Rickenbacker Heresy

[ashcatlt]

While I'm buying all the parts I need to do this I figure I might as well go ahead and get stuff to mess up all my other guitars as well.

So I've decided to do this to both my LP and my Rick 330. For those who don't want to follow the link, it means replacing the 3-way switches with 4-ways so i can get Bridge, Bridge+Neck(parallel), Neck, and Bridge+Neck(series).

I do understand that I'll end up with a couple of unused pots in each of the guitars. Also, I intend to use rotary switches so I don't have to cut the guitars for lever switches.

The question comes in when I start thinking about the Rick. I'd kind of like to keep the "mixer" knob functional. So I'm looking over here. It looks to me like the neck pickup always goes through that mixer pot on its way to it's own volume. I thought it would work just as well to wire that pot in before the switch.

If you could please confirm: This should make it act the same as normal when the switch is in the "parallel" postion, shouldn't it?

I understand that this pot would become more like a master volume when the switch is in "series" position, but I can't think of a way to avoid this. I don't mind so much, but if anybody has any ideas...

I've also got a question regarding "C3" in the Rick diagram. Why is this here? I have to admit I haven't opened the thing yet. I got it in '94, but it had been in the store for a couple years. I don't know if it has the cap or the "shunt"(what is this?). I was thinking that this could go between the bridge pickup and the switch, but then it's going to affect the whole signal again when I switch to series mode, and I'm really not sure how. Is this going to create a huge problem? Can I just leave it out without losing that "Rick" sound?

Thanks for all your time and any insight you can give.

[ChrisK]

Well, I looked at the Ric schematic and it appears stupid to me.

I may be missing something, but are the output jacks really in parallel? Is one like a spare or something?

Also, the mixer pot (the bass [neck] pickup volume before the volume) seems "goofy".

I had a Ric Laguna w/ piezos once, but the mixer pot there actually did some mixing between the magnetic and piezo pickups, and the separate jacks conveyed different signals.

C3 is a high pass filter to emphasize the "jangle", which has been replaced by a simple wire on newer models.


Series may be a significant issue if the pickup series connected "atop" the one that has its return connected to common has a shielded single conductor. In essence, the shield (along with the pickup cover) will now no longer be referenced to common, but to the hot output of the bottom pickup.

Holy antenna Batman (and touching the elevated pickup will be a "buzzy" time at best.

A multi-pole rotary is the way to go. See the schematics in the "Electronics and Wiring" thread as well as some of my drawings in the "Module" section for blending. I would hope that you could transcribe said info into your effort.

[ashcatlt]

well, Ric has been known for some goofy ideas!

Mine only has one output jack, but yes I do believe the "dual-mono" version have the two jacks in parallel. I guess so you can run through two sets of effects into two seperate amps without an outboard splitter.

As for the antenna effect, I'm not sure if it is shielded or two conductor. I was planning on applying a version of the QTB idea to this guitar. Will this help? Otherwise, are there any other ways I can avoid this problem?

[ChrisK]

Yeah, the dual truss rod (dual hernias).

If there is a shielded single conductor cable from the pickup, the only thing that will help is converting the pickup to two wires plus shield. Surgery is involved, the procedure depends on the pickup type.