Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

How interesting indeed. A legit pair of horseshoe magnets installed on a legit mount plate from the second half of the '60s, with a... rebuilt & modded (probably '70s) treble high-gain pickup. Whoever modded it thought that by both removing the Jetglo (!) from the top bobbin plate and fitting slot-head screws as polepieces could make it look like a '67/'68 HS pickup bobbin. They must try much harder. I rest my case.

As most of the regular eBay watches here will know, the seller "mtmmat" sells quite a lot of Rickenbacker stuff. I've bought a 60's Ac'cent off him in the past, and he's still coming up with fairly rare and hard to obtain stuff. Is he a forum member?

Sergio-

you da man!!!

Well, like I always say, one tries...

That will probably fetch big bucks. I made 3 out of 70's high gain bobbins and fully disclosed the fact and they still sold for $400+. Vincent Gallo will probably snap that one up.

I tend to agree with Sergio here. Probable lap steel baseplate and shoes with the later bobbin.

Jeff Rath should post a pic of his original 68 for comparison.

And, while we're still on this seller, this "60's toaster",
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-60s-RICKENBACKER-BASS-GUITAR-TOASTER-PICKUP_W0QQitemZ160026579372QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

looks far too new, more like a RI and nothing like the 60's toasters I have seen, where there is no black half circle at one end.

He says it measures about 6 ohms on his analog meter, just a tad low huh? Either can't read it, made a typing error (likely) or it's shorted out. 6K (6000) is more like it.

The base plate looks just like the one in my '63. I suppose it is possible that they used that older style up to '68.

that looks like a real 60s horseshoe pickup ... I wonder if there is any magnetic field in there any more ...

Hey all - Both of those pickups came from my 1967 4001 that I parted out some odd years back. I stuck them in a 1977 4001 JG and sold that bass to 'mtmmat' last December. He has since parted out that 1977 and hence the pickups being on Ebay now. At the time I sold these pickups to 'mtmmat,' I assumed that they were original PU's from my bass. But based on what I've learned over the past year about the particulars of Rickenbacker parts and how they were constructed during certain years, I'm starting to wonder, too, about authenticity in this case. Particularly the toaster, which I agree looks different on the bottom than my other 60's era toasters. The reading on it is approx 7.5k - for what that's worth. As for the horseshoe PU, it reads approx 6.3k, which I thought odd since - based on what I've learned from those in-the-know on this forum - bass pickups in the 60's were approx 7.5k and pickups from the 50's were around the 6k range. If there is any question as to the legitimacy of 'mtmmat,' let's extinguish that now, please. His knowledge on the pickups he's currently selling is based on what I've told him, which is probably not as accurate as some of the folks here to really know their stuff inside & out. 'Mtmmat' has quite a nice Rick collection, and I've been twisting his ear for the past few months to get him to join the forum. Hopefully we'll hear from him soon.

Addressing Jeff's comment about the strength of the HS mags, they are strong enough to make the pickup sound great. It balances well with the toaster, and sounds a lot like my '68 HS PU, which Sergio says also looks like an early '70's bobbin. So I don't know what to believe about the accuracy of any of my basses at this point. All I know for certain is that they sound & play great. Further speculation I leave to the good people here in the know.

I have a RI H.S. from a V63 that measures 14.7k

Is that era correct?

Mark, thanks for that info. AFAIK it's only been in the last 3-4 years that the majority of people in the know have been making their own "reissue" horseshoes using lap steel baseplates and shoes. I remember buying a lap steel horseshoe/baseplate and #44 wiring for $80 in 02...

Of course, others could have done it previous and I'm sure they have. In this case, it seems it could well be original though. The green bobbin is usually later than 67, but I do have one in my Dec 68 and Jeff's old Sept 68 had one too. I don't doubt the output accuracy either. They are hand wound and a few turns less here, and there's your 6.3K output. The toaster, however, sure looks like a RI to me.

Nothing personal against the seller here either. He states clearly he has asked others and is not an expert and his feedback shows him to be a 100% guy.

Ben, those RI HS pick ups are nothing like the originals in output. They are far superior...IMO..