Rickenbacker toaster pickups. Clue me up?

[owen]

I have recently surprised myself by buying a Rick-alike 360 Capri in light blue. I am a sucker for the aesthetics, but ultimately I do not think it is for me. However I LOVE the neck pickup on it. I understand that there are lots of other parts to the equation of THE TOOONE!!!1!!, but quite fancy whacking one into something else. What is it about them which makes them them? Is it just a bog standard pickup in a fancy case or is it something Rick exclusive?

 

Here is a picture cos I know what we are all like. 

[ezbass]

The thing is, because this a Rick-alike, that pickup may not be anything like an actual Ric neck pickup other than in looks. Perhaps try to have a go on a real 360 and see if it’s the same.

[owen]

Thanks for the response. Sorry, I should have clarified. It is a much respected UK luthier who specialises in Rick-alikes. He has loaded it with Retrovibe Toaster pickups so I am presuming it is at the very least in the Rick ballpark. 

[owen]

And my chances of getting my hands on a real 360 are somewhere between zero and zero. 

[Dad3353]

6 hours ago, owen said:

... What is it about them which makes them them?...

 

Pick-ups are a very Dark Art, with a few more than umpteen different factors that contribute to the tone. Wire gauge, number of turns on how many coils, type of magnet and its shape, wax-potted, base plate material, scatter- or tight-wound, given name of the lady operating the winding machine... These are just a few of the things to be considered. As for the RetroVibes : they are, I believe, twin-coil four-wire humbuckers, where the original toasters from the '50s and '60s were single coil, so very different. The ones fitted to that guitar are quite highly reputed (not at all Far East knock-offs...), and would give good results in any decent build. Will they sound exactly the same in another body (Les Paul style, for instance...)..? probably not, but they would certainly sound good. Rather inexpensive as an experiment, I'd suggest, so worth trying out on a 'suck it and see' basis. Just my tuppence-worth. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Dad3353

[ezbass]

10 hours ago, owen said:

Thanks for the response. Sorry, I should have clarified. It is a much respected UK luthier who specialises in Rick-alikes. He has loaded it with Retrovibe Toaster pickups so I am presuming it is at the very least in the Rick ballpark. 

In which case, buy one and insert it into the guitar of you choice. It might sound a bit different, but it’ll be very much in the same ballpark. Finding a different bridge pickup (should you want one) that couples nicely with it is another journey, but a fun one. 

[owen]

Interestingly, I went back to my Telecaster this morning which is where this started for me. My Tele has a sustainer humbucker in the neck and a standard Catswhisker T birdge pickup. I had played my Tele and then the Ricker-thang a few days ago which is what started this quest. It turns out that my Tele is all sorts of out of phase. So the neck pickup on my Ricker-thang is not actually full of magic, it is just actually wired correctly

 

Because I am not a guitarist I am not attuned to what "should" be happening. Every day is a school day.

 

As usual, thanks for humouring me.

[owen]

I checked my Tele by playing one which I knew to be correctly wired. Night and day difference.

[Dad3353]

Just to say that there is no 'correct'. Regarding phase, many guitars offer a switchable phase in/out, so that the player may choose the sound that best fits the music. It's all good. 

[ezbass]

4 hours ago, owen said:

I checked my Tele by playing one which I knew to be correctly wired. Night and day difference.

Just swap the hot and earth leads over on one of the pickups, all sorted.

[owen]

7 hours ago, ezbass said:

Just swap the hot and earth leads over on one of the pickups, all sorted.

You make it sound so easy. Will the internet give me pictures? I would go and look, but would not know what I was looking for. I can borrow a decent soldering iron from work. How hard can it be? Super famous last words. 

[ezbass]

YouTube is your friend. Basically, you locate the wires coming from one of the pickups (hopefully just 2 wires, it gets complicated if there are more) and swap them around. If in doubt, take it to a tech.

[owen]

I cannot get the front plate off. So I opened the back. I perhaps should have mentioned that I have an Fernandes Sustainer pickup in there. I think I will take it to a grown up. 

[owen]

Lots of fun, but probably complicating matters.

[Dad3353]

That's not a normal Telecaster, though, is it..? It has an active circuit, and those little black switches have some effect, Shirley..? What make is it, and did you buy it new, with its current features, or has it been 'upgraded' by someone..? What do those switches do..? Learn to solder if you want, but not on that guitar before becoming proficient and capable, t'would be a massacre and a waste. It may well already have coil switching and/or phase switching. Pray tell... 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Dad3353

[randythoades]

5 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

That's not a normal Telecaster, though, is it..? It has an active circuit, and those little black switches have some effect, Shirley..? What make is it, and did you buy it new, with its current features, or has it been 'upgraded' by someone..? What do those switches do..? Learn to solder if you want, but not on that guitar before becoming proficient and capable, t'would be a massacre and a waste. It may well already have coil switching and/or phase switching. Pray tell... 

Eek... I wouldn't go messing around in there and I am generally happy with soldering pickups... Too many circuit boards in there. Yes, take it into a professional. Probably won't cost much as they can isolate the wires and re-solder them.

[randythoades]

Might seem a bit dense, but what does a sustainer actually do for the player in the real world? I have read up on them before so I understand the general premise, but how do you fit that into a song?

[Dad3353]

3 hours ago, randythoades said:

Might seem a bit dense, but what does a sustainer actually do for the player in the real world? I have read up on them before so I understand the general premise, but how do you fit that into a song?

 

Dense..? Not at all, or maybe I am, too..! It's a new-fangled 'thing', explained here on the Sustainiac site ... Light is shed on those little black switches, too, which are part of this 'Sustain' effect thingie. It seems to want to give the effect of everlasting feedback, as if howling from a cranked Marshall stack, one metre away, but without the volume. New to me; every daze a school day, eh..? 

[owen]

It is a Tele I bolted together using new parts from various places. I then saw a Fernandes Sustainer guitar being sold cheap. I bought it, paid someone to gut the pickup and controls and then plumb then into this. Sadly it looks as if he did it out of phase but being that I am not a guitarist and had no reference points I have only just clocked it.