Strat in out of phase mode, but without the excessive 'pluckiness'....if that makes sense.

Peter - what a nice looking instrument - I'm green!!

Thanks Michael. It has gone through many transitions. I love natural wood grain but have found that it needs to be dressed up a bit to keep my interest.

Bill: These pickup combinations, to which you refer, do indeed give one the perception of being "out of phase." I can assure you that it is nothing that I did deliberately. I do believe, however, that the secret to unlocking the marvellous tonal potential of three pickup models comes from the isolation of all pickups so that they can be used in variaous combinations, or by themselves. To my way of thinking, Roger McGuinn has been one example of this and the middle pickup disconnect of Lennon another.

To my ear, playing at low volumes at least, there were a couple of changes in wiring that really made a difference with regard to the tonality of my toasters on my Model 350.

To begin, I have all three pickups on a separate volume control which allows for any combination of pickups to be used (see following photo). The stock traditional wiring has the neck and middle pickups together when the switch is in the up position. While this may work well at gigs, it is problematic for me at lower volumes. By using the fifth knob as a volume for the middle pickup, I can turn it off completely and the sound of the remaining neck and bridge pickups, well known to those of the 330, 360 and so on can be achieved. From my perspective, this removes a bassier tonality and adds sparkle to this instrument, particularly at higher volumes. The best part of this rewiring is that it can be returned stock.

You are right, there is an out of phase tonality that I hear with the neck/middle, middle/bridge and neck bridge combinations. Remember with the stock wiring you get bridge, middle bridge or neck/middle options only. While it gives you the classic sound, the most interesting sounds really turn out to be middle/bridge and neck/bridge. The middle alone position is also most interesting.

After making the wiring changes, I still noticed that the sound was a tad bassy at low volumes and so I made changes that were historically used with Tele wiring.

The Model 350 lost high end when its volume was turned down. One fix for this problem is to place a .001 mfd capacitor between the input and the output of the volume pot. These are the two terminals that are not soldered to the pot's top or case. The end result, which I would like to have explained in full to me, is that the sound becomes brighter when you turn the volume down.
I tried the .001 mfd cap on both the neck and bridge pickups and was happy with both results. I may remove the bridge volume cap at some point to evaluate the sound further.

Alternatively, one could I understand change the pots to add a more trebly sound. Going to a higher vlaue potentiometer will add brightness as well.

Here is a photo of the wiring changes that I made under the hood. I hope these comments help. I am certainly no electronics expert.



As I reflect upon those Rickenbacker artists that took the sound of these fine instruments and made it there own, I am reminded that aberration as opposed to convention is what led them to stand out from their peers. John Lennon's use of the toaster sound (middle pickup disconnected by accident or design), Roger McGuinn's Byrd wiring and use of compression, George Harrison's introduction of an electric 12 string to contemporary with the switch in the down position, McCartney's rich Rickenbacker bass tonality played well up the neck, and John Fogerty's addition of the humbucker to the Model 325 to name only a few.

These artists pushed the Rickenbacker envelope and for this reason making modification to these instruments following this tradition seems only natural and fitting to the journey they began.

Peter, this is the sort of thing I love to see but so very seldom do. Thanks a LOT for sharing it with us!

Paul's right...this is great stuff Peter!

Peter,

Are these wiring modifications the same as Glen Lambert was doing to 325c58 wiring harnesses?

Thanks

Joe: No not as far as I understand it. Glenn's work was to convert the new 325C58 to the original two control or four potentiometer wiring. You can see the desription of this here.

Thanks, Peter. I just started connecting the dots with wiring harnesses. I've never talked to anyone who actually used the Lambert mods.

Appreciate the sounds in all the pickup configurations! Cool sounds indeed!