Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello. I've found similar posts but nothing with an exact solution to my problem. My girlfriend's father gave her a 360 from the 80's. Its incredible. The only problem is the pickups seem drastically unmatched, though they both appear to be the stock hi gains from that era. For comparison, I have my '97 330. Though, on mine, the neck pickup can get a little beefy if allowed to be at full output, the pickups blend very well and, consequently, I find that I most frequently use the middle 'blend' pickup toggle selection.
On my girlfriend's 360, the bridge pickup is VERY bright and twangy and the neck is VERY beefy and significantly higher output. Using the middle selection on the toggle is about the same as just using the neck pickup by itself.

I understand that the 5th little knob is used to balance that pickup but it seems I must attenuate the neck pickup more than I should have to. I also plan on adjusting the pickup heights to rectify some of this problem but currently, the heights look appropriate and even very similar to my 330's pickup height.

My question: Is this a difference in 360s and 330s? Is this possibly a wiring problem? I've thought about taking it to be looked at but I work on guitars a little and thought I'd try some other resources first. Thanks in advance for any help.

kind regards,

Ty

Hi Ty, most likely the 360 has the .0047µF cap in line with the bridge pickup, this is something that has been done since the '60s. All you need to do it solder a piece of wire across that cap and the pickup will get it's fullness back, like it is on your 330.

That's the way Hi-Gains from the 80's were made. For my money, the best pickup RIC has ever produced. Just balance the pickups, to taste, with the 5th knob and she'll be good to go.

I'm interested in your opinion of 80s Rick pickups. Were these all the ceramic hi gains I've heard quite a bit about? What features distinguish them cosmetically from other hi gains, out of curiosity?

many thanks for the replies I've received.

-Ty

The tops are a flat, matte finished fiber looking material with smallish buttons. They are commonly refered to as fiber tops. I really don't know if they're ceramic or not. I just believe they are super versatile pickups. The neck has a huge sound. Everything from chunky funk to smooth jazz and the bridge can lay out as much twang as any Tele that I've ever come across. And in the middle position, they give that deep Rickenbacker chime, in my opinion, as sweet as any Toaster.

The magnets on Hi-Gains are ceramic bar magnets.

Revbrodiddley wrote:What features distinguish them cosmetically from other hi gains, out of curiosity?

I'm rather more curious as to the fact if there's really any structural difference between the 80s and current hi-gains in actual PU construction outside of just a different plastic top material.

As I understand it, the specifications of the Hi-Gains have changed several times over the years. What that means in terms of construction, I have no idea. After all, a pickup is just wire wrapped around a magnet, right? It's hard to get my mind around the mojo of it all.

Sorry, I forgot one thing. Try lowering the neck pickup to help balance it with the bridge. I ended up screwing mine down as far as it would go. The 5th knob really comes in handy with these pickups.

NO!!!

I also have early '80's guitars. It's not all the capacitor, although that is part of it. In this era, to get maximum contrast between the neck and bridge pickup tones with the 24-fret necks instead of the older 21-fret necks, the neck pickups were overwound to @ 13 to 14 kohms' worth of wire to get maximum "mellow," while the bridge pickups were underwound with only @ 6 to 6.5 kohms' worth of wire to get maximum "bright." So the neck pickup has more output, compounded by being at a point with a larger string excursion than does the bridge pickup,and therefore has to have the 5th knob turned down significantly to "balance" the bridge pickup output.

As a follow up: I went and looked again at my 320 & 360-12WB FG ckbd. I also have the neck pickups down somewhat, but not all the way. If you screw them down too much, then you lose the articulation at the front of the note and the tone can get thin.

To followup, I still haven't solved the problem, though currently have the guitar with a tech. Hopefully its just a capacitor or pot issue. Anyway, if any of you have a rick from the same era, please weigh in on whether or not this sounds right for sounds between the two pickups. To me, it feels like the neck pu is too chunky and the bridge pu is a little too bright. But currently the bridge pu is as high as it can go and the neck pickup is as low as it can go. The neck pickup is way overpowering the bridge one. Check out the video if you can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx9p8B_B ... e=youtu.be

Revbrodiddley wrote:To followup, I still haven't solved the problem, though currently have the guitar with a tech. Hopefully its just a capacitor or pot issue. Anyway, if any of you have a rick from the same era, please weigh in on whether or not this sounds right for sounds between the two pickups. To me, it feels like the neck pu is too chunky and the bridge pu is a little too bright. But currently the bridge pu is as high as it can go and the neck pickup is as low as it can go. The neck pickup is way overpowering the bridge one. Check out the video if you can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx9p8B_B ... e=youtu.be

Hello Ty, I read over all the posts on this thread and watched your video. Based on the other comments, it sounds like the striking difference in volume and tone is a characteristic of 80s Rics. It strikes me that the simplest solution for you is to swap the pickups so that you move your current neck pickup to the bridge position (and vice versa). That should balance things out more to your liking.

All the best,
Simon

My former '87 610 with he same pickups got a similar sound to what you are demonstrating in the youtube video. The neck pickup on the 610 could get rather muddy. Note the 610 has 21 frets. I would usualy add a bit of the bridge pickup in with the neck to add definition to it.

Wildberry wrote:

Revbrodiddley wrote:What features distinguish them cosmetically from other hi gains, out of curiosity?

I'm rather more curious as to the fact if there's really any structural difference between the 80s and current hi-gains in actual PU construction outside of just a different plastic top material.

I believe that the '80s high gain windings were wound directly on the polepieces wirh fiber board end pieces. Newer high gains have a one piece bobbin. Posting this question in Sérgio's section may result in an more detailed description.

Sorry to go on and on about this, but i've recently stacked another pickup foam ring on top of the current one under the bridge pickup so as to get the height maximized. Its just barely under the strings now, probably to the point where there is actually too much of a magnetic pull on the strings (i've heard this happens and can pull them out of tune?). anyway, the bridge pickup still sounds totally anemic in comparison to the drastically lower neck pickup.

so i'm wondering: wouldn't this mean that the output on the neck pickup is higher than the bridge pickup? If so, would there be any problem in just putting the bridge pickup in the neck position and vice versa? I want the pickups balanced like in my 330. Its crazy, this 360 plays better than my 330 but the 330 sounds better, hands down. I guess if nothing else i could just buy a newer set of hi gains...but in the meantime, is there anything bad about putting the neck in the bridge and bridge in the neck?

thanks again for feedback.