Members teledweller Posted February 28, 2010 Members Share Posted February 28, 2010 Hey all, I'm finally working with a guy to build my first custom guitar. It's basically going to be a solid Walnut Tele (body, neck, and fretboard; all Walnut....awesome). I'm going with either the Seymour Duncan Lil' 59 or Vintage Stack in the bridge, and I want to put a Rickenbacker type pickup in the neck position. And since I know nothing about Rickenbackers other than how they sound, I would love some advice on some pickups. They don't have to be vintage Ric's or even Ric's for that matter, but something with similar sonic properties. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roy Posted February 28, 2010 Members Share Posted February 28, 2010 can't help ya, but i think it's a great idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr_GoodBomb Posted February 28, 2010 Members Share Posted February 28, 2010 Fralins or Lollars might need to work, or even Duncan Rick replacements or GFS stuff, because you're gonna be hard-pressed to find real Rick pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teledweller Posted March 1, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 Thanks. Does anybody else feel inclined to help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ute Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 Real Ric pickups aren't all that hard to find. I see them on Ebay all the time. A few months ago, I picked up a pair of high gains for 100 bucks. You can buy them new for $75 from the Ric site. The more vintagey toasters are $150 apiece. They're both in stock, too, which isn't a common occurrence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teledweller Posted March 1, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 Are toasters mini hums? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ute Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 No, toasters are the jangly single coils from the Beatles era - not that the current ones are just like the vintage ones. What Ric sound are you talking about? Peter Buck? John Lennon? etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roy Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 No, toasters are the jangly single coils from the Beatles era - not that the current ones are just like the vintage ones. What Ric sound are you talking about? Peter Buck? John Lennon? etc. vintage ric pups are all over the place, specs wise. http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/JHpickupanswers.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ute Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 vintage ric pups are all over the place, specs wise.http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/JHpickupanswers.html True. I don't know all that much about toasters. I just know I've heard some say that the modern ones aren't the same. I doubt I would be able to tell the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members strtdv Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 Check string spacing before you do it, I think Rics have narrow necks, so the pickups might have narrow string spacing accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members d_dave_c Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 I think the hi-gains would be hard to duplicate - they use some rubberized ferrous alloy magnet that I'm not sure how you'd duplicate with another winder. Best bet is to buy one on ebay, or tell a winder what properties you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 I think the Hi-Gain would be a great Tele neck PU. Big and round sounding. The name is highly misleading, for output, I would say they are similar to P-90's. You can roll of the Tone control for a massive jazz tone. I like them even more that toaster tops. And they aren't that hard to find on eBay and are priced similar to getting any aftermarket PU (toaster tops are harder to come by, IIRC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ute Posted March 1, 2010 Members Share Posted March 1, 2010 I think the Hi-Gain would be a great Tele neck PU. Big and round sounding. The name is highly misleading, for output, I would say they are similar to P-90's. You can roll of the Tone control for a massive jazz tone. I like them even more that toaster tops. And they aren't that hard to find on eBay and are priced similar to getting any aftermarket PU (toaster tops are harder to come by, IIRC). I fully agree with this FWIW. If you are looking for Rickenbacker jangle, a neck position hi gain won't give it to you. You will get a nice full tone out of it, just don't expect to switch your tele to the neck and get instant 60's jangle. I think Hi-Gains and to a lesser extent mini humbuckers are fairly easy to find because a lot of Ric players want to replace them with toasters, which are only common on the more spendy models, and pretend to be a Beatle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teledweller Posted March 2, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 2, 2010 What about a TV Jones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.