Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Are the standard high gain pickups on Rickenbackers 330 / 360 the same? Or is there a difference between neck & bridge?

I have a pair taken from a 330 & can't tell them apart is there any way of telling they look the same to me!

Can I check them a multimeter how do I do it?

This question is of interest to me as well. In my situation I have a new HB pickup to replace one which doesn't work, but wonder if I have a bridge instead of a neck pickup as the connecting wires are not long enough. How do you tell the difference between neck and bridge pickups or is there any ? (In my case the guitar is 10 years old and the model is not in production anymore, so maybe I have to modify the newer pickup leads to make them longer).

I can understand the confusion. On Mike Parks' site there is only one part number for the high-gain pickup (http://www.the-music-connection.com/ricpart.htm#pickups):

00020 Standard Ric single coil bridge/middle/neck chrome

but if one follows MP's link to the pdf file at the RIC site (http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/gpickups.pdf)
there are separate part numbers for bass and treble pickups.

the difference in the Ric neck and bridge high gain pickups is the spacing of the pole pieces ... as far as I know there is no other difference ... now for the bass the bridge pickup has a bigger magnet which makes it hotter and louder ... and the bass neck pickup is the same as the guitar high gains except it has 4 pole pieces ...

Brian: Increase the length of the leads.
John: There is no planned difference in the KOhm ratings of the modern high gain pickups that I have heard of.
Gary: Point taken.

Jeff is right. The only difference is the spacing of the pole pieces. If you look at them side by side, it is easy to tell which is which.

Right, the one with the longer lead 11" has the pole pieces closer together, outside one is 3/16ths from the edge I assume this is the neck pickup.

The other one has a 9" lead with the pole pieces 1/16th from the edge I take it this is the bridge pickup?

Just checked my 88' 330 Ruby 6 string that's the same as above.

BTW the pickup pictures on the Rick site above show the same pickup for both bridge & neck!

Me think there no difference is

Wow, John, you have an eighty-eight foot Rickenbacker?

Where the heck do you buy strings for that thing?

When a string breaks, has it ever decapitated anyone nearby?

Sorry that should be inches not feet! We are just getting used to metric over here......taught imperial at school...LOL!

I think Paul was teasing you over your natation of 1988

Doh! ....I'm starting to lose the plot!

Don't worry too much about that, John. It's a long, slow process - I'm nearly finished with it!!