Thinking about adding a third pickup to my 620.

sleepingtiger · Post by **sleepingtiger** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:51 am

I love this thing!,,but I think I'd love it more with an additional pickup in the middle. Has anyone done this or tried one or have any experience with this?

Thanks-in-Advance,
Tony

kiramdear · Post by **kiramdear** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:01 am

Yeah, it can be done, and I like the look of it.

You'd want to make a first class job of it, of course.

Our own doctorwho has one that he's posted a while back. You might search his posts for a picture from recent months:
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=445

Try searching the registry, as well. You can refine your search to 3 pickup 620s.

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:46 am

Tony, I am interested in why you feel that you would love this instrument more with a third pickup. Getting used to the middle pickup does take some time. It did for me. I have found that my favourite tones remain bridge and neck and bridge. I found I liked the look of the third pickup more than the playability and added tones. So I would encourage you to play a 370 and a 340 before you take the plunge. Just being the jangle's advocate here. Exploring new tones and modifications is the spice of life but not all spices work with all gourmet meals.

Matt Clark · Post by **Matt Clark** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:10 am

sleepingtiger wrote:I love this thing!,,but I think I'd love it more with an additional pickup in the middle. Has anyone done this or tried one or have any experience with this?
Thanks-in-Advance,
Tony

Yep, here's mine in the registry. It's also my avatar.

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... ine%3Dtrue

I love mine! I think it looks better. I don't like the empty space either. And, since it's not the standard RIC 3 pickup wiring it sounds better too. I can get all the "out of phase," "Nashville" sounds I want by blending in the middle pickup using the smaller fade pot. And, because there are no additional controls I could always wire it with the standard 320/340/370 schematic for the RIC purist snobs... although I can't remove the pickup without some wood fill and a refinish. This guitar has turned yellow (yuck) so I'm considering a refin anyhow to bring it back to stark white and use a good finish that won't yellow again.

What I CAN'T tell you is if it devalues the guitar at all. So, moving forward for you depends on how much you care if your guitar keeps it's resale value. Although, since I used an original RIC pickup, and it is not atypical for a RIC to have 3 pickups [maybe not a 620], I can't imagine that it would effect it greatly. Since I paid too much to get a clean white with the BH BT, I probably wouldn't get my money back anyway, but I bet it would still sell for a fair market price when my kids are cleaning up my estate--if you know what I mean?

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:54 am

Matt: I have all possible combinations of the three pickups due to modified wiring, but as of yet none of the new sounds really beat my two favourites of neck and bridge and bridge alone. Perhaps I need to explore it more.

Matt Clark · Post by **Matt Clark** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:45 pm

admin wrote:Matt: I have all possible combinations of the three pickups due to modified wiring, but as of yet none of the new sounds really beat my two favourites of neck and bridge and bridge alone. Perhaps I need to explore it more.

Peter, first you have to like the strat/tele sound, right?

It still sound like a RIC if I take the middle pickup out of the mix, (although you are back to using the volume controls to blend them when needed). But, making this change has made my 620 way more versatile.

I can get really close to that second and fourth position strat sound depending on where I drop the little pot. Also, my tech guy flipped the magnet in the middle, which might be part of the reason? And, as a nice side effect, it turns them all into Pseudo-humbucking pickups (as they are working together that way) as far as noise cancelling goes. I really don't know that much about electronics, but I trust my tech guy. He always does a great job!

I don't think I would mess with my 360/12, but I've seriously considered modding my 360/6 and my 330/6 this way too. I picturing the potential semi-hollow tele sounds that might be achieved.

I think it's a great mod!

jdawe · Post by **jdawe** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:14 pm

I haven't done this with my 620s, but I think that if you do go this route Matt's mod with the separate control for the middle pickup would be a good way to go. The fifth knob doesn't really do anything you can't also do by tweaking the neck volume knob, so you don't really lose any functionality by converting it to a control for the middle pickup. It would be very cool to be able to get a Strat-like tone in addition to the tones you can already get from the current configuration. Conversely, I'm not sure that the standard 3-pickup Rick wiring (in which the middle and neck are wired together) gives you any real advantage -- I'm not sure that the two pickups together actually sound better than the neck p/u alone, as opposed to just different.

sleepingtiger · Post by **sleepingtiger** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:11 pm

Tony, I am interested in why you feel that you would love this instrument more with a third pickup. Getting used to the middle pickup does take some time. It did for me. I have found that my favourite tones remain bridge and neck and bridge. I found I liked the look of the third pickup more than the playability and added tones. So I would encourage you to play a 370 and a 340 before you take the plunge. Just being the jangle's advocate here. Exploring new tones and modifications is the spice of life but not all spices work with all gourmet meals.

I already own a 370/12VP, so I am familiar with the tones, even thought the 370 has toasters & the 620 has Hi-Gains. I find that neck alone is the only option that I don't use.

Tony

sleepingtiger · Post by **sleepingtiger** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:15 pm

By the way, was I correct when I told my tech that installing a 3rd pickup would require only drilling with no routing required, due to the pickups being "top-mounted"?

Tony

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:17 pm

Thanks Tony. The plot thickens.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:46 pm

sleepingtiger wrote:By the way, was I correct when I told my tech that installing a 3rd pickup would require only drilling with no routing required, due to the pickups being "top-mounted"?

Tony

No. The pickup magnet(s) will extend below the top surface of the guitar. You can use a forstner bit for this rather than a router if you wish for toasters but a high gain may require a router.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:57 pm

ken_j wrote:
sleepingtiger wrote:By the way, was I correct when I told my tech that installing a 3rd pickup would require only drilling with no routing required, due to the pickups being "top-mounted"?

Tony
No. The pickup magnet(s) will extend below the top surface of the guitar. You can use a forstner bit for this rather than a router if you wish for toasters but a high gain may require a router.

Ken is correct, the pickups have cut-outs below them:

Here is what my 620 "SPC" looks like with the pickkguard removed:

sleepingtiger · Post by **sleepingtiger** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:45 am

Thanks guys! I figured if anybody would know the answers, it would be you people!

Tony

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:07 pm

If you do, contact me for my push-pull mod diagram. You will get twice the number of usable tones out of the various pickup combinations.

sleepingtiger · Post by **sleepingtiger** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:52 am

Thanks Scott! I WAS planning on turning one of the tone pots into a middle pickup control with a push/push pot & leaving the standard wiring as is. My other alternative is to do 3 volumes W/push/push on/off switches with a master tone, leaving the 3-way unused. What is your suggestion?

Tony

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