Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

John?

Just a guess but it looks to be genuine - a prototype or one off test pickup. Maybe an employee experiment. By the placement of the poles I'd guess it was an attempt to improve the field of the standard high gain. Two poles per string like a jazz bass pickup. Someone may have been dumpster diving.

Perhaps an experiment for an 8 string bass pickup?

I was thinking 8-string meself. Interesting.

Wow! That's got to be the most amazing thing I've ever seen in the Rickenbacker world. Talk about being as scarce as hen's teeth! It looks to be legit - no argument there - as it bears all the hallmarks of a genuine Rickenbacker pickup. John?

P.S. A pickup for an 8-string bass? Makes perfect sense to me now that you mention it. Anyone?

Dave thinks it's genuine too. If the backside convinces Sergio, then it must be true.
Wonder where it came from. No one has seen one on a bass. Someone's parts box?

I was gonna nab it if it stayed low enough, but I don't think that's in the cards.

Dave will most likely let us know it's particulars if he gets it.

I think this PUP is a mutt!

h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h

First thing when I looked at it I thought 8-string pup. Since no one has seen one before, and there is a LOT of experience here, and the seller says prototype, how'd he get it?! Not casting dispersion, but it would be interesting to know.

It would indeed be very interesting to know.

Very odd that no one here's seen one before, though.

I don't believe it was a production piece. The seller has a few other very interesting items that suggest a current or past connection to the company or at the very least, someone spent some time in the company dumpster.

IIRC, this is the same seller who got into it with Mark Walker over a horseshoe pickup Mark bought from him, then refused to complete the deal.
Whenever I hear the words "Rickenbacker Prototype", I figure it should be up on that wall in Santa Ana.

Hmm... Yes.
Seller says the pickup is "'50s or '60s for sure". Is it? I truly don't think so. It screams "'70s". It sure looks like a one-off. The securing plate looks like a standard aluminum plate that's been crudely adapted to accomodate the obviously larger-than-standard magnet required for such an assembly. Speaking of which, I cant' see any signs of a magnet ever having been glued to that bobbin. I could be wrong, of course. The plot thickens...

Good point Sergio. Unless the magnet is inside the bobbin, this pickup is not functional.