Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm going to throw this out there to the floor. In my opinion, the bridge pickup on Rick guitars is positioned too close to the bridge.

For another project I am working on, I have a surface mount goldfoil style pickup attached straight to an output jack. I tried placing it on top of my Rick and found that I much preferred the sound of the pickup positioned a centimetre or two forward from the actual position of the bridge pickup on the guitar. It still had a chiming top end, but sounded much richer. When placed right up against the bridge it lost a lot of the body and power.

Placement of the bridge pickpup is a trade-off between jangle and girth. On my 1981 320, which has the 21 inch scale instead of the 20 3/4 325's, the pickups were still in the old positions, with the additional 1/4 inch in scale length made by moving the bridge back, effectively changing the tone of the bridge pickup as the OP described - being that much farther from the bridge. Until I figured that out, I wondered why my guitar did not have the bite of the early Beatles' records.

YMMV, but to me, my taste for a Rickenbacker is to have a little more edge or jangle, even at the expense of "body" of tone, so I actually moved my bridge pickup back closer to the bridge as is on the 20 3/4 inch scale models.

iiipopes wrote:Placement of the bridge pickpup is a trade-off between jangle and girth. On my 1981 320, which has the 21 inch scale instead of the 20 3/4 325's, the pickups were still in the old positions, with the additional 1/4 inch in scale length made by moving the bridge back, effectively changing the tone of the bridge pickup as the OP described - being that much farther from the bridge. Until I figured that out, I wondered why my guitar did not have the bite of the early Beatles' records.

YMMV, but to me, my taste for a Rickenbacker is to have a little more edge or jangle, even at the expense of "body" of tone, so I actually moved my bridge pickup back closer to the bridge as is on the 20 3/4 inch scale models.

Interesting take on it, though I suspect that the proximity of the bridge pickup is one of the reasons Rick owners struggle to balance the output between neck and bridge. People saying that a 12k hi gain in the bridge balances about right with a 7.4 k toaster in the neck reflects my experience.

Dr. Frankenrick wrote:

iiipopes wrote:Placement of the bridge pickpup is a trade-off between jangle and girth. On my 1981 320, which has the 21 inch scale instead of the 20 3/4 325's, the pickups were still in the old positions, with the additional 1/4 inch in scale length made by moving the bridge back, effectively changing the tone of the bridge pickup as the OP described - being that much farther from the bridge. Until I figured that out, I wondered why my guitar did not have the bite of the early Beatles' records.

YMMV, but to me, my taste for a Rickenbacker is to have a little more edge or jangle, even at the expense of "body" of tone, so I actually moved my bridge pickup back closer to the bridge as is on the 20 3/4 inch scale models.

Interesting take on it, though I suspect that the proximity of the bridge pickup is one of the reasons Rick owners struggle to balance the output between neck and bridge. People saying that a 12k hi gain in the bridge balances about right with a 7.4 k toaster in the neck reflects my experience.

I wouldn't say it's a struggle - that's the reason the '5th' knob was added.

A 12k toaster pairs well with a scatterwound in the neck, as well - but as it turns out, I also prefer the sound of a 12k toaster in the neck on 6-strings, so I'm back to being unbalanced.

Ric5150 wrote:
I wouldn't say it's a struggle - that's the reason the '5th' knob was added.

.

spot on,

I always regard the neck pick up as the main one, and bridge secondary, I have never liked
the all treble sound some players go for on Ricks.

So many players only use the bridge pick up and I think that misses so much of the tone of these fabulous guitars.

I love playing my 340/6 with selector "up" ie neck pick up (and maybe middle too???)
and dial the 5th knob towards the treble end, at a certain point magic happens and it gets an almost acoustic guitar type
sound.

kt66 wrote:

Ric5150 wrote:
I wouldn't say it's a struggle - that's the reason the '5th' knob was added.

.

spot on,

I always regard the neck pick up as the main one, and bridge secondary, I have never liked
the all treble sound some players go for on Ricks.

So many players only use the bridge pick up and I think that misses so much of the tone of these fabulous guitars.

I love playing my 340/6 with selector "up" ie neck pick up (and maybe middle too???)
and dial the 5th knob towards the treble end, at a certain point magic happens and it gets an almost acoustic guitar type
sound.

This refutes that!

kt66 wrote:...and dial the 5th knob towards the treble end, at a certain point magic happens and it gets an almost acoustic guitar type
sound.

Yes! I have a magic point like that on my 1981 360-12WB FG ckbd.