Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey gang. Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, but how hard is it to re-wire a mono guitar for Ric-o-sound output? or is it even possible for an idiot with a soldering iron to do? I'm thinking of the 450/12 in particular. I am willing to sacrifice the mono output. Thanks everybody! -Jason aka J Dog

There is a couple was you could go about doing this.

1. You can buy all new wiring harnesses.

2. You can get the schematics here: http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19502.pdf

and then change the wiring. As you say you are not that great with a soldering iron. So this may be a little difficult to do.

Also depending on what you are shooting for you will end up always having to be in the stereo. Unless you add a second jack wired in mono.

That is my answer in short. It is possible just there is some work to be done. actually sounds like a fun project.

Reality check time. Yes, it can be done, but not if you're not handy with a soldering iron...

And how handy are you with a screwdriver? Is this a Rickenbacker guitar we're talking about? It's about the easiest semi-hollow on the market to disassemble and reassemble.

If you want only stereo output, you'll have to use a RIC wiring harness and modify the output end (the jacks, which are a separate harness and part. There's no way around soldering here.

If you keep the harness with both mono and stereo, you'll have to bore a hole into the side of the guitar and locate a jackplate with two holes in it.

All this stuff is fairly routine for a luthier, but a bit tough on one who has never tried such work.

Thanks for all the info. You guys rock!

I have changed out pickups before so I think I could probably do it. I got the schematics and it looks pretty simple.

I'm now thinking of pimping out my '77 450/12 FG by adding the ric-o-sound, toasters, and maybe a 5th knob. How hard is it to add holes (for the 5th knob and extra jack) to the pickguard?

Idea for a TV show: "Pimp My Rickenbacker"
or maybe "Pimp My Sandwich"

Thanks again -J Dog

You're kidding, of course.

Jason, don't touch that '77. It's too valuable and unique.

"Pimping out your Rickenbacker". Indeed.

Really? I thought the 450/12's were second class citizens among other RIC 12's. Maybe this is a better question for the Appraisals section, but how should it compare (price wise) to similar age/condition 330/12's, etc? It seems like everyone and their brother has a FG 450/12 to sell.

Jason: I wouldn't do anything to your 450/12. They are fine guitars. I haven't played my '66 450/12 FG in years, but it's a great guitar.

Hmmm... well I guess I'll leave it alone. How about stereo-ing a 330/12? That one already has the gold guards, trc, and v59-style oven knobs. Might as well go ahead and put in some toasters and do this stereo thing? Thoughts?

Which 330/12 has "gold guards, trc, and oven knobs"? Is this your personal guitar? They don't come like that.

It could be stereo-ified. But, why not just buy a 360?

I'm just an insatiable tinkerer. I should probably leave the Frankenstein experiments to my Squiers and Epiphones.

The 330/12 is a turquoise with serial 00 52xxx so it could very well be the last ric of the millenium! ha ha ha And yeah, I added the gg's, trc, and knobs myself. Kept the old ones too. -J

you dont need to have 2 jacks for the option of stereo or mono.

Get a smartjack and you can have both. stick a mono plug in and the stero shank is shorted out routing both signals through the mono cord. Put a stereo cord in and you get 1 signal per channel.

I used to have one on my Dakota for the piezo. Very handy.
Unfortunately after a quick look I cant find any sources for them. I do see references to fishman and parker using them. I got mine through Graphtech as part of the piezo kit.

Find one and youll be in heaven.

JP

Of course, Josh, but I sorta think of things in terms of RIC's original intent and solutions that stay within those bounds...

There's all sorts of electronic whoopee that we could do to our Ricks. The question is: "Where do we draw the line?"

There is nothing smart about the smart jack. The logic is in the circuit board. Those 9 pin jacks are available at Stew Mac.

Interesting, Paul. I agree with your "where do we draw the line" comment. Do you think ric-o-sound on a 660/12 is behind or across the line? I always think of the ric-o-sound as a very RIC kind of thing. -J

I think it's great, but what you gonna do for a jack plate or are you gonna use it full-time, with a "Y" cable when you need mono?

A circuit board as part of the Smart Jack makes this a serious (non-Rick) mod IMO. But a mono-stereo shorting type plug would not require any kind of digital logic, it seems. So I think there's some confusion about this and a board-equipped (active) type jack. There are "smart" jacks and then there are Smart Jacks.