Remaking a Rickenbacker Horseshoe Bobbin

[clementc3]

There is a great thread on the RickResource Forum in which a member from Japan is doing a beautiful job of remaking a bobbin for a Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup. He has an 8-string lap steel horseshoe for which the bobbin is too tall to use on a bass, so he is remaking a shorter bobbin.

I hope I am allowed to post links to another forum - if not, I ask the moderator to delete this link:

Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum • View topic - Remaking The Horseshoe Bass Bobbin

And, if the link doesn't work or has been deleted, you can search for "remaking the horseshoe bass bobbin" on the RickResource Forum.

Lots of great photos of his work in progress.

[RedHouse]

There is a great thread on the RickResource Forum in which a member from Japan is doing a beautiful job of remaking a bobbin for a Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup. He has an 8-string lap steel horseshoe for which the bobbin is too tall to use on a bass, so he is remaking a shorter bobbin.

I hope I am allowed to post links to another forum - if not, I ask the moderator to delete this link:

Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum • View topic - Remaking The Horseshoe Bass Bobbin

And, if the link doesn't work or has been deleted, you can search for "remaking the horseshoe bass bobbin" on the RickResource Forum.

Lots of great photos of his work in progress.

Yeah, that guy emailed me a few weeks ago, asked all kinds of questions (as-if) wanted me to build him one, then, said he was going to do his own build.

He sent me those pics of the 8-pole bobbin, and specified "Gibson style pole pieces". He has an old 8-pole horseshoe he wants to swap-out the bobbin for a 4-pole so he can use it in his bass. Funny how he says "US wasnt interested"

Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum • View topic - Remaking The Horseshoe Bass Bobbin

If it is indeed me he's referencing there (might be Jason) the story is more like ...after spending two weeks and several (lengthy) emails with dialogue over the job, the spec, the parts, etc etc, he started insisting it be made from molded plastic. I told him several times I make my ric bobbins from FR4 or fiberboard but he insisted and he wanted (me) to make his with molded plastic. After that, as politely as I could, I suggested he should probably look elsewhere (maybe Lollar or Turner) explaining to him that I did not want to get involved with financing an injection molder's services just for this (one) bobbin replacement job on his 8-string horseshoe modification.

Reviewing the thread, apparently he changed his mind on the molded bobbin thing. Geez he'd have it installed and playing on it by now if he'd have moved on from that notion while we were in dialog about his job.

[big_teee]

I know absolutely nothing about them.
What is the horse shoe metal pieces over the Bobbin supposed to accomplish?
I hope it works, sure looks like a whole lot of effort?
T

[RedHouse]

I know absolutely nothing about them.
What is the horse shoe metal pieces over the Bobbin supposed to accomplish?
I hope it works, sure looks like a whole lot of effort?
T

Places the strings "inside" the polar field instead of being on an open end, way more efficient, vintage design. The down-side is bulky/heavy and some don't like the structure covering the string area over the pickup, and some don't like the available space for the strings, sometimes get string slapping/buzz off the poles or shoes depending how they set their height. Interestingly Rickenbacker's "repro" uses alnico rod magnets and plain steel shoes, their reissue is made with VF type flatwork (ala Fender).

I'm sure it will work (if he winds it properly etc) after all he doesn't have to do the tough part because he already has the horseshoe assembly, he's just making a new 4-pole bobbin with fillister head screws.

The Ric "horseshoe thing" has a rough parallel to the "PAF thing", meaning a few staunch die-hards insist Ric's have to have a horseshoe so they can sound like Chris Squire, Paul McCartney, or early Geddy Lee. Thing that's interesting is many using the Rickenbacker "reissue horseshoe" say it sounds like a faithful reproduction of an original horseshoe, intersting because it's not even made like the original, the reissue is made (Fender style) with forbon flatwork and 1/4" alnico rod magnets.

Also, makes me wondeer if he joined here recently as "6string_rodder" because he's using #42 wire just as 6string_rodder was going on about.

[soundmasterg]

I know absolutely nothing about them.
What is the horse shoe metal pieces over the Bobbin supposed to accomplish?
I hope it works, sure looks like a whole lot of effort?
T

The horseshoe pickup is the first successful pickup design on a solid body instrument....from the RIC Frying Pan in 1931 or whatever. Do some searches and you can learn more about it. These were made before alnico magnets were available, and the shoes are cobalt steel and are magnetized. The string goes in the middle of the magnetic field. There are some pros (stong and clear sound) and lots of cons (strings hit the poles, shoe in the way) but they do have a sound. I heard a pedal steel in person that was an old RIC and in my mind, I said to myself "Self, thats the sound if you want pedal steel." It just had "the sound" when you imagine what a pedal steel should sound like. The old bass stuff as RedHouse said...lots of old McCartney Beatles era stuff from Rubber Soul up to Abbey Road with the exception of Let it Be....Chris Squire's Yes stuff. Geddy Lee always used an under string pickup in his Rics, and Macca used one after '75 or so when his horseshoe pickup was dead and replaced at the RIC factory.

The main problem with the old horseshoes is that the cobalt steel loses a charge over the years. Sometimes it can be remagnetized, but it will eventually keep losing charge and sometimes will not take a charge again, which is what happened to McCartney's apparently.

They have a cool sound, though they aren't for everyone. Lollar makes some these days with a different design of sorts, but the shoes are real in that they are where the magnetism comes from, whereas the one RIC has made since 1968 doesn't have real magnetic horsehoes. They sound similar but the real horseshoe does sound different enough that a lot of people still want them.

Greg

[Mike Sulzer]

Thing that's interesting is many using the Rickenbacker "reissue horseshoe" say it sounds like a faithful reproduction of an original horseshoe, intersting because it's not even made like the original, the reissue is made (Fender style) with forbon flatwork and 1/4" alnico rod magnets.

That makes sense. The "around and over the top" pole piece increases the symmetry in the response to string motion towards and away from the the top of the guitar, increasing the relative size of the frequency doubling component compared to the linear component in the signal.