Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Are there any hi-gain covers to make them look like toasters? Love the hi-gain sound, but the look....eh, not so much

Yes, there are. Try Chris Clayton at Pick of the Ricks.

Or try Mike Parts at the Rickenbacker page (http://www.the-music-connection.com/ricpart.htm )

$25 apiece, you'll have to replace the threaded button tops (with an allen key) and replace the poles with flat-headed screws with the same thread pitch to fit the covers on. Search the forum, there are many topic threads about it.

Thanks!

...and btw, what exactly are the poles? Can I really just replace them with the same size screw?

The way pickups work is that the movement of the metal strings in the magnetic field from the pickup magnets distorts the "magnetic flux" through the pickup coil, which in turn produces an electric current. The pole pieces change the shape of the magnetic field, and thus affect the change in flux caused by the movement of the strings, which changes the resulting current and, ultimately, the tone of the p/u. So replacing the adjustable pole pieces with flush-mounted screws can at least in theory affect the sound of your pickups. Having never tried this on my Hi-Gains, though, I can't say how much difference it makes in practice.

The Mod Lang wrote:...and btw, what exactly are the poles? Can I really just replace them with the same size screw?

They are the steel poles in you pickup --- yes, a screw works the same.

All done!

collin wrote:

The Mod Lang wrote:...and btw, what exactly are the poles? Can I really just replace them with the same size screw?

They are the steel poles in you pickup --- yes, a screw works the same.

Use stainless or brass machine screws and see what happens.

FYI, our parts are very low carbon, non-heat treated steel, as poor as could be for screws, but as close to iron as you can get, and perfect for pole pieces.

Mod Lang
Your Toasterized High Gains look real good !!
Bet they sound better too, just from the coolness factor !!!

Poles don't just shape the magnetic field and affect "string response." They form the magnetic core of the inductor that is the pickup. With no poles you've basically got an air core inductor which has much lower inductance than one with an iron/magnet core. Lower inductance = reduced bass response. I would imagine that even replacing the button top poles with low carbon steel screws will lower the inductance because you've reduced the permeability of the core by reducing the mass (assuming similar material properties between the original poles and the screws). There is a lot more going on, but it gets deep fast...

analogpackrat wrote:Poles don't just shape the magnetic field and affect "string response." They form the magnetic core of the inductor that is the pickup. With no poles you've basically got an air core inductor which has much lower inductance than one with an iron/magnet core. Lower inductance = reduced bass response. I would imagine that even replacing the button top poles with low carbon steel screws will lower the inductance because you've reduced the permeability of the core by reducing the mass (assuming similar material properties between the original poles and the screws). There is a lot more going on, but it gets deep fast...

I used set screws on mine. The size was sort of hard to find, but after poking around a bit, it was a pretty easy mod.

Does this mod affect the sound of the pickups I might consider doing this to my rics ?

BILLYC58 wrote:Does this mod affect the sound of the pickups I might consider doing this to my rics ?

My mod just made the pickups sound thinner and more trebly, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Even so, the difference is negligible and could probably be mitigated by buying nicer screws.