Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My wife needs surgery and we're without insurance, so I'm looking at thinning the herd considerably.

My 650A is a wonderful guitar - great neck, feels really nice. But I've never jived with the pickups. The HB1s are just too dang muddy for me (and this is an all maple guitar!). I've had 2 other Dakotas and had the same trouble.

What options do I have for replacement pickups? I LOVE Teles and play my ASAT way more, but I hate to put the Atlantis up on the block because it's pretty much irreplaceable (this one is octagon's old one that has the lovely flamed headstock).

Please save the Atlantis! Thanks!

Before pickups, try some 500k pots.

I'm not too familiar with the 650's, but aren't those HB's capable of being split to single coil with a coil tap? Maybe that would give you more variations mixing single coil and HB, and also give a little of that single coil vibe like your Tele. A long time ago I had a Washburn A20 with coil taps on both neck and bridge pick ups. It really gave a lot of tonal variations to play with.

You might also try a treble bleed on the volume control pot. Slightly reducing the volume can brighten up your sound considerably. This is the same way most Telecasters volume pots are wired.

sloop_john_b wrote:Before pickups, try some 500k pots.

This will help as I did this to my former 650C. In the end I put on RIC high gains.

austinandwhatnot wrote:My wife needs surgery and we're without insurance, so I'm looking at thinning the herd considerably.

My 650A is a wonderful guitar - great neck, feels really nice. But I've never jived with the pickups. The HB1s are just too dang muddy for me (and this is an all maple guitar!). I've had 2 other Dakotas and had the same trouble.

What options do I have for replacement pickups? I LOVE Teles and play my ASAT way more, but I hate to put the Atlantis up on the block because it's pretty much irreplaceable (this one is octagon's old one that has the lovely flamed headstock).

Please save the Atlantis! Thanks!

Thinning the herd? So are you selling the Atlantis? If so, I wouldn't change anything on it.

What amp are you using? Amps, too, play a role in the sound of a guitar.

If you are going to swap pickups, might I suggest modern Hi-Gain pickups. They will fit right into the spots of the HB-1's without any extra routing and I believe the ohmage is the same. (roughly 12k, right?) Not to mention, they are single coils, which, if you leave a Tele stock, has as well.

The 500k pots will definitely help. I have a 650S with the HB1's and 500k poys -No muddiness at all.

Thanks for the replies!

I'm not going to mod then sell immediately. I'm trying to find pickups or mods that will make me keep it

I'm tempted to move it just because I know it will sell quick and my wife has the surgery in two weeks, but I'm afraid I'll regret it. And I'm not sure what a fair price would be...

Findong another Atlantis would not be easy.

I hope you don't have to sell it, but if you do, keep in mind that any mods you make will likely reduce its market value.

I'm definitely keeping the stock parts so I can put it back to factory spec if needed. I'd never route it out for EMGs or anything crazy like some have done to 650 models. Thanks for the concern