Source for Ric pickup covers made from Nickel Silver?

[jimboyogi]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone knows of any being made from Nickel Silver?

I've tried winding replacement pups for my Ric, and housing them in Chinese made toaster style covers. Problem was, they just sounded flat, lacking treble, as if they had passed through an EQ filter. From scratching at the back of these Chinese covers, I'm fairly sure they are made from brass, and thick brass at that.

So today I transferred my pickup innards from the Ric covers into a nickel silver mini-hum cover, installed into another guitar (these covers don't fit onto a Ric). Now they sound right, very happy with the tone, huge difference. Pots in the non-Ric guitar are 250K, compared to 330K in the Ric, so that's not the reason.

So the next step for my Ric is to find some good Nickel Silver covers, and re-fit my pups into it.

Would prefer toaster style, but happy with open/hi-gain style if that's all I can find.

If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it, and I understand if it's by PM

Thanks!

[mr fab]

a couple of points

330 k pots will improve the treble response
i have wound them using std chrome covers and they sound great
what wire are you using?


anyway i see you are in melbourne too , so you are welcome to come over and hear mine

i can also source nickel covers if you need them

fab

[jimboyogi]

Hi mr fab, thanks for your response.

I haven't tried using the stock covers, as I didn't want to dismantle the stock pups, and lower their value Do we know what metal the stock covers are made from underneath the chrome plating?

I have been winding using 42AWG SPN wire, making mini-humbuckers and Firebird style pups, that fit nicely into the Ric sized covers. I've tried quite a few different winds, altering no. of turns, TPL, and tension. Nothing so far sounds right to me inside the brass Chinese toaster covers, yet when I rehouse them into nickel silver firebird covers (admittedly in a different guitar), they sound great.

I'll get in touch about catching up, very cool that you're in the same town as me!

[mr fab]

you need the correct magnets and also need the right shaped formwork

if i recall, you need awg44 and bobbin height is 6mm (i could be wrong, just going from memory)

and most importantly, you need 6mm x 20mm A5 mags, to get the correct vintage tome

i suspect the original ricks are no different to the asian knoc-offs

[jimboyogi]

you need the correct magnets and also need the right shaped formwork

if i recall, you need awg44 and bobbin height is 6mm (i could be wrong, just going from memory)

and most importantly, you need 6mm x 20mm A5 mags, to get the correct vintage tome

i suspect the original ricks are no different to the asian knoc-offs

Is that to wind actual toasters? I'm not trying to do that, I'm winding mini-hums and Firebird pups to put into the Ric covers.
I've got the stock set of Hi-Gains that came with my 330, they are the recent ones with the adjustable pole pieces. They sound plenty good, but for the music I'm playing atm, I wanted pups with less mids, less hum, and more output. That's why I've been trying minis in there.

[big_teee]

I don't know how accurate it is, but I have this Ric data in my pickup library.
I've always heard that Ric used 44 wire, especially on bass pickups.
But, since you have the room for larger wire, I would use 43, or 42, just keep the turns down, if you want jingle jangle!
T
**Here's some info on Toasters.
http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/toasters.html

[mr fab]

many of the stock asian knockoffs are actually very close to a FB in construction. and humbucking

i have a few here, if you are interested

fab

[big_teee]

many of the stock asian knockoffs are actually very close to a FB in construction. and humbucking

i have a few here, if you are interested

fab

What's a FB.
Also, no soliciting, or advertising please!

[Lollar Jason]

Problem youll find is Rickenbacker has a trademark on the looks of a toaster pickup cover so youll find very limited parts made in asian countries for those and if you are going to try to sell and advertise those any where but a hand full of countries they dont have trademark registration applied for then you wont get past that for long.

[big_teee]

Ric's are not popular here in the south where I live.
The only Ric I've actually seen up close and personal, is a Ric Bass.
Gretsch is more popular here, and has some similar pickups.
T

[Lollar Jason]

I dont think they are popular anywhere!

[jimboyogi]

I dont think they are popular anywhere!

They're a bit of an acquired taste

I spent a lot of time playing one in my youth, so I find them spec comfortable and easy to play. That's why I'm trying to make the pickups work for me!

[jimboyogi]

What's a FB.
Also, no soliciting, or advertising please!

FB = Firebird mini-humbucker, 2 mini-humbucker bobbins with a small bar magnet inside each bobbin.

The Chinese knockoffs that I tried were built a bit like a vintage FB, except -
The magnets were much deeper, a full 0.5" depth, so they protruded out the back of the bobbins
The bobbins are longer than vintage, so more wire length for each turn
The coil DCR was ~9.5K ohm total, compared to ~6-7K ohm for vintage (42AWG), making me think that the Chinese ones were wound with 43AWG
They didn't sound that great!

[jimboyogi]

Problem youll find is Rickenbacker has a trademark on the looks of a toaster pickup cover so youll find very limited parts made in asian countries for those and if you are going to try to sell and advertise those any where but a hand full of countries they dont have trademark registration applied for then you wont get past that for long.

This is sad for those that love the toaster look, but want to use other options than Ric offer. This is why in the OP I mentioned that I would be happy to settle for a Nickel Silver open/Hi-gain style cover, as I don't think they are trademarked, and so may be available.

On most levels I support Ric's careful maintenance of their legitimate trademarks. However I think that some of their lack of popularity is due to this, because there are far less options for customising Rics compared to every other guitar make.

They also make enemies when they go for the wrong people (like you over the horseshoe!)

[mr fab]

sorry terry. FB= firebird

i have a few of the asian knock offs here because i bought them to use for their covers. it was the cheapest and easiest way to get them for experimenting. i dont make them, nor do i sell them for obvious reasons.

its funny, there are only a few bands that used them but their sound really stood out

REM, tom petty, early Who, the beatles, the smithereens, byrds, beatles, CCR.....

i have only recently gotten into them, they are unusual guitars. unique and sound absolutely fantastic with a compressor going through a voxac30 or vintage fender