Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have had my Miami 325 now for about three weeks. I have some concerns and questions, and any help would be, uhh, helpful.

1. My high B and E strings ring out way too much. With these non-polepiece toasters there is no way to evenly equalize string volume. Should I change string gauge on those two strings? Lower just half the pickup on the treble side? Just nature of the beast on this guitar and I should pick those strings with less gusto?

2. The neck pickup gives me a dull, muffled response. When played with all three pickups going, I welcome it because it fattens the tone, but on its own (with the middle pickup) I have no use for that neck pickup. Bum pickup or just the way things are? Guitar is bright and trebly as heck, but that neck pickup sure isn't.

3. I have .12s on there now, what exactly would going to .13s do?

No major concerns, really. I dig the guitar and can certainly deal with either of the two concerns above. Just wondering, that's all.

Nature of the beast, for the most part. You can try lowering the treble side of the pickups a bit. The neck and mid pickups together are always super bassy. Maybe messing with the 5th knob will minimize that somewhat. I have typically used bridge only on 325s unless they had the blender mod.

I may be committing heresy, here, but I'm not particularly fond of the neck+middle combination. On my 350s and 340, I swapped-out the volume pots for push/pulls (Ric Botique) so I can pull to kill either the neck or middle pickup individually. That gives me full switching capability. The middle by itself and especially the bridge+middle are my favorites on those. Not a difficult mod, either, so if you're not a do-it-yourselfer, I wouldn't think a tech would charge a whole lot. Entirely reversible, as well.

My personal preference is for the blender mod -- makes the 5th knob a volume for the middle pickup. Then you can blend it in with the bridge pickup that has the .0047 cap on it.

Not to argue preferences, as you're certainly entitled to yours, but with the push/pulls and the neck pickup pulled, the 5th knob still works as a blender for the middle pickup, or you can use the "normal" volume knob. You also preserve the blender function of the neck pickup with the bridge if you push the neck pot and pull the middle pot.

Ric5150 wrote:Not to argue preferences, as you're certainly entitled to yours, but with the push/pulls and the neck pickup pulled, the 5th knob still works as a blender for the middle pickup, or you can use the "normal" volume knob. You also preserve the blender function of the neck pickup with the bridge if you push the neck pot and pull the middle pot.

Aha. Cool!

Hi,
I applied the fifth knob blender mod on my guitar and i use Thomastik Infeld flatwounds 13`s. so all the strings sound equal to me. I have the neck pickup very close to the strings to get equal volume on every pickup, it works perfect to me. Just try it the fifth knob mod is a reversible mod and gives you a lot more versatility. Flatwounds suit the guitar very well (In my opinion TI`s are best)

Greetings

Peter

Thanks, folks.

That neck pickup on most of my guitars I find useless. I like treble and most neck pickups just always sound dull to me. The Ric 325 neck pickup I find totally useless. Yeah, perhaps I must work the fifth knob better, but as for right now I love the way my guitar plays with the bridge alone and the bridge/middle/neck combo.

I have TI flats on my White Falcon. I really dig how the strings play, but I just am not happy with how the low E just thuds. No life at all to that string. So what I did was swap out the low E (and low A) with the low strings from a set of GHS Brite Flats. That set gives you the great flatwound feel, but the low strings have more bite and treble than the lows in a Thoastik Infeld set. Maybe one day I'll give a mix/match TI/Brite Flats set to my 325. As for right now I do love the sparkly treble of the roundwounds that came with the guitar.

Ric5150 wrote:I may be committing heresy, here, but I'm not particularly fond of the neck+middle combination. On my 350s and 340, I swapped-out the volume pots for push/pulls (Ric Botique) so I can pull to kill either the neck or middle pickup individually. That gives me full switching capability. The middle by itself and especially the bridge+middle are my favorites on those. Not a difficult mod, either, so if you're not a do-it-yourselfer, I wouldn't think a tech would charge a whole lot. Entirely reversible, as well.

You're not the only one. See my thread for my mods with a DPDT push-pull.