Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm sure folks have spied the three horseshoes for sale on the 'bay. The seller indicates they came from a steel and have six pole pieces. Anyone have insight as to their use in a 4000 or 4001?

BobHyde wrote:I'm sure folks have spied the three horseshoes for sale on the 'bay. The seller indicates they came from a steel and have six pole pieces. Anyone have insight as to their use in a 4000 or 4001?

Toasters have 6 poles.

John is right although I don't know if these are alnico poles or what and that may affect the strength and coverage of the magnetic field. Still there are so many instances of mismatched poles working out that I would not be surprised to learn this can work too.

I don't know if these things are a little different in how they mount on a bass versus a lapsteel... I haven't seen that listing for pics either.

Some horseshoes have six pole pieces too.

At least the ones that were intended for use in 6-string steel guitars do. These have magnetic shoes and the pole pieces are steel.

I know there have been a few people who have successfully put steel guitar horseshoes in a bass. The big thing comes down to the width of the shoes. There are 1-1/4 inch and 1-1/2 inch shoes used in the steels and I have no idea which used which...

Those are sweet. Wonder how high they will go?

I believe Mark Walker tried that. He put a 6 pole HS pickup in a bass & it didn't work well.

I don't know why it works for toasters & not horseshoes...maybe he'll chime in here.

opticnerve wrote:Mark Walker tried that. He put a 6 pole HS pickup in a bass & it didn't work well.

I don't know why it works for toasters & not horseshoes...maybe he'll chime in here.

It works in lots of situations outside of Ric parts as well. For instance many types of Jazz Bass pickups can sense five strings as well as four even if they have only got four pickup poles.

cassius987 wrote:

opticnerve wrote:Mark Walker tried that. He put a 6 pole HS pickup in a bass & it didn't work well.

I don't know why it works for toasters & not horseshoes...maybe he'll chime in here.

It works in lots of situations outside of Ric parts as well. For instance many types of Jazz Bass pickups can sense five strings as well as four even if they have only got four pickup poles.

Interesting Josh!

Who cares about basses? Let's put it on a 12 string!

egosheep wrote:Who cares about basses? Let's put it on a 12 string!

cjj wrote:I know there have been a few people who have successfully put steel guitar horseshoes in a bass. The big thing comes down to the width of the shoes. There are 1-1/4 inch and 1-1/2 inch shoes used in the steels and I have no idea which used which...

To fit a bass surround plate, you have to use the 1-1/4" shoes.

I have shod many a Rick pup. Only with screw top bobbins of the late 60s early 70s. The earliest was a late '68 snot bobbin, and the latest was a 73 pan head.
The thing is, the bobbins got taller once the shoes were dropped, so clearances can be an issue with the E string.
Carefully grinding off the "dome" of the round head screws fixes that, though you need to do a little at a time in order
not to over heat the screw and melt the coating on the coil wire...
When adjusted right, they can really be ripping...

The lap bobbins I pulled out were really tall and allowed no clearance for the thick bass strings, so I did not even try to see what they sounded like.

egosheep wrote:Who cares about basses? Let's put it on a 12 string!

A Combo 850/12 ?

chefothefuture wrote:A Combo 850/12 ?

Sure, or an 800/12!

or a 4003/12