Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I originally had button top hi gains on my 330FG. I thought they were very muddy, so I swapped them out with toasters. The toasters were great, except the neck, which sounded very blah and uninteresting to me. It sounded great mixed in with the bridge, but seemed to have no personality on its own. I had basically accepted that a good neck tone wasn't going to happen on this guitar, and just to use one of my others for that.

RIC comes out with the new hi gains, and the reviews are great. Brighter, cleaner, crunchier, etc. I'm thinking "this is cool", get a pair, and installed them a few days ago on my guitar. The neck sounds fantastic, has it's own personality, sings sweet, and gets nice when you back the tone off. A definite improvement over the old and the toaster. Way to go Ric, nice one.

Flipping the toggle down, I find the bridge to be less than stellar, almost like a blanket is over it, and rather dull. Not as dull as the button tops, but all of the ring is gone. It's not wired wrong, but just sounds somewhat less dynamic than the neck.

So, here's my situation. I'd like to swap out the bridge pickup back for the toaster, and keep the hi gain in the neck. I have a toaster cover for the neck, but need to know if/where I can get screws, or if I really need them, to be able to fit the cover on the higain. Any advice or suggestions?

Erm ive just taken out the new adjustable higains for toasters.Mike cant you borrow the screws and bolts from you spare pickups for the Toaster cover? I agree that the Bridge is not as crisp as the toaster.A million miles away you take out the Toasters for higains and I do the vice versa!
P.s Have you tried adjusting the pole pieces on the higain? Probably more effective to reduce the A and D and G poles and bring up the B and E for brightness.

scotty wrote:Erm ive just taken out the new adjustable higains for toasters.Mike cant you borrow the screws and bolts from you spare pickups for the Toaster cover? I agree that the Bridge is not as crisp as the toaster.A million miles away you take out the Toasters for higains and I do the vice versa!
P.s Have you tried adjusting the pole pieces on the higain? Probably more effective to reduce the A and D and G poles and bring up the B and E for brightness.

No Scotty, I meant remove the pole pieces on the high gain and replace them with screws that sit flush to the top of the pickup. This way I can mount a toaster cover on it that won't be sitting on top of the pole pieces, but snug on the pickup like the regular toaster covers are. I tried all kinds of adjustments, and it's just not working. Settings that were painfully bright with the toaster are only somewhat bright on these, but they are better than the button top hi gains.

Would this be of interest?

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=384832&st=0&sk=t&s ... ling+nails

Sorry i read that wrong Mike i meant to post this and forgot.Kevins post was great and i remembered this one.So here it is viewtopic.php?f=1&t=379251&p=402824&hil ... es#p402824
im sure this is what your lookin for.i did know what you meant BTW?

Thanks for the hookup Kira and Scotty. Here's to trying not to cut my fingers off with the hacksaw!

Dremel is your friend.

kiramdear wrote:Dremel is your friend.

I have a real nice one, still trying to figure out how to open the case

Did you read how you can substitute magnets for the screws?

kiramdear wrote:Did you read how you can substitute magnets for the screws?

Yeah, I'm just gonna cut the heads off of the screws. I live in a remote area, and am rarely home, so I don't have a lot of time for tinkering (well, maybe a little)

Cool, well good luck, remember at no time allow your fingers to leave your hand.

kiramdear wrote:Cool, well good luck, remember at no time allow your fingers to leave your hand.

I'll do my best, but I ain't makin' no promises

kiramdear wrote:Dremel is your friend.

Mine, too. I've acquired a good deal of my collection with monies earned in repairing hack Dremel work.

jingle_jangle wrote:

kiramdear wrote:Dremel is your friend.

Mine, too. I've acquired a good deal of my collection with monies earned in repairing hack Dremel work.

What's your number? I may be calling you

I've seen quite a few lovelies myself.

whojamfan wrote:

kiramdear wrote:Dremel is your friend.

I have a real nice one, still trying to figure out how to open the case

Try reading the instruction manual to learn how to open the case. But the instructions are in the case, eh?

Here's an idea, borrow another Dremel to cut the case open!