Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Can anybody tell me if the pole pieces in vintage toasters are staggered at all? Are they just flat under the cover? If staggered, then I assume they'd be set for a wound G? I'm just having a hell of a time with balance. I'm using flatwound Thomastik Infelds 11's. I can't get the G balanced. When I use a plain 19, it sticks out like sore thumb. I've also tried a wound 18 and that's too soft. Anybody else have this problem? Any suggestions?

Hmm... Alas no, John, they're not staggered at all, which is a bit of an oversight on ANY guitar pickup. There's not much you can do, except possibly pulling out the G polepiece - if at all feasible - and inserting a not-too-thick, non-metallic shim in the respective hole so that when the polepiece is pushed back in it will be set lower than the others.

Sergio, couldn't you take that particular magnet out and degauss it a bit to try to level the paying field, or would the magnetic field from the other magnets compensate to where it wouldn't make much difference?

That approach would work, no doubt. And the other magnets would not counteract the desired effect. But I believe it's much easier to simply set the G polepiece lower.

Yah for someone who doesn't have a way to degauss the magnet, then your aprroach is easier for sure!