Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello everyone! Happy June to all. I have a question, how do you remove the horseshoe's pick up cover on the "Reissue" models? I see pictures of them off and everyone says that it's pretty easy to do but no explanation of how to do it. Some people say, "you need to saw them off" which sounds bizarre and I hear some say "I took them off without devaluing/cutting into it." You guys are the experts, how do you take them off? Like to hear from you soon!
Have a good day, friends.

Holding the pickup firmly, carefully remove each of the two Phillips screws on the bottom holding the shoes on. Be sure to keep the bobbin from moving around once the screws are removed. Then reinsert the screws with 1/8" spacers between the screw heads and the pickup base plate. Easy peezy!

Thanks for the reply! and hopefully you see the picture attached. Remove all 4 'slotted' screws on the bottom? I'll be sure to be careful since these pickups are a little difficult to come by.

Take the pickup out of the surround to make it easier to get the shoes out. Then, put small blocks of plastic, metal, whatever, to shim out the space where the shoes would be as the mounting screws would end up being too long if you don't have something there to fill in that gap.

I've done it a few times, its not hard, but you'll wish you had a 3rd hand.

Just be careful with the wires.

bonzogabe98 wrote: Remove all 4 'slotted' screws on the bottom? I'll be sure to be careful since these pickups are a little difficult to come by.

I believe so, but it's been awhile since I've done this. The most important thing to do is keep the bobbin from moving around, as the wires from it to the output lead are quite fragile.

This is how it'l look without the shoes:

I'm confused.

I was under the impression that the horseshoe was an integral part of the magnetic circuit for the horseshoe pickup. Is this not true for the reissue? Is it true for the original HS pickups? Was it never true?

The Original Horseshoe pickup had shoes that were part of the magnetic field and was not removable. However, Reissue's have the advantage of removing the shoes since they're basically just for cosmetic show.

In the original Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup -- used in lapsteels in the '30s and in Rick basses through 1968 -- the "shoes" were of a type of metal that was magnetized and created the magnetic field. The "pickup" or bobbin housed within the "shoes" contained slugs or screws that were not themselves magnets or magnetized.

On the reissues with horseshoes, there is a pickup with magnetized slugs that generates the bulk of the magnetic field. Some say the presence of the reissue horseshoes affect that field, but if the shoes are removed the difference in sonic quality is minimal to none. Further, don't waste your time trying to "magnetize" the reissue shoes. They won't hold a charge.

To me, that sounds like a fundamental change in how the pickup operates. In my mind, that means that it isn't really a reissue at all, but a new pickup that happens (by design, of course) to look like an old pickup. Like a RepliCar. Sure, it looks like a '55 Thunderbird, but when you open the hood, it's a rather different beast.

Isaac wrote:To me, that sounds like a fundamental change in how the pickup operates. In my mind, that means that it isn't really a reissue at all, but a new pickup that happens (by design, of course) to look like an old pickup. Like a RepliCar. Sure, it looks like a '55 Thunderbird, but when you open the hood, it's a rather different beast.

For the historical record, RIC has never claimed the RI HS PU operates/functions like the old ones.

And that's fine. It's their gear, their trademarks. They can do anything they want to with them.

libratune wrote:In the original Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup -- used in lapsteels in the '30s and in Rick basses through 1968 -- the "shoes" were of a type of metal that was magnetized and created the magnetic field. The "pickup" or bobbin housed within the "shoes" contained slugs or screws that were not themselves magnets or magnetized.

Didn't McCartney remove the horseshoe from his '64 in the 70's? Yet he was still getting a lot of that treble tone out of it (Silly Love Songs, etc).

RobW wrote:

libratune wrote:In the original Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup -- used in lapsteels in the '30s and in Rick basses through 1968 -- the "shoes" were of a type of metal that was magnetized and created the magnetic field. The "pickup" or bobbin housed within the "shoes" contained slugs or screws that were not themselves magnets or magnetized.

Didn't McCartney remove the horseshoe from his '64 in the 70's? Yet he was still getting a lot of that treble tone out of it (Silly Love Songs, etc).

No, the pickup had been replaced by that time with a hi-gain.