Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Along the same lines as my other post, what, if any differences are their between the original 60's toaster (neck) pickup vs. the re-issue? The ones that I've examined appear to be 6 string guitar pickups (6 pole pieces when viewed from underneath). Is this the way the original 60s bass pickups were, just 6 string guitar pickups put into the basses? Or were they wound differently? Also, could someone explain the term "Scatterwound" to me? I've not seen and explanation for that term.
Thanks, Kenny

Rickenbacker used the same toaster pickups for both bass and guitar. I have both vintage and reissue toasters and, to me, they sound alike.

Scatterwinding means that the coil wire was not wound in a totally orderly fasion. The most efficient way to wind a coil is to neatly spiral the wire in even layers. But many people feel that if the windings are more random - less orderly, the pickup will have a more complex sound. Early pickups were ofen hand-wound. Scatterwinding attempts to recreate the randomness of hand-winding with machine methods.

If memory serves me well, only the post-2001 toasters are of the the 7.4K "Scatterwound" type. Although not particularly hot, they serve the purpose of "the vintage sound" pretty well.

The coils in the '90s toasters were winded in the conventional orderly manner with more windings that yield hotter output.

Here's a partial view of RIC's scatter winder that simulates the human winding manner:

My, what a mean-looking pickup winder. Large, too. Mine's small, simple, portable, friendly-looking, and totally human-operated. Which is to say that it is ideal for scatter winding.
Time it takes to wind to approx. 8.0 K a Rick-style pickup on it: 30 minutes.
Hi, Paul. Nice to see you back posting.

Yo Sérgio,
You know I always love that little simple humanly scattering friend of yours!

Yeah it's truly grand to be back here enhaling the Rick-O-Roma.