Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anyone make aftermarket pickups for Rics? Seeing that genuine parts are so hard to get hold of.. (forever seem to be on backorder..)

I believe GFS may have been making some toaster lookalikes, but I'm sure that RIC has long since put the kibosh on that.

sloop_john_b wrote:I believe GFS may have been making some toaster lookalikes, but I'm sure that RIC has long since put the kibosh on that.

How could they put a kibosh on it..? its a generic pickup size.. PLEASE don't tell me that Ric is now suing anybody making replacement pups for rics..

A generic one that does not resemble the toaster would be oaky ... I don't know how the fit would be, but Lace makes an Alumitone that has a retro but non-infringing look to them:

http://lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/a ... _specs.php

This one should look good in a Rick!

I knew you'd like some of those 'custom' ones, Jeff!

Look Here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Kent-Armstrong-Toas ... .m20.l1116

There also used to be one called "Broodrooster" which boasted Alnico2 magnets....

Eden.

Or, you could try ordering a bass toaster from RIC. They say that they are "Temporarily unavailable" on the main pickup page, but if you click on the picture, you get to the individual pickup page where it says they are "In stock" and gives you the "Add to cart" button.

I'm not sure what this really means, maybe they are in stock and the website is just messed up, or maybe they aren't and the website is messed up.

Of course, to fit it to a guitar, you'd have to drill the hole out a bit to fit the wood screw.

Seymour Duncan was making them in their custom shop a while back. They were supposed to be a Firebird or P90 type pickup in a toaster like package. They were very pricey, have no idea how they sounded, and don't know if they even still make them.

I'd love to see Bill Lawrence(the real one in Carona, CA)make some pickups for Ricks. Oh well

Mr.Mow wrote:

sloop_john_b wrote:I believe GFS may have been making some toaster lookalikes, but I'm sure that RIC has long since put the kibosh on that.

How could they put a kibosh on it..? its a generic pickup size.. PLEASE don't tell me that Ric is now suing anybody making replacement pups for rics..

It's not the pickup size, if they put the c/d on anything...it would be for the aesthetic design of the pickup, which I believe is Rickenbacker's exclusively.

collin wrote:

Mr.Mow wrote:

sloop_john_b wrote:I believe GFS may have been making some toaster lookalikes, but I'm sure that RIC has long since put the kibosh on that.

How could they put a kibosh on it..? its a generic pickup size.. PLEASE don't tell me that Ric is now suing anybody making replacement pups for rics..

It's not the pickup size, if they put the c/d on anything...it would be for the aesthetic design of the pickup, which I believe is Rickenbacker's exclusively.

Yep. I believe they have a trademark on the look of the toaster pickup among other things.

Greg

I'd always go for non-ric toasters.

The ric ones dont have a little removable tray underneath to get all the burnt crumbs out.
A major design flaw? Or maybe crumbs weren't such a big problem in the 60's.

Mateybob wrote:I'd always go for non-ric toasters.

The ric ones dont have a little removable tray underneath to get all the burnt crumbs out.
A major design flaw? Or maybe crumbs weren't such a big problem in the 60's.

The '60s toasters were a better design, the crumbs got vaporized on the way down so no need for a tray underneath.

weemac wrote:Look Here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Kent-Armstrong-Toas ... .m20.l1116

There also used to be one called "Broodrooster" which boasted Alnico2 magnets....

Eden.

The toaster's external appearance is one of RIC's items of protected trade dress, at least here in the USA. I'm not too surprised to see that this lookalike is from the UK.

sloop_john_b wrote:I believe GFS may have been making some toaster lookalikes, but I'm sure that RIC has long since put the kibosh on that.

The GFS replacements only have the same footprint, not the 'toaster' look, at least in this ad on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/GFS-NYII-Top-Mount- ... dZViewItem

GFS also has an analogous humbucking pickup (same footprint):

http://cgi.ebay.com/GFS-NYIII-Top-Mount ... dZViewItem

It would appear that both types would need a center mounting hole drilled in them to be a 'correct' fit on most Rickenbackers.