Toaster pick-up questions....

cerrem · Post by **cerrem** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:22 am

Hi..
I know toaster pick-up discussions are like beating a dead horse around here, but I needed more detailed info...
I have a 4001 from 1975 with the neck pickup at 1/2" spacing.... I love the look of the toasters..BUT I don't care for the sound of newly made toasters for neck position in the bass..They are too weak sounding 7.45K ohms...Since finding an older toaster is next to impossible.. I will re-wind the new one to 12K ... Is the new toaster using the same wire gauge as the old one did?? If not, then what wire gauge did the original toaster use?? I hear good results with taking the new 4003 neck pup and cutting off the mushroom heads off the poles, then installing a toaster cover.. I personally did not hear this, just rumored to sound good..Any thoughts on this matter...

Best Regards
Chris

edski · Post by **edski** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:44 am

Paging Sergio Silva. Sergio, to the bat phone please!

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:17 am

RIC has always used #44 wire in their pickups. As for "un-buttoning" pickups and putting toaster covers on them goes, Jeff Rath did this with two guitar high gains that I have in my double neck. Besides having the look that I wanted, they sound fantastic. I really hate the sound of the strings when they hit the buttons.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:20 pm

Dane ... how do the unbuttoned high gains with the toaster covers sound ... I never got a chance to put one in a bass or guitar ...

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:59 pm

They sound great. Because I haven't got anything else with a high gain in it, I can't compare it to one but because of the radically different placement of the pickups to each other, it's also kinda hard to tell the tonal differences between the bridge position humbuckers. I will say that the slightly longer scale of the guitar makes it sound like no other guitar I've heard and the bridge pickup placement on the bass(ala 4002) gives the bottom end a whole different character than other Rick basses I've heard.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:52 pm

Unbutton? You mean I can put my toaster cover on the neck high gain?

Ooh! OOh! Ooh!

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:56 pm

Here I am. Kinda late, I'm afraid, as the posts hereabove contain all the right information you need to know, Chris. And yes, you can install a toaster cover on a post-1990 high-gain pickup.

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:13 pm

you can even put 'shoes on a hi-gain;

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:08 pm

That is something I have been trying and trying to find - shoes to put on a high gain. WHERE do you find them??!!

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:14 pm

Jared, has been showing those off for awhile now but wont actually sell them to anyone...even though he seems to have several sets. I would love to send him my bridge hi-gain to convert.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:20 pm

Is there any reason I couldn't just cut off the button portion with a Dremel and then mount the toaster cover? I don't see why I should have to pull them out and find different poles.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:24 pm

I unwound my high gain bridge pup to about 7.8k (value determined from an old post I'd found) and see that it could be converted easily to horseshoe magnets but where to get them?! I contacted one gentleman who had them made and had been selling them but he emailed back he was not doing that now because of family complications. So close....

The sound and tone is I suppose close to what an old bridge horseshoe sounds like (never having first hand experience with one) as I can get it to sound very close to Squire's and Geddy's tone. Anyone here ever tried this and compared to a vintage horseshoe??

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:32 pm

them 'shoes came offa Kendall James' V63 some years ago.

I have several orders from guys out there who are waiting for the weather to get better. So I can make 'em.

I could use a spoolgun to join the aluminium, its a LOT faster, but the resulting weld looks fairly frightful.

So we wait...

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:36 pm

Jared: Have you considered moving to a drier place?

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:00 pm

Jared, where can I contact you? I prefer the sound of a bridge higain to a horseshoe but I would love a horseshoe cover on my 4003.