Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I picked up my 380L PZ from the Twelfth Fret yesterday after having some work done on it. I sent the guitar in to have concentric pots installed for the humbuckers. On piezo equipped models, the humbuckers are limited to one volume and one tone knob between the two pick-ups. I could tell that there were more sounds in the guitar just waiting to get out, and I thought the concentric pot modification would be the best way to get at them.

While the work was being done, Brian Miller (great guy) called to tell me that the piezo was out of phase with the humbuckers. He asked me if the guitar was stock, and figured that the guitar had been set up that way in keeping with Rickenbacker's tradition of "stereo separation". He asked me if I wanted the phase flipped. He said that there would not be as great a separation between the frequencies of the piezo and the humbuckers, but that it might warm up the sound of the piezo a bit. I said, sure, go ahead. It could always be flipped back.

Well, I played around with it last night, and it sounds super. I've always loved the sound of this guitar, but it's a whole other beast now. Having separate volume and tone controls for each humbucker is just amazing. I can now get a very convincing jangle out of it, just like a "regular" Ric. But I can also get a wealth of other sounds, too, including a pretty convincing Les Paul "chunk". I was playing everything with it last night, switching from bridge to neck, blending in a little piezo. The combinations are almost endless.

Lately, I've fallen in love with my friend's Telecaster, and I've been trying to resist the urge to buy one. I don't have that overwhelming urge any more. The new sound of the piezo is slightly more lush, with more bass and midrange, although it's lost a little bit of definition when it comes to chord work. It sounds a lot like a piezo equipped acoustic now. As was the case before, you get the best results when the piezo mixes with the magnetic pick-ups. It can get a great Telecaster sound now, among other, more unique sounds. Fingerstyle and single-note lead lines are really, really nice. Between the bridge volume knob and the piezo blend knob you can add as much definition and "spank" as you like.

These changes might not be for everyone, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. If you currently own a 380L PZ, it's definitely something to think about. These weren't expensive modifications, they're reversible, and it's turned my 380L PZ into my most versatile guitar.

Squid: I would really enjoy some sound clips from this guitar once you come ashore.

Oh, Peter. How I wish I had that kind of technology. I'm still using a four track, I'm afraid. I'm supposed to be sending Noel some tracks, too, but I can't figure out which tape has which track. Meanwhile, Noel waits and waits. Someday I will finally come ashore, and I'll make sure that I have some 21st century recording equipment when I do.

Yes Squid, when your ship comes in you can shell out some money for the best. In the meantime, however, the old four track is still a good piece of kit until you net something better.

I know pretty much what you are describing, John. I noticed the phasing effect on my 380L PZ when playing around with all the controls and switch settings; in order to prove to myself that I wasn't imagining things, I was able to record separately the two sounds and then blend them through playback without the phase cancellation effect. Yours must sound really nice!

I just got one of these models and I love it, but I just can't figure the darn thing out.

It seems like the acoustic output is significantly louder than the electric output. Is this an active/passive kind of thing?

Also, Gary, can you please describe how you did your post-tracking phase correction?
Thanks - J Dog

PS... I try to use the fifth knob with the blended mono output, but the piezo seems to take over very quickly. Say, if "10" is 100%-electric and "1" is 100%-piezo, the even mix, or midpoint, is around 8 or 9. Is this normal?

I had one and sold it because I never quite got the hang of it. I thought it had great potential but it was just me. Maybe I wasn't as stupid as I thought and just never gave it a chance. I am sorry I ever sold it. Seeing that some of you also had questions I just think the guitar was not as intuitive as it could be.

Jason, I think what you're describing is the separation caused by the out of phase set up. I'm no techie, but if you've ever set up high-fi speakers the wrong way, you've probably experienced the same effect. Have you ever set up speakers so that they were cancelling each other out? Basically (and I mean basically, because I only studied wave-forms in high school and never did it again) there's a gap in the frequencies that your ear picks up quite easily. It's like the bass, the midrange, and the treble never meet or overlap. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that the midrange (as it exists between the two sets of pick-ups) just isn't present. It's cancelled out. Unless you're running the two pick-ups to separate amps, it's a tricky thing to get the two to blend evenly. Now that the phase has been switched, the magnetics and the piezo seem to blend seemlessly, and the blend and tone knobs for the piezo seem more dynamic. In fact, I don't really use the blend knob anymore. I just use the volume for the piezo with the blend set to 60 to 70% magnetic.

I always liked this guitar, but I used it differently before, almost as a specialized sound or application. I was never going to sell it because I love the feel of it so much. (These things are extremely comfortable to play for a whole host of reasons.) I just figure that I'm going to be using it much more often now, and that I'll get even more attached to it.

Now I'm scurred and confused. I guess I should look into doing this phase mod. Cool info. Thanks! J

Jason, I don't remember exactly what I did, but I will try to recreate it and then report back.

*still waiting*

The Laguna mods sound intriguing. I've always thought an RCA model or stock 380L PZ would look good on me.

Cheers! Noel

too bad they never made a 12-string version of this

uh... they kind of did...

Hey, who said that???