Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm curious about the very early 6-string high-gains: what was their exact ohm rating? Was polepiece spacing the same on bridge and neck pickups? What was the flatwork material? PC board? What sort of screws were used for the polepieces on those pickups? Thanks.

Sergio, I've got a moderately early 6 string high gain that I got from Jeff Rath...I'm not sure how early it is. It has a seperate top and bottom bobbin, and the material seems like PC board, but I'll have to look closer when I get home. The coil is dead so I can't tell about the DCR, but I would guess lower than current ones. I plan to drill it out and stick alnico rods in it but I can get you whatever info you need before I do that.

Thanks, Greg. Well, can you make out whether the screw shafts (the polepieces) on it are the same type found on the early 4001 bridge high-gains?
Are you sure you want to mod this "dead" pickup? How about rewinding it? Can you post - or e-mail me - one or two pics of it, please?

Hey Sergio, I'm feeling a bit under the weather so I haven't had a chance to look at that pickup yet. I'll see what I can get for you in the next couple days though.

Okay. No hurry. Thanks.

Ok Sergio, I finally borrowed my mom's camera and got some pics. The quality isn't the best but hope its good enough. I plan on using the bobbins to make some templates so I can make more later when I get into pickup winding, and then I'll have this one rewound or otherwise modified. If you want to see it firsthand to mod/rewind it yourself, then thats fine, but it has to wait until I'm able to make templates. It looks like these were grey pc-board material that was painted black.

I hate to disappoint you, Greg, but that's not a "screw shaft" high-gain pickup. It obviously has steel rivets for polepieces, which means it's a "button top" high-gain, albeit an early one. Yes, flatwork is PC board sprayed black. Hmm... I wonder why the screw holes on the top bobbin plate are so large. Surely a mod?

Hi Sergio, thanks for the corrections. I wasn't sure what era it was from. I got it from Jeff Rath so he may have modified it before he sent it my way.

Thanks. Makes sense. I vaguely remember reading about a thusly modified high-gain a long time ago.