Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Greetings- I've been checking out this forum for awhile now and finnaly got off my arse and registered! You have all been a great help to many of my questions regarding these superb instruments- thanx. For my question,the base on my V63 horseshoe snapped in half{plastic}.I found a 1950's 8 string lap steel horseshoe pu for cheap $$ and upon taking it apart, I found the dimensions and screw holes the same as my V63. Is it possible to remove the 8 string coil,install my V63 coil w/it's slug poles and have a functional old style horseshoe bass pu? How much will this alter the sound,good,bad?

Welcome aboard Chris, thats a bummer with your V63, unfortunatly this question is out of my league, not much of a tech-head here. But Im sure some of the other guys will chime in to help. Once again, welcome aboard!

It should be fine ... I assume your lap steel horseshoe bass is Aluminum ... in the old days the horseshoe and high gains sat on an aluminum base ...

Here's a 1968 horseshoe pickup with the original aluminum base ...

Sergio!

I'm here. Thanks, Jared.
Well, Chris, I believe the answer is yes, since an aluminum baseplate can only assist in effectively grounding the whole pickup assembly. And I'm sure it will not alter the sound of the pickup in any way, as aluminum is not magnetically conductive.
Welcome aboad, by the way.

I'm amazed all the dimensions are the same! Kudos to Rickenbacker, F.C. and John for holding the past without forsaking functionality. Good luck with the pickup, Chris.

I was the one with that same problem on my 4000 a few weeks ago. I finally got the super glue to hold by just letting it sit for a few days. If it happens again, I will make one for it out of plexiglas. The plastic they use for those bases must be a bit on the brittle side, ya think ? I did notice that the bases for the high gains are the same as the ones on the re-issue horseshoes.

Maybe we should all get 4004s and not have to worry about these plastic bases breaking. As I haven't seen these plastic bases, where do they break? And why do they break? I can't imagine there is much stress on them except perhaps at the height adjustment screws.

The best solution obviously is to find somebody to make aluminum bases to replace the plastic ones for those who need it.

Mine broke at the height adjustment screw post. On some of the bases this area is raised. So at the junction there could/would be a stress riser.

On another post some guy said his broke in half-musta been some gig!

The reissue shoes have more parallel surfaces and the material is a tad thicker.

Making the base out of aluminium (UK) is easy, polishing it makes for a project.

Chris, If you have a complete 8 stringer with horseshoes that are holding a charge you can make a coil to suit a bass. The coil wouldn't need magnets in it so the v63 coil which HAS got magnets in it might not be the best thing to use. A P90 bobbin is close to the old early '60's pickup. If you can find a blank undrilled one you could then wind the .44 from the 8 stringer onto it, drill 4 holes & make a very close replica that works like an original. Jeffs above uses a slightly different bobbin to my '64.

Thanks for the input & photo- The base on the lap pu looks like pressed brass,with nuts welded to the bottom ends for the height adjust screws,and not as thick as the 68 pu above.I'll try to post some pic's soon.For now,I'll put it together using the V63 bobbin and let ya know how it sounds-

The base wouldn't have to be polished, mine isn't. It is just bare aluminum, so that would be vintage correct. To be truly vintage correct however, the underside of the baseplate should have the blue Alcoa logo, mine does. :0)

well the former CEO of ALCOA is back in the job market.

Can't find ALCOA aluminium here tho.

This is the bottom of the baseplate of my '72. Aluminum. I don't know if it's Alcoa or what.

Mine looks like your typical dull silver looking aluminum. Interesting that Rickenbacker used different kinds of material for these things. Definitely makes for interesting history, sort of like Ferrari in the old days where no two cars in a series may be exactly alike.