Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was looking around for a vintage horseshoe pickup when a dealer I know said he had a 1973 Rickenbacker Horseshoe pickup but it was black (including the surround).

Did Rickenbacker ever issue them in black or was this one likely to have been coated at some point over the years?

Also, assuming it is black, can I have it stripped/refinished/sandblasted or ??? to bring it back to stainless steel goodness?

Anyone have intel on this subject??

99.9% it's powdercoated and I'll say that if it's original it's not a 73 either.

It would be chrome plated under the paint.

So Andrew,
The year aside, were there even powdercoated horsies produced at the factory or is this likely aftermarket work?
And is it reversable?

Both Andrew and Ted are right.

Ted,
Were they really chrome plated over? I thought the wings at least were simply cobalt steel magnet stock?

Sorry for all the questions but if the part is just powdercoated would I have to strip it first or just re-chrome over it all? If I do that would I be compromising the magnet in any way?

Russell - have you actually seen it? Are you sure he's talking about a real horseshoe and not a standard (non-magnetic) pickup cover?

I've heard they are a tungsten alloy and I have heard they are cobalt steel. Regardless of the material, they are all electro-plated.

Old shoes don't hold gauss very well. Fortunately, they can be re-gaussed. Jason Lollar is pretty skilled at that plus he knows quite a bit about horseshoe pickups.

I had a black horseshoe - forgot whether I got the shoes from a steel, or I had them powdercoated. I believe the later. Paul Boyer should have a pic.

I'm with Harry. There are plenty of people out there that call a standard p/u cover a "horseshoe"....I'll bet this is the case.

I have not seen it yet. I am waiting for a pic by e-mail. Once I have it I will post it here for your opinions. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a lap steel shoe like Marc is mentioning. They had a much higher Gauss than the bass from what I'm told.

Ted, what in the name of all that is holy?!?!?

Yes, Ted. Do tell. I'm seeing checkerboard binding, yet a 4001S ebony neck like an RM 1999. A black toaster AND HS... I actually like the black/blueboy/gold theme. Very Rockabilly.

That is the original Marc Seligman signature model. It started off looking like this....



I stripped it and installed checkerboard binding, fixed the seriously F'ed up fingerboard, installed dot inlays, refretted it and sent it back to Marc. Mike Dolan did the finish. While making a return trip to Marc, FedEx managed to smash it destroying the pickguard and damaging much of the hardware on the face of the guitar. The finished pic posted earlier is how it looked the last time I saw it before the FedEx episode. I am still sad about the loss of that setup. It is hard for me to see a good instrument be destroyed. Especially one that I sweated over. Marc still has it but it looks very different today. It is still beautiful and he has continually resisted selling it.