Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Do I need to change the bridge volume pot to 500k? I just swapped one out for my bridge toaster and my middle and neck positions are remarkably louder. I tried adjusting the heights, but theres still a difference. Any suggestions?

It's been highly suggested that the pot be changed to 500K when changing to HB-1 pickups...

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Sounds like you're wasting no time making this 330 your main guitar, Snowman. Hope to see and hear it next year

I suggest sticking a bar magnet under your bridge toaster for higher output.

This bar magnet thing is very interesting! Does the toaster still sound like a toaster but louder? - Really no idea...!

Stuck a 1 meg pot for the volume and turned the 5 way switch into a coil roll off. Now I get the HB-1 humbucker, and in the middle position, I can roll off 1 of it's coils and it humbucks with the neck toaster. Tones a plenty, and 2 useable humbucking modes which is good for heavier drive and crummy power in the venues.

More to come.

Ok, works pretty good now, but want to put the toaster back into the bridge and put the HB-1 in the middle 340 style. Do I need to route a channel for it, or just drill the hole to run the wire through? Will the HB-1 just screw on the top? I know I need to mod or buy a top pickguard for it as well. Any help would be great.

paologregorio wrote:I suggest sticking a bar magnet under your bridge toaster for higher output.

Interesting - What kind of magnet should be used? I have a spare Alnico II lying around!

Mike, lots of modding going on - any pictures to gives us a look in the kitchen?

Pics when I get it just right, which may be some time as I'm a fussy old coot.

whojamfan wrote:Ok, works pretty good now, but want to put the toaster back into the bridge and put the HB-1 in the middle 340 style. Do I need to route a channel for it, or just drill the hole to run the wire through? Will the HB-1 just screw on the top? I know I need to mod or buy a top pickguard for it as well. Any help would be great.

Don't route it... just buy Werners!
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Thanks Dane, appreciate the expertise

I was thinking of wiring just the RVRP coil of the HB-1 to the 5th knob so I could just roll in that coil to humbuck the toasters if I really needed to buck the hum at gigs with horribly noisey electricity. I find the stock function of the 5th knob essential on my 12 string, but my 6 it's not as usefull for me as something like this would be. I currently have the other coil wired to the 5th knob so I can roll it off and just leave the one on that "bucks". I'll bypass any switching and just have the 5th knob bring in the HB-1 or ground it, and not even hook the other one up. I'm finding the HB-1 by itself as a humbucker in the bridge position too much of a compromise as I really love the toaster roundness and feel. The combination of the HB-1s 1 coil and a toaster still retains most of that sound.

I just wanna play my 330 loud, fast, and mean, and prove to people Rickenbackers aren't just "rhythm" guitars or only for nostalgic indulgence. Rickenbackers are so much more than the stereotype, we know that, and I love rockin the snot out of my 330.

Still dinking around with the wiring because I'm a nut.
Currently have a Joe Barden in the bridge and a scatterwound toaster in the neck. I've got the neck toaster wired up like the old G&L bass control on it's tone knob, same two regular volumes, a master tone where the bridge tone was, and the 5th knob is a master volume with a treble bleed.
Pretty happy with the results.
I can dial all the mud out of the neck to the point where it sounds almost like the bridge. Gonna play with a few more cap values on the "bass control" and experiment with some other pot values just to see what I can do.