Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a 620 and I want to add a third pickup and use the custom wiring on it as well are there any luthiers in the bay area (I would go to Paul, but he seems to have a big back log) Also I have a friend that has a Rick hum bucking pickup so what if I were to put that in the bridge pickup position and move the other pickup?

Dave, allow me to recommend Gary Brawer, probably the best all-round luthier here in the Bay area.

http://www.brawer.com

He's not a Rick specialist (in fact, he refers Rick finishing to me), but he does know and respect Rickenbackers and would do your 620 justice, I feel.

Thanks a lot Paul I'll give him a call as soon as I can. What do you think about putting a Rick Humbucking pickup as the bridge pickup then just putting the previous bridge pickup in the middle? Or should I just go with three high gains.

The humbucker in the bridge position will give the guitar a whole new character, and I'd have him do the 5th knob volume control mod. You will have a Rick with amazing tonal flexibility.

jingle_jangle wrote:Dave, allow me to recommend Gary Brawer, probably the best all-round luthier here in the Bay area.

http://www.brawer.com

He's not a Rick specialist (in fact, he refers Rick finishing to me), but he does know and respect Rickenbackers and would do your 620 justice, I feel.

Gary Brawer! I haven't heard that name in years. he is still over on Lafayette Street in the back of Real Guitars?

So what kind of tones does a humbucking pickup give? From my experience the highgains can give a nice jangle but theyve got a lot of drive for that old school classic rock sound. I've never really heard a rick humbucker before does anybody have a sound clip maybe?

Unfortunately, I don't have clips from either of these:

DavidW wrote:So what kind of tones does a humbucking pickup give? From my experience the highgains can give a nice jangle but theyve got a lot of drive for that old school classic rock sound. I've never really heard a rick humbucker before does anybody have a sound clip maybe?

David, why not just swap out your current bridge pickup with the humbucker first? I believe this would be a direct replacement and I'm guessing you could probably do this yourself - just a bit of soldering skill required.

Then you can tell if you like the humbucker sound before doing any irreversible modifications to your guitar.

Also, I would suggest taping an appropriately-sized block of wood (or something similar) to immitate your middle pickup to ensure it doesn't inhibit your playing style? Whilst I think the 3-pickup models look fantastic (esp. 21-fret models), I personally find the middle pickup gets in the way a bit.

Hope this helps.

Good points, Clive.

David, if you come down to the LA-OC-SD area before you do your modification, I'd be glad to meet with you and you can try out the guitars in the picture above.

simer4001 wrote:

jingle_jangle wrote:Dave, allow me to recommend Gary Brawer, probably the best all-round luthier here in the Bay area.

http://www.brawer.com

He's not a Rick specialist (in fact, he refers Rick finishing to me), but he does know and respect Rickenbackers and would do your 620 justice, I feel.

Gary Brawer! I haven't heard that name in years. he is still over on Lafayette Street in the back of Real Guitars?

Yes, he is, but I'm not familiar with real guitars...there is a salesroom in front, but I thought it was his own. Maybe he acquired them?

Gary is a super-nice guy, and quite busy. Great sense of humor (read his blog for a daily chuckle!), straight-shooter, too.

Thanks for the suggestions Clive I will do that and dang it Gary I was just in LA for about 8 weeks and just left! Talk about timing haha...oh well any chance you could get a sound clip of either of them?

I can try, but things are super hectic for me now.

Gary if you don't have time I understand, as much as most of us would like to we can't play music all day

Yeah, and that thing called "work" takes a big bite out of our time, too!