Re. the inline cap on the bridge pickup and the blend control: I have a 1959 Ric Model 450 with the cap but without the blend. On this particular guitar the bridge pickup is located further from the bridge than normal, so the volume difference between the pickups isn’t as extreme as with most Rics. I like having the cap…it takes away some low end but doesn’t thin out the sound drastically. I think Ric was experimenting with sounds and configurations in the mid/late 1950s, and my particular guitar was likely one result of “let’s move the bridge pickup around and see what we get.”
Well done, Joe! ☝ On your way to a "jangly" Ricky, I like to cite to you a longer comment about Roger McGuinn from the Byrds, that I have read somewhere on YT. Be it real facts or not - it might be insightful and interesting: Quote (excerpt): "McGuinn did not record with an amplifier but went directly into the recording console. Yes, the sound was highly compressed using a Teletronix/Urei/Universal Audio LA-2A and 1176, a Fairchild 670, and similar legendary outboard studio compressors which cannot exactly be replicated with pedals, even today. He also often recorded with two compressors in series, each one at a moderate setting to avoid “breathing” and other compressor anomalies. He did not use a treble booster or any kind of pedal in the studio as the Q-strip on the console had sufficient EQ to create any sound he wanted. The treble booster he used and eventually installed in his guitar was used for live performances only. McGuinn's tone, while not monolithic, is generally not nearly as trebly as we sometimes "remember" it to be. It is "jangly" as hell, though, but that is more a product of his playing technique and the metal fingerpicks on his middle and ring fingers than EQ. Yes, he was unhappy with his live sound, and no wonder, there was no way to replicate or even come close to his recording setup, live. I saw the Byrds in 1967 and they were playing directly through Fender Dual Showman amps, curly guitar cables, and no pedals of any kind for both the guitars and bass. McGuinn’s Rick 360/12 did not sound even close to his recorded sound which greatly frustrated him. They were not a very good live band which surprised me since their sound was not, at that time, so highly produced in the studio that it couldn’t accurately be played live, as many good cover bands proved. McGuinn used and still uses a flatpick between his thumb and index finger in the usual way and, as I said, metal fingerpicks on his middle and ring fingers. In this way, all plucked notes are evenly sounded and a “roll” with the middle and ring finger can be accomplished while not giving up the accompanying flatpicked notes. This is a very important feature of his sound and the best way to get a Rick 12 to sound like his. Harrison flatpicked all the strings. Before the Byrds, McGuinn (called “Slim” in those days) was a professional musician who accompanied a number of performers."
@@JoePerkinsMusic Thank you very much! 🙏 Even more information - a short glimpse on Mr. McGuinn himself: ua-cam.com/video/uyTge3XkLnw/v-deo.html And please take a look on Andy from 7m:50s ua-cam.com/video/65tJ13ePY8E/v-deo.html
A very good video! 👍 Series capacitor which cuts low end (depending on of the cap calue) has been used in several vintage electric guitars, for example in series with bridge pickup of late 60's 3 pickup versions of Coral Hornets, and a parallel cap which on the contrary cuts treble of neck pickup was used in those same models as well. (Unfortunately I don't remember the cap values of those caps in those guitars right now.) I personally have found that I don't in normal use much like either of those caps so I prefer unfiltered pickup signal. Of course if you want to get very extreme sounds, i.e. no high end or only high end, just by switching pickups, it could be your thing. Luckily those caps in both cases are pretty easy to shunt or be lifted off from one end respectively, by little soldering or extra switch without removing original caps from the guitar. And because of the inductive nature of the traditional guitar pickup, the effect of those caps quite possibly is a bit more complex than just high pass or low pass filtering because there probably will be resonance phenomenons caused by presence of a true LCR circuit, i.e. pickup coil, cap and potentiometer.
No video Joe! I worked with Gemini pickups on the first print article about the wiring and toasters in vintage Rics on Anatomy of Guitar Tone. It took so much research to unravel all the details. Was kinda weird how Rickenbacker was so hands off with the schematics. Also so weird they don’t make a period correct guitar with proper wiring. One thing I did you might find interesting is used a push pull pot to take the 0.0047 cap in and out of the circuit. That was a suggestion from Matt at 30th Street Guitars in NYC. I think you’re gonna love the Gemini toasters (those are the ones I hope you’re using). Rob has an incredible touch with wiring pickups!
Ah amazing - thank you for your work!! :D Yeah, no clue why nobody ever really kept track of what they were using back in the day! There's another video coming in a few days - I ditched the 'blend' control (so my 330 is now basically like an old Capri) and put the capacitor on a switch where the old pot was...not a fan of push/pulls myself. But it's great having access to both of those sounds! Sadly I'd already ordered my Toasters here in the UK before I discovered Gemini - if I had my time again, I'd definitely have ordered from them!! Hopefully next time :-)
The modern wiring seems as though it would be good for general purpose playing, but lacks the unique "sound" that the vintage wiring with the capacitor provides. It really feels like the Ric comes to life, and its personality confidently shines through, with the vintage wiring and the cap.
I love ricks shape and their sound. I have the dakoto 650, but would love a semi hollow or a three pickup version. Looking at different cheap blanks, good pickups a d how I want to wire it. I am considering the roswell toasters or the bew gfs ricky gold foil types. Studying pots, cap, switches and different options how i should rig it. Kits come with everything but don't think they are best quality and thought goes into their choices much. How about you do a kit and show me what to do😂thumbs up guarantee! Thanks for videos, subscribed.
I’m about to install Creamery toasters. Should I just keep the 330k pot arrangement if it is just as bright (if not brighter) than the 250k/500k arrangement? I’m not doing the in line capacitor thing either way.
Sorry to see no responses as yet and I'm down the rabbit hole myself so this isn't really an answer - at least a do this/that one :-) O'm afraid it may have to be a journey of discovery (if you're like me and hate soldering- and spending extra $ on pots, but those toasters are gonna change everything assuming you have hi-gains now. That 250/500 thing is really non-standard weirdness from Ric, so to keep yourself sane, I'd go all pots same value. Resistors are tour bffs here and can cut the value to taste as well as super easy to put on/take off. 250 with toasters may just be fine as is the norm on scoils. 330 will obviously notch up the high end. 500 absolutely will kick it over the top, but you can tame them with 300-400k range resistors and see. Have you sent Jaime @ Creamery a message? He's good about replying but seems a bit busy at the mo.
I answered this in this month's Q&A video :-) But I'd leave the 330k pots in there unless being 'vintage correct' bothers you - it sounds pretty much the same as the historic values. :-)
To be honest, instead of all that, I would have went right to toaster pickups first. I’ve never heard a demo of a Rick with those newer pickups that sounded right. And every one that I’ve heard with toasters, I’ve thought, “There it is”.
Me neither. But I documented the mods in stages of increasing cost - most people have Rickys with High Gains in, so doing the cheaper mods first _without_ swapping the pickups out makes it a more relevant experiment for many people. We'll get to the Toasters in a couple of months 🙂
Excellent video. The vintage with capacitor may have been my favorite, followed, I think, by the modern wiring. Great playing too! Thanks for this.
Re. the inline cap on the bridge pickup and the blend control: I have a 1959 Ric Model 450 with the cap but without the blend.
On this particular guitar the bridge pickup is located further from the bridge than normal, so the volume difference between the pickups isn’t as extreme as with most Rics. I like having the cap…it takes away some low end but doesn’t thin out the sound drastically.
I think Ric was experimenting with sounds and configurations in the mid/late 1950s, and my particular guitar was likely one result of “let’s move the bridge pickup around and see what we get.”
thanks for shedding some light on this topic.
Well done, Joe! ☝
On your way to a "jangly" Ricky, I like to cite to you a longer comment about Roger McGuinn from the Byrds, that I have read somewhere on YT. Be it real facts or not - it might be insightful and interesting:
Quote (excerpt):
"McGuinn did not record with an amplifier but went directly into the recording console. Yes, the sound was highly compressed using a Teletronix/Urei/Universal Audio LA-2A and 1176, a Fairchild 670, and similar legendary outboard studio compressors which cannot exactly be replicated with pedals, even today. He also often recorded with two compressors in series, each one at a moderate setting to avoid “breathing” and other compressor anomalies. He did not use a treble booster or any kind of pedal in the studio as the Q-strip on the console had sufficient EQ to create any sound he wanted. The treble booster he used and eventually installed in his guitar was used for live performances only.
McGuinn's tone, while not monolithic, is generally not nearly as trebly as we sometimes "remember" it to be. It is "jangly" as hell, though, but that is more a product of his playing technique and the metal fingerpicks on his middle and ring fingers than EQ.
Yes, he was unhappy with his live sound, and no wonder, there was no way to replicate or even come close to his recording setup, live. I saw the Byrds in 1967 and they were playing directly through Fender Dual Showman amps, curly guitar cables, and no pedals of any kind for both the guitars and bass. McGuinn’s Rick 360/12 did not sound even close to his recorded sound which greatly frustrated him. They were not a very good live band which surprised me since their sound was not, at that time, so highly produced in the studio that it couldn’t accurately be played live, as many good cover bands proved.
McGuinn used and still uses a flatpick between his thumb and index finger in the usual way and, as I said, metal fingerpicks on his middle and ring fingers. In this way, all plucked notes are evenly sounded and a “roll” with the middle and ring finger can be accomplished while not giving up the accompanying flatpicked notes. This is a very important feature of his sound and the best way to get a Rick 12 to sound like his. Harrison flatpicked all the strings.
Before the Byrds, McGuinn (called “Slim” in those days) was a professional musician who accompanied a number of performers."
Interesting information - thanks Marco! :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic Thank you very much! 🙏
Even more information - a short glimpse on Mr. McGuinn himself: ua-cam.com/video/uyTge3XkLnw/v-deo.html
And please take a look on Andy from 7m:50s
ua-cam.com/video/65tJ13ePY8E/v-deo.html
A very good video! 👍
Series capacitor which cuts low end (depending on of the cap calue) has been used in several vintage electric guitars, for example in series with bridge pickup of late 60's 3 pickup versions of Coral Hornets, and a parallel cap which on the contrary cuts treble of neck pickup was used in those same models as well. (Unfortunately I don't remember the cap values of those caps in those guitars right now.)
I personally have found that I don't in normal use much like either of those caps so I prefer unfiltered pickup signal. Of course if you want to get very extreme sounds, i.e. no high end or only high end, just by switching pickups, it could be your thing. Luckily those caps in both cases are pretty easy to shunt or be lifted off from one end respectively, by little soldering or extra switch without removing original caps from the guitar.
And because of the inductive nature of the traditional guitar pickup, the effect of those caps quite possibly is a bit more complex than just high pass or low pass filtering because there probably will be resonance phenomenons caused by presence of a true LCR circuit, i.e. pickup coil, cap and potentiometer.
I've put mine on a switch so I have both sounds :-) Video coming in a couple of days on that!
No video Joe! I worked with Gemini pickups on the first print article about the wiring and toasters in vintage Rics on Anatomy of Guitar Tone. It took so much research to unravel all the details. Was kinda weird how Rickenbacker was so hands off with the schematics. Also so weird they don’t make a period correct guitar with proper wiring. One thing I did you might find interesting is used a push pull pot to take the 0.0047 cap in and out of the circuit. That was a suggestion from Matt at 30th Street Guitars in NYC. I think you’re gonna love the Gemini toasters (those are the ones I hope you’re using). Rob has an incredible touch with wiring pickups!
Ah amazing - thank you for your work!! :D Yeah, no clue why nobody ever really kept track of what they were using back in the day! There's another video coming in a few days - I ditched the 'blend' control (so my 330 is now basically like an old Capri) and put the capacitor on a switch where the old pot was...not a fan of push/pulls myself. But it's great having access to both of those sounds! Sadly I'd already ordered my Toasters here in the UK before I discovered Gemini - if I had my time again, I'd definitely have ordered from them!! Hopefully next time :-)
The modern wiring seems as though it would be good for general purpose playing, but lacks the unique "sound" that the vintage wiring with the capacitor provides. It really feels like the Ric comes to life, and its personality confidently shines through, with the vintage wiring and the cap.
The thin sound is definitely 'the' vintage sound 👍
You rock kind sir!
I love ricks shape and their sound. I have the dakoto 650, but would love a semi hollow or a three pickup version. Looking at different cheap blanks, good pickups a d how I want to wire it. I am considering the roswell toasters or the bew gfs ricky gold foil types. Studying pots, cap, switches and different options how i should rig it. Kits come with everything but don't think they are best quality and thought goes into their choices much. How about you do a kit and show me what to do😂thumbs up guarantee! Thanks for videos, subscribed.
I’m about to install Creamery toasters. Should I just keep the 330k pot arrangement if it is just as bright (if not brighter) than the 250k/500k arrangement? I’m not doing the in line capacitor thing either way.
Sorry to see no responses as yet and I'm down the rabbit hole myself so this isn't really an answer - at least a do this/that one :-) O'm afraid it may have to be a journey of discovery (if you're like me and hate soldering- and spending extra $ on pots, but those toasters are gonna change everything assuming you have hi-gains now. That 250/500 thing is really non-standard weirdness from Ric, so to keep yourself sane, I'd go all pots same value. Resistors are tour bffs here and can cut the value to taste as well as super easy to put on/take off. 250 with toasters may just be fine as is the norm on scoils. 330 will obviously notch up the high end. 500 absolutely will kick it over the top, but you can tame them with 300-400k range resistors and see.
Have you sent Jaime @ Creamery a message? He's good about replying but seems a bit busy at the mo.
I answered this in this month's Q&A video :-) But I'd leave the 330k pots in there unless being 'vintage correct' bothers you - it sounds pretty much the same as the historic values. :-)
modern pot values, but same schematic, iirc: www.rickenbacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/19502.pdf
bravissimo
To be honest, instead of all that, I would have went right to toaster pickups first. I’ve never heard a demo of a Rick with those newer pickups that sounded right. And every one that I’ve heard with toasters, I’ve thought, “There it is”.
Me neither. But I documented the mods in stages of increasing cost - most people have Rickys with High Gains in, so doing the cheaper mods first _without_ swapping the pickups out makes it a more relevant experiment for many people. We'll get to the Toasters in a couple of months 🙂
@@JoePerkinsMusic thank you for this video
Should have got emg humbuggies in there - classic 60s tones.
Vintage no capacitor, nice even tone across all frequencies