Installing Gemini 50's Spec Toasters in my Rickenbacker 325v59
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2024
- If you want to skip right to the shootout, go to 08:45
My V series John Lennon inspired Rickenbacker 325 came with these wack sounding pickups that never quite seemed to get jangly. I asked my buddy, guitar expert John Biscuti, about them and he informed me that the V series guitars did indeed come with overwound, wack sounding ceramic pickups. He recommended I try out the aftermarket low output replacement toaster pickups from Gemini pickups. I opted for the 50's spec to replicate John Lennon's first Rickenbacker that he purchased in the late 50's.
Here's a link to the pickups I bought:
www.geminipickups.com/store/p...
For this video I'm using the Line 6 Helix on a pretty simple Essex A30 amp preset which is based on a Vox AC30. Here's a link to the preset for my Helix buddies: line6.com/customtone/tone/555...
I use D'addario Chrome 12 gauge strings on this guitar.
Special Thanks to: John Biscuti, Mark Rucci and John Castellano.
Index:
00:00 - Intro
01:10 - Original Pickup Sounds
02:20 - Removing The Old Pickups
03:59 - Measuring the Resistance of the Old vs New Pickups
04:54 - Installing the New Pickups
08:45 - Shootout between New vs. Old Pickups!
That bridge pickup went from complete mud to a crisp jangle from heaven. Great swap!
Much cleaner sound - less gain, better highs, and it's now a "jangle machine". Nice work, Mr. Castellano.
Huge improvement. You’re right. Mud machine pre. Good jangle post.
Cool upgrade video Richie the sound quality is great, "on the money" as you said. You've given that beauty the sweet jangle she longed for. Thanks for the side by side comparison those Geminis are clearly the winner! Cant wait to hear/see what magic you will weave on your future streams with your new fangled Ric 🥰 thanks for sharing this, hopefully you got all the grommets in place I never realized the blingyness was due to so many of those darn little things. Painful but well worth it!
Awesome job. I just wanted to tell you that you (and Buck and Danny) made my granddaughter's first concert (Rocky Mount VA) a blast. She's proud of her guitar picks!
Hi Richie, good to see you!
Thank you for continuing to make videos during your livestream hiatus.
I've been listening to lots of Beatles lately...!
Mr Kite says hi ❤
Wow, what big difference. I recently saw you at the BOC show at the MD State fair. Excellent musicianship. I love the Band Geek videos as well. Great talents👍 Peace and Blessings bro ✝️🙏
What a difference! Especially the bridge pickup.
John Biscuti rules!
Yes, he does!
Great video Richie! I have several Rickenbacker’s that I love and regret letting go one of my favorites, a Fireglo 360 I bought new in 1980 ish. I have a Ric 355 John Lennon signature model my wife bought for me in 1990. Wow 31 years ago. It’s a full scale 325 no term but a gorgeous black 3 pup Rickenbacker with John Lennon’s sig and face sketch on the pic guard. I played it a fair amount when me and my brothers had a Beatle gig going just for fun. I have a Ric 620 Mapleglo I love too. I never got the Ric 360 12 c63 that I wanted. I guess it’s like they say about boats. A hole in the water you keep pouring money into. Although guitar collecting is way more fin than boats and I would say a lot less money.
Thanks again for the video. Now if I ever need to open up my Ricky I have a road map.
You and Me both, I regret letting go of a mint 360v64, what was I thinking, they are now close to 4000.00 to replace. bought it Hardly used for 1200 in about 2002, sold for 1500 in 2016, wish i had it back. Always felt I was playing a Cadillac of Guitars when I had it out.
Nice job Richie. You brought that thing to life.
I actually kinda liked the original pickups as they seemed more authentic to John's original '59 325 which was actually a somewhat darker sounding guitar overall - but the Gemini's certainly gave you the extra top end sparkle you were looking for, and you can probably get the 'old' tone from it by simply rolling the tone off a bit :D
I totaly agree.
How much are these Gemini pickups
The pickups on Lennon’s ‘58 Rickenbacker 325 are actually closer to the Gemini pickups that he installed. The V series RIC’s from the 80’s & 90’s have hotter toasters than the C series models. The Creamery out of the UK also make some great pickups for Rickenbacker’s and Gibson’s.
@@liamgillespie3407 maybe they are closer to documented specs from that time period but you can't really guarantee that a set of vintage replicas will actually match up with a specific example of the originals because they weren't very consistent. I suspect Lennon's original '58 had pickups that were a bit hotter than normal. In order to confirm it I'd have to be allowed access to the originals to potentially destructively dislantle them and examine them internally which just isn't gonna happen.
what this pickup comparison sounded like to me was, stock pickups sounded like the '58 ric, gemini pickups sounded like the '63 ric :P
Folks need to also remember strings in the tone equation. The Beatles used flatwounds (as stock on Rics and Gretsch up to the mid 60s) and they have a darker tone than rounds, which is very apparent in the early Beatles recordings up til about 65-66.
Hey Richie, I installed Gemini pickups in my Rickenbacker 4003 Bass. Absolutely love them! Very bright and full Chris Squire sound. But now every position of the tone and volume controls does something. You can get any sound out of my Bass now. ❤️
Very cool. The only way the comparison could have been better would have been the same exact strings put back on, but that’s not an option. Sounds really great Ritchie! Loved the examples you picked to play. I saw her standing there and All My Loving! You’re awesome!
True, I wasn't willing to go that far with it lol.
I will be ordering a set literally because of this video. Wasn't even looking to change my Rick pickups
Well, that's a significant difference.
There really isn't a better or worse choice, just a clear difference in treble from the swap. Whatever fits your ear is the best one to go with.
Like your double stops. Reminds me of a guy named Jimi, that I saw close up playing live, when I was 20….im now 73.
Enjoyed the BOC show in Bristol, VA last Friday night....3rd row in the newly remodeled theater was great.
Awesome! Love mods! Big improvement. Very Beatles now!
Nice Jangle Richie !!
Fun!
The creamery also makes replacement toaster pickups.
Don't know of it is of interest, but my wife overheard this video and said "There's a good rhythm player". My wife, Claire Lynch, is on 3 Dolly Parton albums, has 3 Grammy noms for her own albums, and is one hell of a fine metronomic Bluegrass player, band leader and songster. So, kudos, man ! But I'm now wondering about the toaster top I wanted to install in a custom Tele build, putting it in between a Brad Paisley Tele set...I might check capacitor values...Anyway, thanks ! Great demo.
Nice you did a right and correct for the vintage era, Way better JOHNNY sound. Apparently there is 2 gemini pickups companys, a US out of NY. And a UK company, your link goes to a 404 not found now. Thanks for a Great Video!!!
Nice guitar Rich. Big difference in the sound. Much closer to the original.
I didn't realize how much I missed the Sunday Stream Stand By music.
: ( I was gonna do a surprise stream last night, but then I realized Kasim and Andy were doing a streaming gig so I did this instead lol.
@@RichieCastellano hey Richie- what is the kit Andy uses when y'all are together? Like the one when y'all covered Close To The Edge album?
@@kevbob Roland TD-11k. We use it as a controller. The sounds come from various sample libraries.
@@RichieCastellano ohhhhhh that totally makes sense. I was thinking "man that sucker sounds legit!" and I didn't think of them being from libraries. Sounds great!
21" scale? Wow, that must feel very different to play!
Awesome.....👍🏻🤟🏽😊🙏🏻
I recently (like 3 days ago) swapped out the factory PUs in my brand new 4003S with the old style toaster neck and horse shoe bridge PUs from Rickenbacker. I now own an awesome 4003S Mapleglo with the late 60s PU configuration. All I did was solder the old ones off, solder the new ones on and screw em in, I really have no idea how they compare with the stock PUs. What instrument are you using to check the output? and Im assuming the higher the output the more power the PUs put out?
....dobrá práce i zvuk👏👏👍, 🙋
They do brighten things up, dont they?
I used to love changing pickups on my guitars.
Thanks Richie
Which way to turn screw to raise or lower bridge on 325
Holy MOLY !!! woow
Wow, so nice♡♧♡
Thanks for this informative video, Richie! I was just on the Gemini site searching for a couple of Rick 620 pickups. I think I'll go with the Exxex 30 Low Gains like you did. Are you pickups potted and, if so, with wax, laquer, or unpotted?
Wow. Day and night difference! What an upgrade. I can't believe they put some crap budget pickups stock in such an expensive guitar, especially one that's supposed to be a John Lennon model. Doesn't look like Gemini sells these any longer.
Are the geminis similar to the 325C64 pickups in terms of sound?
I bought one of these exact guitars in 1993 in San Diego. I sold it a couple of years later, I wonder if that was mine?
The stock pups sound worse than in my Chinabacker 325. The more you know about Rickenbacker, the less impressive they are. Sounds fantastic now!
Are the pickups the same size as the genuine Rickenbacker pickups?
Ah crap. Did the guy get sued? The toaster page is giving me a 404 :(
Likely a cease and desist from RIC.
My friend makes guitars and I help him with the wiring. I also do the 'screwdriver' test 😊
You don't have the Rickenbacker vintage wiring. You need to add a .047 cap from the switch directly to the middle prong of the bridge volume pot. That mod used to be on all Rickenbacker guitars and basses like the 4001. The now have it on the modern 4003 basses where you can pull the bridge volume pot switch, which will engage the vintage tone circuit. It works the same for any of the guitars also.
Have you ever tried the Gemini 63 spec pickups?
Nice video, are these unpotted, wax-potted, or lacquer-potted? Thanks!
Question for ya Richie if I may, I just bought my very first Gibson Les Paul 50s standard I have been warned about hanging it on wall hangers because of nitro burns from cheap hangers what do you use to hang your guitars with? I just dont wanna tear up my new guitar lol
I use wall hangers. All of my guitars are already jacked up!
@@RichieCastellano LoL thx man lmao
So tell me....how did you have this dialed in prior to the swap? It sounds like a) none of the tone pots are dimed and b) blend knob not optimized to EQ.
I own a '96 325v63 and mine does not sound like yours. I had my wiring reversed to stock setup (modded before reacquiring it) and my builder found out that I do not have hot toasters, but factory pups wound to vintage spec. These were not modded prior to buying it in 2000.
I have no clue how many v series 325s have not been equipped with hot toasters and instead have vintage specs.
Fun fact: I saw that C series 325s have a dual truss rod.
My v series has a single truss rod. I am curious if this was normal for the production period or an anomoly.
They sound great. Did you change strings after you put the new pickups on?
yeah, D'addario Chrome 12's. Flatwounds, so they're inherently mellow.
@@RichieCastellano I use those on my c58. You can't go wrong with them
Why the fast forward
How much?
...call me cynical, but those original PUs sounded like you had the tone controls bled of all treble... Never had an issue with Toasters at either 6-7k or the hotter variants such as the 11k that was in the Tom Petty which was a stunning PU all the jangle you needed...Plus new strings...
"mudbox"...hilarious
I hope you get a kickback on this one... after your review their going to sell the shit outta these.
Thanks .... john!
Hi Hippylong....always good to see You !
@@marknotos5358 been busy doing shows here. Hope your good Marko!
I heard little if any difference in middle position.
there was no such thing as Gemini in the 60's, so how do you figure they are more authentic than the original?
Because the pickups that came with the guitar were from the 90’s and not made to 50’s or 60’s spec.
Gemini's sound MUCH better!
The link to gemini is blocked by my anti virus as a known threat. Won't even let me bypass it. Is this place legit and still in business?
Didn't expect the original pickups to sound so, uh, whatever that was.
New ones sound spanky!
They are wound hot, hence why those are deemed hot toasters. I also think his setting were not dimed (wide open). Those should not sound muddy if dialed in right.
I found 5 N.O.S. OEM 'Toasters online for a great price. I was filling out order form for all 5, kicked it back. Someone had bought one while I was ordering them. I bought remaining 4 pickups. They are spanky clean when dialed back, fangs and growl full throttle. Each is around 11.5 +/- kilohm. Love them. Only used one so far in a single pickup guitar. Not good for every genre but what they do, they do very well. Still deciding if the remaining 3 will be put in a Strat style guitar.
Thank for not just playing Beatles on the 325.
He actually did, a little bit.
It´s really a shame of Rickenbacker shipping vintage models like these when you pay over usd 3k to get one. If not for the Beatles, it would have been a cheap beginner´s guitar, and that considering they still exist.
First, the 325 is NOT student model. That was the 400 series (massive white pickguard). Ric did have student models under the Electro nameplate in the late 50s/early 60s.
I own both a 325v63 and a 320. They are not student models. The quality, build and features denote that it's not a stripped down budget model.
Well, ain't that a shame. Rickenbacker has stopped Gemini from making toaster pickups. Lawyers. You may as well take your video down.
Hey..can you hear my song My Friend?And let me know if you like it Greetings from Germany
2 minutes in and I am guessing you should have left it alone.
Nah, huge difference.
@@RichieCastellano Don;t get me wrong I enjoyed the video. I though it sounded great to begin with , difference yes, huge ... maybe. Buying a kit guitar and putting a set of customized pickups on it would be different also.
But you still have the pickups right so ... a bit twangy for my ear but hay is your gig so just my opinion I like a set of CC picups.
Any way after 47 years of banging on the ears the highs tend to get attenuated IYNWIM and so everything seems muddy. In my case to twangy means extra bussy.
The way my ear hears it the originals give a wider range of tone.
I like dark.... why even have a bridge pickup... LOL just kidding.
To me is sounded as much like fresh strings...
ANd heck in a little over ten years it will be a vintage guitar. so save those pickups.
You are a better guitar play them me so I'll STFU now....
I never understood the appeal of Rickenbacker
Ever played one?
@@joellebrodeur1015 Yes. Almost bought one from a friend (1985 model in perfect condition) , but I'm not a collector and I just didn't impress me.
Mmm sory man. but IMO ;;;;;maaannn get back to the originals!, Cheers from an old and blind RIck owner for 40 years
Thanks for this review, i´ll try to get this GEMENI pick ups too