Late-model Humbuckers

Dacious · Post by **Dacious** » Mon Sep 25, 2000 5:17 pm

In the tech details on these pages, John Hall writes about the humbuckers and how they were designed to be easily splittable. Do you know which wire is which on these? I am enjoying this guitar and just want to try - without permanently modifying it - the single-coil sound.

markthemd · Post by **markthemd** » Mon Sep 25, 2000 11:45 pm

I don't know the color coding on one of these pickups.

I would use a Volt/ohm meter to figure it out.

If there are 3 wires total....then one is hot ,one is ground/earth,and the 3rd is the center tap.

If there are 4 colored wires and one bare
then the bare is always ground/earth and from there I would need a meter.

Is this wiring on the rickenbacker page?

Dacious · Post by **Dacious** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 12:59 am

No- the page just shows them as having two wires like an old Gibson hummer, and even the exploded component view isn't clear on this. John Hall's posts on the 'RicReg'page mention several times about the PCB on the base and ease of 'hotrodding' the coil array, but don't say which wire/lug is which.

I s'ppose I could just track the earths, work out from that which is are the hot leads and try splicing one of them. I'd like the use the rear of the two coils if possible though. I might try an e-mail direct to Ric and see what they say.

I find these pickups fascinating - they are high impedance on a DMM, which might imply a strong magnet, yet you can adjust them right up under the strings and they exhibit little or no string pull. A small movement in height (one turn on the screw) can produce a big difference in output. I was on the verge of writing them off as too bassy, but I've found that the height relationship between the p/u-treble, and p/u-bass strings, is especially crucial to a balanced sound. They're the most articulate hummers I've tried, approaching s/c but much quieter. When overdriving a tube amp they sound magic. There is some Ric sound there, obviously not quite like a hollow guit with Toasters.

markthemd · Post by **markthemd** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 11:16 am

With any humbucking pickup you have two coils

one coil has a hot wire and a connecting wire,the other coil a connecting wire and a ground/earth wire.

some pickups have a lead coming off the bottom of them that has a hot with 2 leads and a ground wire encased in vinyl .

some pickups have lugs on the bottom of them to attatch wires to to connect to the controls.(Kent Armstrong and Guild)

Some pickups have a vinyl cased wire with multiple leads (Duncan and Dimarzio and Tom Anderson).

Some have just a single conductor /shielded cable ,this is a wire running thru the center of a cable that has the ground around the hot.
(Rickenbacker toasters and Hi gains,Gibson P-90's and humbuckers)
I emailed sales at the factory and
Henry Mcguinn is having John Hall send me the correct factory info and I will post it ,if John doesn't himself.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 11:17 am

On the back of the pickup is a small circuit board. Each of the two coils is terminated to small pads on the board, allowing you access to all four leads coming from the coil. Pads 1 & 2 cover the first coil, while pads 3 & 4 are for the second coil. The shield is kept separate and has a fifth pad area for connection. We connect these up with 4 conductor plus shield cable, and make the standard humbucking connection at the tail end of the leads, for everyone's convenience.

The beauty of this system is that since all leads are available, unlike other humbuckers, you can design circuits which use phase-reversal, single coil splits, a single coil with center tap, and even active differential humbucking (like the John Kay Model), or plain old mechanical humbucking.

markthemd · Post by **markthemd** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 11:41 am

Thank you John for the info,hope this solves your mystery.

Dacious · Post by **Dacious** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 5:59 pm

Double - ditto on the thanks. I am so impressed with this guitar and I think adding a s/c switch will open a new dimension that I'm going to buy a 2nd pickguard to drill holes for switches to experiment with phase/coil switching.

terry · Post by **terry** » Thu Sep 28, 2000 10:32 am

Dacious,

You may want to consider the use of push-pull or pushbutton pots with DPDT switching capabilities. That might eliminate the need for an extra pickguard to accomodate extra pickguard switch holes, depending on what you had in mind. Just a thought.

markthemd · Post by **markthemd** » Fri Sep 29, 2000 6:57 am

Yamaha has the push/push pots that I really like .

the push/pull are okay but those I think are better.And they hold up really well.You can do more with them as they have a double pole ,double throw switch on the pot ,instead of a single pole double throw switch.

Dacious · Post by **Dacious** » Sun Oct 22, 2000 8:50 am

An update. After taking to my luthier (who did a great setup and improved already good playability even more), he discovered an earthing problem with my treble pickup at the tone pot! It was outputting, but it was like the treble was rolled right off and output cut by 50%. NOW it roars like a champion, and I find it even more impressive! I can't blame Ric for this as I bought the guitar second hand, but it's the end of a frustrating period for me! I like the sound of this pickup so much now - it's a great counterpoint to the neck pickup! I'm so impressed that I've found a sound like no-one else around here - and it's a good one! One happy camper!

Dacious · Post by **Dacious** » Sun Nov 05, 2000 10:54 pm

Further update (sorry for enthusing). Tried the single coil sound, and I have left it permanently wired - h/b for neck, s/c for bridge pickup. It is not noticeable noisy with neck selected, but has a brilliant, clear, biting tone! The neck h/b tone is not bad, but I prefer this sound. WHen both are selected it adds a little complexity, which can be further varied by tone and volume controls.Both pickups will still overdrive a tube amp nicely - the neck has a real chunk-chunka flat-out, and the treble pickup cuts!