Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Curmudge: I am considering swapping out my Filterton (TV Jones Classics) for Dynasonics in my Duojet. The tone of the Filtertrons is excellent for later Beatles' tone but is not quite right for the early era.

Do you know if the replacement is an easy one and reversible (no surrounds and different mounting for the Dynasonics, for example) or is there "no going back." I also expect I will be dealing with more hum with the Dynasonics.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Regarding the hum, I have compared my 660DCM to my '61 Double Annie with HiLotrons and the Gretsch pickups are a bit quieter than the toasters. I would assume that the Dynasonics are more similar than not to the HiLotrons, but that is just a guess given that both are single coil pickups. I am beginning to prefer the HiLotrons to the toasters!

Hmm, maybe a bass with HiLotron pickups may be a cool idea.

Thanks Jeff. I am sure that Hilotrons have their place, as in the thinnish sound of "Day Tripper." Not too shabby.

I am, however, looking for the fuller sound with more pronounced bottom end of Harrison's Duojet and so Dynasonic is where I am headed. I expect that the footprint is ok, as the pickup just seems to cover the holes of the existing surround for the Filtertron. I would feel more comfortable, however, in hearing from someone who performed this modification.

With regard to your comparision of the toaster and the hilotron, I assume that this is with the 7.4 KOhm pickups. The hot toasters do, of course, produce a fuller sound at least to my ears. These toasters are in the 11 to 12 KOhm range.

I like both the Dynasonics and the Filtertrons Peter..but the Dynasonics really nail that Beatles tone as well as a lot of the rockabilly sound. It seems you can't beat low output single coils for clarity, articulation and chime.

I was able to get an answer to my technical question at the Gretschpages.

no. they don't mount at all the same! it can be done, and it has been done, but it'll never look "stock" — though, if you get a bit "creative", you might be able to make it look "stock" to someone who either hasn't had a good look at a "real" Dyna'Sonic Jet before, or who hasn't had a good look at yours! you just need to make some "mounting rings", or get some made up for you, that'll both fit the Dyna'Sonic and the holes left by the Filtertron ring!

Help! Curmudge!

As the filtertrons are larger than the dynasonics, it sounds like you won't have a problem.. at least no modifications would need be done to the pup cavity.

George: It is all about making a convincing pickup ring to hold the dynasonic. I am not sure that it can be done to look stock. Some thinking is required.

Just in, a couple of solutions offered by TV Jones.

Peter, I will offer DeArmond's in a Filter'tron housing hopefully by the January Namm show.
You could wait, or try our Magna'tron pickups. Thank you for your interest, TV Jones

Hello January! Sounds like the way to go...can't beat his pickups

George: Some additional discussion is taking place at http://gretschpages.com/forum/general-t ... 346/page1/

Don't know how I missed this thread until now...sorry to all.

FTs are buried in big holes, which as I recall are larger than Dynas.

Part of Dynas is the great look of the single coil poles. TV's solution may sound "right", but it will look strange. However, it seems to be the only reasonable way to achieve the marriage without a lot of filling of holes and refinishing of the top.

I knew TV Jones would be coming out with something like this.

Ditto what Paul W said about the look of Dynasonics-they look COOL! It's probably the initial reason I wanted them on my guitar. I had also not been very happy with a the sound of a Filtertron-equipped Anniversary model I'd played, nor with the sound of a Filtertron-equipped reissue Silverjet that I'd played. The clincher was that Billy Zoom had them on his Gretsch, and I loved his sound. I was definitely happy with the sound of my first Dynasonic-equipped Gretsch, and every Gretsch I've bought since has been equipped with Dynasonics.

Pauls: I quite agree that the modified dynasonic is far from pretty in the attached photo. While I have no doubt that TV Jones will have a pickup that sounds identical to the Dynasonic and well tooled, chances are it will not have a stock look. In this case I would want the functional and the aesthetic to be in play.

I am wondering if a chrome ring of the same thickness as the baseplate of the dynasonic could be tooled such that the pickup would set inside it. A tiny lip at the base of the ring could accomodate self-tapping screws to hold the pickup base in place from the underside. This would have the effect of a seemless chrome base, although slightly larger of course, that looked like it was part of the Dynasonic.

While not completely stock, there would only be four visible holes and the stock dynasonics would approximate the traditional look.

As a follow-up question, does anyone know the footprint dimensions of the dynasonic in inches and the distance between the screw holes.

While we are thinking of a solution, here is a good look at the Dynasonic pickup from above and below.

Very interesting! The Darkstar pickups work in a similar manner, I believe, with screws to adjust the heights of the magnets.