Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi Sergio,

I've been trying to contact you via Email.

I've sent you three, are they getting through to you?

Hey Tony. Actually nothing has come through so far. I guess something is definitely wrong, 'cause a couple of friends of mine I sent e-mails to in the last three or four weeks did not receive 'em either. Please try and send me a message again. If it fails to reach me I'll give you an alternate e-mail address. Cheers.

Hey Sergio,

I figured as much, it wasn't like you to not respond!

Email RE-SENT!

Thanks!

Well, now I did receive your new e-mail message, but upon sending you a reply (twice, actually), I got an "SMTP communication problem with the recipient's e-mail server" message.
Could the bar magnets on the pickup by any chance have been removed and re-installed incorrectly, thus accounting for the low output and odd tone somehow?...

Sergio,

That is the problem, we don't know.

The luthier said that IF they were installed incorrectly, we would have a READING on the meter of REDUCED output. But it is reading 11.2 ohms. The old High Gain was reading 13.5, COULD just over 2K ohms make SUCH a HUGE difference? Could the luthier be wrong? He did say at the time he wasn't sure of the magnet polarity when he installed them but now he says that it is correct.

Can the pickup just be reversed? I had a 4001 once that I installed the pickup cover on and when I did it, I removed the pickup and installed it incorrectly.

Remember, I had to purchase a Seymour Duncan for the bar magnets, we had to change the magnets from the ones you installed to get the clearance for the strings.

I'm kinda freaked out because I can't use it as it is, I'll get BURIED in the mix with the low output.

What do you think?

Hmm... Let's go over the problem once again: ;->

1) 2 000 ohms make virtually no difference, believe me;
2) magnets do not alter DC resistance on a pickup;
3) the pickup being reversed constitutes no problem whatsoever;
4) I believe the new magnets to be the cause for the problem. I say they've been installed incorrectly, meaning they're attracting each other instead of repelling each other. That would explain the low output from the pickup. Can you check?

Thanks Sergio,

That is the next step.

I spoke to my luthier today and he will try that next. I'll send you an Email in the am.

Thanks so much!

Tony, I replied to your problem on the other thread

Sergio,

I'm assuming the last Email didn't get through to you. Ok, I'll have him check the polarity.
So if I understand this correctly, they MUST be installed where the magnets are repelling each other?

I'll get on it next week. THANK YOU again Sergio!

Thanks Dale,

Email sent!

Servers definitely have been acting funny lately. Yes, the magnets are to be installed so as to be repelling each other.

Just an update Sergio:

The magnets WERE installed correctly. The problem is the MAGNETS themselves. While they are VERY STRONG when placed side by side with the WIDE area's of the magnet facing each other, when they are flipped on their SIDES (the THIN sides of each magnet placed on both sides of the pole pieces) there is almost NO magnetic pull!

So it looks like the magnets themselves (the one's from the Seymour Duncan) are not going to do the job.

This pickup will need different STRONG and THIN magnets if it is going to work.
Dale said he can help me out with a pickup with magnetic pole pieces so that will make this whole gaussing the pole piece problem history.

THANK YOU for all your hard work and effort, I really do appreciate Sergio, but I just give up on trying to get this thing to work. Using the magnetic pole pieces is the way to go on a HS. It will also give me some extra string room being I will not have to deal with the magnets gaussing the pole pieces.

The pickup is clean and crisp, giving me 11.2K ohms output, the volume is issue. THANK YOU again for all your hard work.

Hey, no problem. Once you find suitable magnets, you can still use the pickup without he 'shoes.
As for the SD magnets, well, though it sounds odd to me, from your description they work as Rick magnets, meaning the working surface is the large one. Can I talk you into letting me have those in exchange for some "minor" parts you may need?... I'm desperately trying to locate a suitably-sized, strong bar magnet for installing on a 5-pole "high-gain toaster" I've built for a forumite.

Sure thing Sergio,

I don't know anything about this technical stuff, that is what my luther said, so I have nothing else to go on!

If you think you can use them, you are more than welcome to them! Just looking at them makes me nuts!

I paid $50.00 for that Seymour Duncan bridge pickup just to get those magnets.

I could use some tidbits for my 1974 4001.

BY any chance, do you have a spare 1/2" white pickguard? I really need an original one if you happen to have one laying around...

If you have any 74 parts to sell, we can work something out as well!

...I don't know anything about this technical stuff, that is what my luther said,...

Is this the guy who told you that?

LOL!

You got me on that typo Jeff!

Come to think of it, he DOES kind of look like that!

.....but I'd MUCH rather see 7 of 9! Vavavoom!