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Rickenbacker problem

#22
Ric5 said:
These days I play more modern Rickenbackers....

b%20078.jpg
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Sorry to stray a bit off topic here, but that is a great-looking 4004Cii you have there. The Montezuma Brown really pops with the gold hardware. My question is, what is the small silver "bar" covering the pole pieces on the neck pickup? Is the neck pickup a Higain? What is the bridge pickup?

Thanks!
 
#23
johnk_10 said:
it's not gounded, the pickup surround is. the plastic cover is not conductive and was never meant to used for shielding.
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I respectfully have to point out that it is copper flashed and the last time I tested one (a few years ago when I first got mine) it was continuous with ground. Not that I think that really even helps with noise but... technically it is part of a Faraday cage.
 
#25
superdick2112 said:
Sorry to stray a bit off topic here, but that is a great-looking 4004Cii you have there. The Montezuma Brown really pops with the gold hardware. My question is, what is the small silver "bar" covering the pole pieces on the neck pickup? Is the neck pickup a Higain? What is the bridge pickup?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I got the 4004 in question off of ebay. Another person converted it from 4 to 5 strings. (usually I am the one who does that to Ricks) Anyway the conversion didn't quite work. The B string wasn't covered by the pickups. So I had to fix the nut, and the pickups. First I replaced the bridge pickup with a 4003s5 type of pickup made by Sergio in Portugal. and for the neck pickup I took a 6 pole high gain and removed the pole pieces and replaced then with short alnico or steel rods and glued a steel rod accros the top of the pickup so it can cover an area of about 2 1/2" to 2 3/4" thereby putting all 5 strings solidly within the magnetic field of the pickup and getting equal volume on all 5 strings.
 
#26
The pickup cover on a Rickenbacker simulates the old horseshoe pickup. (pictured below) The old horseshoe pickup was the first pickup designed for the electric guitar back in the 1930s. The "shoes" are 2 bent pieces of steel that were magnetized. The shoes are actually part of the whole pickup. The problem with the horseshoe pickup is that steel trends to degauss making the horseshoe pickup either weak or dead. Late in 1968 Rickenbacker started putting in a high gain pickup in the bridge position. This new pickup had a magnet on the back of the pickup and inron slug pole pieces. The pickup cover is there to simulate the "shoes" from the old horseshoe pickup. The original covers were metal. But they switched out to plastic after a short time. And yes the cover has copper and chrome plating to sheild the pickup. Most players remove the covers. The re-issue horseshoe pickups have steel shoes that can be removed because the reissue horseshoes have alnico slugs in the pickup to provide the magnetic field.

Rimg1297.jpg
 
#30
iiipopes did me a big favor once and took a file to those pointy edges... in a few minutes they were smooth, but still looked factory. Even I can't tell by looking that anything was done to them. It's worth your time to do that if you take the cover off (and don't install one of Tubeampology's bezels).
 
#32
One last comment before I have to get productive (I'm sick but I still need to get around to working): the cool thing about the pickup cover, I have found, is that it makes an awesome thumb rest for those times you want to pluck close to the bridge and get that tight, twangy sound. Whenever that cover isn't there it's nowhere near as comfortable (for me) to play there. You're basically trading one thing for another that way, because you lose the popular plucking spot right above the bridge pickup.
 
#35
Those covers make absolutely zero difference to the sound or to hum, whether they are plated with something conducive or not. The Horseshoe covers ( modern) do nothing as well.

They don't shield any of the cavities and you actually think the plastic pup cover makes a difference? lol
 
#38
Floyd Eye said:
Those covers make absolutely zero difference to the sound or to hum, whether they are plated with something conducive or not. The Horseshoe covers ( modern) do nothing as well.

They don't shield any of the cavities and you actually think the plastic pup cover makes a difference? lol
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I never said it made a difference--but the truth is, it IS technically part of a Faraday cage and that is the basis of shielding. But I find that shielding is worthless 90% of the time anyways. Hence why this doesn't make a huge difference.

I wouldn't want RIC to add any shielding anywhere other than the control cavity possibly. Besides the 4003 bridge pickup, all of the pickups made by RIC are surrounded by lots of conductive chromed metal to begin with.
 
#39
Thanks guys I'll have a go at lowering the pickup myself. The cover doesn't hinder playing, when I first got it I felt a little weird but now it's a comfortable thumb rest for playing near the bridge. Bit of a jump when I want to move and pluck over the neck but I'm fine with it. I've not worked out a clever way to slap but I'm not a big slap player anyway... And if I did I'd use my cort instead :P

Love the cover even if it does nothing!
 

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