Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Since I got back to performing live reasonably regularly, I have come to appreciate how utterly convincing and reliable my Rick 330 has performed on stage; leaving my Gibsons to hold their (shakily tuned machine) heads in shame, and I am in the market for another 330 as backup.
A 340 has also come up and I may be tempted to grab it, but I realise I don't know how the pickups and the selector switch are configured.
I presume the "up" and "down" positions activate the neck and bridge pickups respectively, as usual, but is the middle pickup activated along with them, and are all three pickups activated when the switch is in the middle position?
I realise I could have probably searched the forum to find my answer but I just felt like dropping in and chatting, so go easy on me!
All the best
Rich

I believe the middle pup is all together wired with the neck, so up is neck+middle, middle is all three, down is just bridge.

If you want to have fun with it, wire the middle pup away from the neck and have the 5th knob act as a volume knob for it

Nick is correct. I've done a number of these fifth-knob mods, and the tonal possibilities that the mod unleashes are amazing.

Thanks for the input, chaps.

That mod sounds very practical. One to consider if I indeed do end up getting a 340.

Paul, is this the mod you use?

5.16 How can I rewire my 325 or 350 to make the 5th knob function as a volume knob for the middle pickup?

From alt.guitar.rickenbacker FAQ

That's how I do it!

I did the mod to change the blend knob to a volume for the middle pickup on my 350V63 BBR and I really like it. Used it last night at a blues jam with my AC30 and it is very versatile, and you can get more combinations this way too. Highly recommended if you have a 3 pickup RIC.

richard, ive emailed you an explanation sheet from rickenbacker on how the controls work. hope this helps.

E-mail received, Paul. Thanks again!

If I ever mod a Rick guitar, I would have one volume for all pups, disconnect all the tone controls, and use the blend knob like there was no tomorrow!

I'd like to do my 650 that way, just one volume and blend.

My rewired 325/6 is done with only two volume controls, one wired to the selector switch to allow rolling in either bridge or neck or both, and a second to add the middle to the blend. As I've mentioned before, it's the nuts!

BTW, it's an old photo below. The pics have since been replaced by "hot" toasters, courtesy of fellow Forumite Kevin Kuney!

Oh no, those poor hot higains, just sitting around...

Yesss...they're in a zip-lock baggie, in my pickups drawer...bumping elbows with lots of old Fender single-coils, D'Armonds and Dynasonics, but very few toasters.

This is because the toasters are IN USE. Constantly.

Gah. If only I didn't have Darkstars to buy.

They're going nowhere, just acquiring baggie fumes.