Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Two brief questions for you all; pardon me if these have been discussed extensively before - I'm new here!

Question #1: I just bought a pair of vintage toaster pickups for my 1990 360 to replace the original Hi Gains. What are the best and most important OTHER components (caps, pots, resistors, etc) that I should also install in order to make sure it has a great 'vintage' 60s sound?

Question #2: I'm considering flipping each of the pairs of strings on my 360-12 so that the thinner string is placed BEFORE the thicker one. What would be the pros and cons BESIDES not being the 'authentic' way Ric arranges their strings? Would I need to flip each bridge saddle? Make a new nut? etc etc?

Thanks!

Anybody ... ?

Welcome, Dan!

Regarding the pickups, toasters are usually paired with 250KΩ volume pots, and I think 500KΩ tone pots. No extra resistors needed, the tone caps are .047µf and to be really vintage correct you might want to put a .0047µf cap in series with the bridge toaster, between the selector switch and it's volume control. Here is the schematic from RIC; you will note that the values for the volume and tone pots have been standardized to 330KΩ with the exception of the blend/mixer pot, which is at 500KΩ.

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19502.pdf

Why do you want to swap the strings around? To do so would require a new nut and new individual saddles as there are the witness points to consider as they should be facing the neck from both ends of the playing part of the strings.

ferguson6552 wrote:
Question #2: I'm considering flipping each of the pairs of strings on my 360-12 so that the thinner string is placed BEFORE the thicker one. What would be the pros and cons BESIDES not being the 'authentic' way Ric arranges their strings? Would I need to flip each bridge saddle? Make a new nut? etc etc?

Thanks!

I'm not much on electronics but I think I can handle your 2nd question. If you really want to give this "flip" a try, I would suggest having a new nut cut and purchasing a new 12-string bridge (either 12-saddle or 6-saddle) and having new slots cut. Trying to alter the existing nut and bridge saddle slots to reverse the octave and regular strings is going to create problems in the slots for the low E-A-D strings. RIC sells pre-cut 12-er nuts that are lightly scored where the strings go, so you can use that as a guide and cut the slots to fit the strings. With the uncut bridge you're on your own, but it shouldn't be too hard to line up the old bridge string spacings with the new.

PS I agree with Dan that you don't want to "flip" the bridge saddles.

By making new nut and bridge for your flight of fancy, you can reverse the mod when (and if) you desire to 1)sell the guitar and/or 2) string it up the correct way!

libratune wrote:...or 2) string it up the correct way!

+1

+2 Buy a set of TI Jazz Flats, string it properly, get a good clean amp (Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb, AC30, JC120, YCV40WR, etc.) and a JangleBox compressor and you will have the sound you're looking for without messing with the nut or bridge.