Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'd like to disguise a humbucker with a toaster cover. It doesn't work as a straight swap. The solid top on the pup interferes with the center bar on the cover, so it won't fit flush. String clearance is problematic, and it looks goofy.

My idea (which is potentially disastrous) is to route a channel in the top on the humbucker to accommodate the cover. I am assuming that the top 1/16" or so (which is what has to come off) is nothing but resin, and can be removed without causing any harm to the pickup or having a detrimental effect on performance. Can anyone confirm or refute my theory (such as it is)? I don't want to start this just to see miles of wire spooled around my router bit.

Anyone have a dead humbucker they want to donate to science?

I'd talk to RIC and see what they say.

My short answer; Don't mess with this; it won't work.

Man, you're no fun.

It's probably plastic there, but you'd probably have to experiment. I don't know if Ric will tell you, but it's worth a shot.

IF you don't feel like routing it, you could always take a piece of reflective adhesive foil and just cut a strip to emulate the center portion. Either that or just cut a pice of metal the same thickness and glue it to the top of the humbucker to make the center strip.

I've turned hi gains into short pole toasters but I haven't done the humbucker cover experiment although I've talked about trying it, but just haven't had time to try it. Good luck, I'd be interested to hear how it turns out.

don't route it or grind it or mutilate it ... shim it at the base with washers ...

Actually I picked up a couple fake toasters ... the cover is a little bigger and may fit fine on a ric humbucker ...

If you were going to put "something" accross the top, I would try an auto supply store and see if they have any of the tape they use for putting stripes on cars that would work.

Hey, I'm lots of fun.What Isn't fun is when you inadvertantly mess something up really bad that you could have let be.Not that I've never screwed something up that couldn't be fixed, but in over 30 years, hopefully you learn when Not to get involved in something that's over your head.There's a lot of cumulative Rick experience
here on the Forum;learn from it.

Don,

Making the change isn't over my head from the perspective of my ability to do the work. I'm more concerned about a flawless execution of a deeply flawed strategy. And I appreciate your advice about the Rick experience on this board, but I have yet to see any experience relating directly to this. I've gotten suggestions and warnings (which I appreciate), but no concrete data (i.e. "I tried it. It doesn't work").

I gave this a much more in-depth look. The covers are the same height, as are the pickups. When you put the toaster cover on the humbucker, the flange doesn't sit flush with the base. The black plastic on the humbucker looks to be a cap on top of the coils. I tend to think that the crown on top of the cap is there only to fit flush with the cover; it's purely cosmetic. Of course, I also tend to think that I could be wrong, and there's the rub.

I would guess that it's a very simple operation to remove a 3/8" wide channel going right down the center of the cap to provide clearance for the center bar in the toaster cover. The only question is the material being removed. If it's just plastic/resin/whatever, the risk is minimal. I mean, would the cap be so thin that the coils are within 1/32" of the top of the pickup?

If I could remove the plastic cap, I'd know for sure. However, I don't know how the cap is attached to the pickup. I'm leery of using heat to break any glue bond, and trying to gently pry it off doesn't sound like a great idea, as you're prying against the circuit board (and not a metal frame).

If I didn't just pay $70 for this pickup, if I didn't plan to put it in a guitar in about 2 weeks, and if the upside was greater than a strictly cosmetic "benefit" of dubious value, I'd probably go for it. If the pickup ends up in the parts box, I may have to satisfy my curiosity. If I do, I'll let you all know.

This subject has come up before. A brief search reveals the following result.

I dismantled a malfunctioning ric hb pickup ... it is stuck together with a lot of strong glue ... they don't like to come apart nicely ... it is a dual rail dual coil pickup ... it is wired series like a p-bass pickup ... what you propose might work and it might ruin the pickup ... I would try to force fit the toaster cover on the pickup ... screw it down and bend the metal a little ... your way could ruin the pickup ... my way the worst thing that happens is you ruin the toaster cover ...

Peter,

Thanks for the link. I searched the archives (or thought I did) for info on this and came up empty. It looks like the reading comprehension ain't want it used to be.

Jeff,

As I remember, the difficulty with simply putting the toaster cover on the humbucker is that the extra height interfered with the strings. Now, there may have been contributing factors (like a cavity that was too narrow to fully accept the pickup). To tell you the truth, that was a few months ago and I don't remember.

Anyway, thanks for the info. BTW, you don't still have that pickup carcass, do you?