Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What are the differences between the neck and bridge Hi-gain pickups?

Besides the larger magnet on the bridge pickup, what are the differences that this produces?

I would like to mount a neck Hi-gain in the bridge position as I like the looks of the chrome ring on the neck pickup.

As far as I can tell, you can't put a chrome ring on the bridge pickup because the magnet is so much larger. Or can you?

I've seen some toasters in the bridge position, but I believe these are just toaster covers on a Hi-gain since the toasters have the magnet rods protruding far below the pickup and you'd have to drill or cut the plastic bridge pickup support piece to mount a toaster.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

iriane wrote:I've seen some toasters in the bridge position, but I believe these are just toaster covers on a Hi-gain since the toasters have the magnet rods protruding far below the pickup and you'd have to drill or cut the plastic bridge pickup support piece to mount a toaster.

Not so. A toaster can easily be mounted onto the mounting plate of the bridge high-gain pickup. I did so on my old '04 4003FL. All it took was a couple of screws, washers and nuts (all stainless steel, of course). The high-gain needs to removed by cutting the leads and unscrewing it from the mounting plate before attacking the toaster pickup.

jps wrote:

iriane wrote:I've seen some toasters in the bridge position, but I believe these are just toaster covers on a Hi-gain since the toasters have the magnet rods protruding far below the pickup and you'd have to drill or cut the plastic bridge pickup support piece to mount a toaster.

Not so. A toaster can easily be mounted onto the mounting plate of the bridge high-gain pickup. I did so on my old '04 4003FL. All it took was a couple of screws, washers and nuts (all stainless steel, of course). The high-gain needs to removed by cutting the leads and unscrewing it from the mounting plate before attacking the toaster pickup.

How were you able to mount the toaster flush to the mounting plate since the magnets protrude out the bottom of the toaster?



Did you use the rubber washer spacers on the screws or the full-size foam pad gasket?

I just don't see how to mount it flush without it sitting about 1/4" above the mounting plate...unless of course a hole was cut into the mounting plate so the magnets could sit lower than the bottom of the pickup itself.

Or, perhaps your toaster didn't have long protruding magnets?

Please shed some light on how you did this.

Thanks!

iriane wrote:

jps wrote:

iriane wrote:I've seen some toasters in the bridge position, but I believe these are just toaster covers on a Hi-gain since the toasters have the magnet rods protruding far below the pickup and you'd have to drill or cut the plastic bridge pickup support piece to mount a toaster.

Not so. A toaster can easily be mounted onto the mounting plate of the bridge high-gain pickup. I did so on my old '04 4003FL. All it took was a couple of screws, washers and nuts (all stainless steel, of course). The high-gain needs to removed by cutting the leads and unscrewing it from the mounting plate before attacking the toaster pickup.

How were you able to mount the toaster flush to the mounting plate since the magnets protrude out the bottom of the toaster?



Did you use the rubber washer spacers on the screws or the full-size foam pad gasket?

I just don't see how to mount it flush without it sitting about 1/4" above the mounting plate...unless of course a hole was cut into the mounting plate so the magnets could sit lower than the bottom of the pickup itself.

Or, perhaps your toaster didn't have long protruding magnets?

Please shed some light on how you did this.

Thanks!

On some vintage guitars, the neck pickup was a specially constructed "short magnet" pickup, where the magnets did not protrude out the bottom of the pickup. This is probably not the case here.

On some baseplates for the bridge position of 4001/3 basses, especially recent ones, Mr. JH redesigned the baseplate with extra mounting holes to accept all RIC pickups, including RIC humbuckers as well as toasters and the stock hi-gains. The screws have to be longer, but they don't need to be stainless steel. Guitar versions of the hi-gain pickups have a bar magnet on the bottom that protrudes about the same distance as the alnico slugs of a toaster.

iriane wrote:How were you able to mount the toaster flush to the mounting plate since the magnets protrude out the bottom of the toaster?



Did you use the rubber washer spacers on the screws or the full-size foam pad gasket?

I just don't see how to mount it flush without it sitting about 1/4" above the mounting plate...unless of course a hole was cut into the mounting plate so the magnets could sit lower than the bottom of the pickup itself.

Or, perhaps your toaster didn't have long protruding magnets?

Please shed some light on how you did this.

Thanks!

The magnets simply sit on the mounting base. The above mentioned hardware hold the pickup down tight (but don't crank them down, just make it snug). Works perfectly, and at just the right height, too.

Thanks for clearing that up...

So...

Does anyone know the differences between the neck Hi-gain and the bridge Hi-gain pickups?

iriane wrote:Thanks for clearing that up...

So...

Does anyone know the differences between the neck Hi-gain and the bridge Hi-gain pickups?

The larger magnet produces a sharper articulation.

iiipopes wrote:The larger magnet produces a sharper articulation.

...and, I would guess, slightly greater output/sensitivity - which would make sense, given that the amplitude of vibration of any plucked string gets smaller, the closer you get to the bridge.