What Kind of Strings to Use on Rickenbacker 12 String

In 2001 I decided I wanted a Rickenbacker 12-string. It's a audio I have long loved. I grew up listening to the Beatles. Tom Picayune was also on the soundtrack to my childhood. How could a guitar drove that'south supposed to represent my influences non include a Rickenbacker 360/12?

They're non the easiest guitars to notice. At that place is unremarkably a waiting list for them. I called stores across iii states. Nobody had the 360/12 Fireglo I wanted. And I had to take the Fireglo. Null but the "A Hard Day's Nighttime" guitar color would exercise.

I didn't sympathise nearly as much well-nigh guitars as I do now. I was light-green. I didn't know there was any deviation between George Harrison'due south 1963 360/12 and the Standard 360/12 that Rickenbacker was producing in 2001. I knew the torso shapes were slightly unlike. I too noticed the pickups looked a little different—but I had no idea how important this would be.

Delivery Day

When my Ric arrived (I ordered it through a catalog), I was excited to open up the example and plug it in. Within my kickoff week of owning it, I constitute it a hard to interface with my amps and pedals. I had to make a lot of changes when I plugged it in. It was a rather dark guitar. Information technology didn't take a lot of presence.

George Harrison Playing a 1963 Rickenbacker 360 12 string

When information technology wasn't it plugged it sounded squeamish. When plugged in, not so much. I thought that maybe I didn't know what I was doing. It had to be user error. I kept trying. Information technology but didn't audio like "Help!" or "If I Needed Someone." I found information technology nearly incommunicable to use in live applications.

In the studio I could add together lots of EQ and compression to try to go some life out of information technology. Live, I would nigh demand a different signal chain. Or I would accept to attain over to my amp and brand radical charges. Something I'g non addicted of doing in the middle of a show. It wasn't until over a decade later that I plugged my 360/12 into a Vox amp. This was a substantially ameliorate pairing than anything else I'd tried.

But was that it? The Byrds didn't utilize Vocalization amps and they sounded slap-up. In fact, Roger McGuinn after used a Roland Jazz Chorus—a solid-state amp. I happen to own one. I tried it. But my 360/12 withal had no life.

Roger McGuinn and his Rickenbacker 360 12 string

After years of frustration it was either research to find the root of the trouble or sell it. I even so wanted that archetype Rickenbacker Beatles, Byrds, and Little tone. Then I dug deep into research. What happened next was a complete surprise that left me baffled in many ways. I've researched old guitars, amps, and pedals earlier but never experienced annihilation similar what I was about to learn.

Private Middle

If you wait difficult enough, in my opinion, you can ordinarily detect what y'all need. Just trying to notice information on the wiring for a 1963 Rickenbacker 360 is like asking the government for the nuclear codes. I might as well have sent an email to the Pentagon saying, "Hey look, we all know something went down at Expanse 51. How almost yous merely tell me?"

Because I never heard a give-and-take from Rickenbacker. That's rare for a visitor in this mean solar day and age. Weeks went by. Not a peep. I'1000 sure I'm now on Rickenbacker's bad list. I'm starting to feeling edgy walking the streets. Am I beingness followed? Should I run into my guitar tech in a well-lighted public space?

I couldn't notice authentic wiring diagrams or articulate pictures online The almost informative website was Rick Resource.

Unearthed

What I found is that Rickenbacker once used 250k pots for its volume knobs and 500k pots for its tone and mixer knobs. Modern Rics utilise 300k pots all around.

"Rickenbacker once used 250k pots for its volume knobs and 500k pots for its tone and mixer knobs. "

This results in a duller sound. Boring!! Its like going to a party where they serve vegan carrot block. No offense to my vegan friends. I but happen to be picky about cake (chocolate please) and guitars.

Another valuable piece of data related to the capacitor on the original 1963 360/12 that George Harrison recorded those Beatles records with: It had a 0047 polyester cap connected to the bridge pickup.

Its purpose is to deed as a high pass filter. Meaning information technology cuts off low end. Information technology rolls off a lot of the frequencies below 250k. You can conspicuously hear this sound at the start of "If I Needed Someone." You just can't get that audio without the .0047 cap.

Rick eventually stopped equipping the 360/12 with the .0047 cap. For me, that cap is part of the Rickenbacker sound I love.

History Rewritten

What's also interesting is that Rickenbacker doesn't wire all of its re-issues menstruation-correct. So you can buy a mid '60s re-issue and it won't sound like one. This baffles me. Why wouldn't they want their guitars to take the audio that fabricated them famous? Some models plainly are period-correct, at least to some degree. But information technology's not made articulate to the consumer.

"1963 Rickenbacker 360/12 had a polyester .0047 cap."

Anyhow, I knew I wanted the period-correct cap. I suppose I could take put whatever .0047 cap in at that place. But I'm way too particular for that. The originals caps were polyester. Non the easiest to find. It took a squad to make this happen. Gino Maisano, an amp tech and pedal designer at Electro Harmonix, located some for me. These green polyester .0047 caps are often referred to as Chiclets. Similar the gum. I wouldn't swallow them though. I'm pretty certain there is cypher minty about the flavor.

It was impossible to find a correct schematic for a 1963 Rickenbacker 360/12 or 360 online. How is it that there is no diagram for the most famous model of their guitar?  I'g still scratching my caput. All the schematics I found were wrong, wrong, incorrect.

Factory repaired vintage Rickenbacker 360 12

A sidebar. I have a friend who owns a 1964 360/12. I bugged him to open up upward his Ric and snap some pics. He mentioned that its previous owner sent it back to Rickenbacker once for servicing. Guess what? Ric didn't re-wire it menstruation-correct. They used modern caps and didn't include the green .0047 cap. I believe they may have even replaced the original pots with 300k pots.

A vintage 1964 Rickenbacker 360 12

300k pots audio rather deadening on Rics. With the mix and tone at 500k and the volume at 500k, the guitar sparkles. Which is exactly what you want a Rickenbacker 360/12 to practise! Hi!!

It's interesting to me that the company that invented the guitar, and should have some involvement in its history, would show such disregard for historical accuracy.

A Warning

Another sidebar: If you have a vintage guitar, don't transport it back to the factory. Find a highly skilled repair tech who specializes in vintage gear. He or she will know more than about restoring your guitar than the factory.

My Rickenbacker with the stock loftier proceeds pickups

Ok, let'southward go back on track. A lot of modernistic Rics come with high-gain pickups. These first made their appearance in the tardily '60s. I take non played any vintage Rics with original pickups, merely the 2001 pickups that came in mine. Of all the pickups I've swapped out of my guitars,, these were the worst.

Stock Rickenbacker high gain pickups

At that place actually is cypher redeeming nearly these Ric pickups. I've tried to find something overnice to say. But I was getting weak from exhaustion. I was seeing my friends less. I hadn't seen the sun in weeks. Ok, ya get it! I actually don't like Rickenbacker high-gain pickups.

That'due south 'crusade they actually practise audio bad! Why? Why would they do this? Who is sitting at testing in the Rickenbacker factory, nodding their bobblehead in acceptance? Someone needs a hearing help.

Drama

The difference between the stock Ric high-proceeds pickups and my new pickups were dramatic. Both the clarity and complication of their harmonics are vastly different.

What were the new pickups? Farhad Soheili at FSC Guitars and Instruments continued me to Gemini Pickups. Its owner, Rob (who as well manus makes and winds every pickup), is incredibly skilled at edifice erstwhile-way pickups. He tin can do them all.

I reached out to Rob and was speedily impressed. He really knows his stuff. I knew he could build them. And he did. What he built were the original pickups that came in George's 1963 Rickenbacker as well as Roger McGuinn's Ric: Toaster pickups.

Tom Petty

They look similar a toaster viewed from above. Toaster pickups are lower output than the Ric'due south current high-output hockey pucks. (Take a deep breath, Mark). The lower output adds a lot of clarity to the tone. Just swapping the pickups lone sounded like a blanket was taken off my tone. All of a sudden, my Ric had a jangle.

In that location was also more than complexity to its harmonic overtones. The stock pickups were like processed white bread that needs lots of jelly to taste adept. Gemini Pickups' Toasters are rich and need no enhancement.

I don't believe Rickenbacker meant to use the cheapest parts. I think it's just out-of-touch decision making. The guitar is congenital really well. But some bad-sense of taste electronics.

A Spring, Skip and a Hop

I guess I jumped ahead there. How about the wiring?

I took my Ric 360/12 to Matt Brewster at 30th Street Guitars. Matt has been in the business for years. Owning a guitar shop in NYC means he has seen and repaired pretty  much every guitar at that place is. He'southward a master.

That doesn't mean it was piece of cake for him. He was having difficulty locating info, too. And even though every guitar has passed through his shop, you lot don't often encounter a mint 1963 Ric 360/12.

I got a call from Matt at 7pm on a Sabbatum night asking me to confirm what I wanted. My showtime thought was, "Matt, information technology's Saturday nighttime. Why are you still at the shop?" He told me later that he wanted to be lonely when he wired information technology, with no distractions. Even the master himself needed to concentrate. Not because it was physically difficult to wire. But because it was so tough to figure out.

30th Street Guitars in Manhattan

Matt had a great suggestion. Why not place a push button-pull pot in the treble tone position? When the pot is pulled upwardly, the light-green .0047 cap is in the circuit. When pushed downwardly, the cap is out of the bespeak. This was a bang-up idea. I can pull up for the "A Hard Mean solar day's Night" tone or push down for a more modern sound.

Matt got the idea from the 4003 bass, which as well has a .0047 cap and a push pull pot. Seems pretty obvious with a bass, as you wouldn't always desire the high pass cap in the signal.

Why doesn't Rickenbacker just follow Matt'south cue on its vintage reissues or even on the standard 360/12? Hello? Is anybody home?!

Ric O Audio stereo jacks

Rickenbacker 360s are stereo guitars. You can actual carve up the pickups to unlike amps. It's called Ric-O-Audio. The idea is you can get a really wide sound by sending each pickup to an amp with its ain EQ and effects.

I've never tried this. It's a subject for another blogpost. I may even dig into the diverse ways you can procedure each signal. Hmmm...

The stereo wiring alone is probable to baffle any tech who opens upwards a 360. This is highly unusual wiring.

A Road Map

The best I could discover is this blurry diagram. I believe information technology's the only one that exists. I wrote the values for each component on the image, which does have the correct wiring.

Right wiring for a 1963 Rickenbacker 360/12 with the improver of a push pull pot

Grocery Shopping

Here'due south a list of parts required to vintage-ify a Rickenbacker 360/12:

two x 250k pots for the volume knob.

Parts for Rickenbacker wiring restoration

2 x 500k pots (1 for rhythm tone, the other for the mix knob).

I ten 500k push-pull pot for the lead tone knob.

ii ten .047 caps (I upgraded the stock caps to better NOS caps. They make a difference).

I x .0047 polyester green cap for high pass

2001 Rickenbacker 360/12 with Gemini Toaster pickups and vintage wiring

44 AWG wire

Scatter-wound 100% by hand

Bridge output: 7.5k

Cervix output: vi.8k

Proof Is in the Pudding

Permit'southward mind:

The 5th Knob on a Rickenbacker

Now let's listen to how the mix knob works on a Rickenbacker. The fifth "mix" knob confuses a lot of people. Call back of it every bit a blend knob for the bridge and neck pickup. Information technology varies from blending the volume knobs on a Gibson.

Anyone who has spent some time with a humbucker-equipped Gibson has noticed that in the centre position there's a point where if you roll back one of the pickup volumes, the guitar goes silent.

This fifth mix knob allows you lot to fully blend the bridge pickup in or out.

Let'southward listen:

Let'south hear the Ric with a pedal compressor. Here are some examples of pairing the modded Rickenbacker 360/12 and the Analog Man CompROSSor with the RYCK modern.

The RYCK mod allows more than treble to pass through the compressor, retaining the Rickenbacker chinkle. A lot of compressors will tedious your tone, but not this one. It's a keen match for whatever Rickenbacker.

2001 Rickenbacker 360/12 with Gemini Toaster pickups and vintage wiring

Let'due south hear what it sounds like heavily compressed:

Analog Man CompROSSor with RYCK modernistic

My friend Jason Loughlin fabricated a great video using his Rickenbacker loaded with Gemini sixty'due south spec Toasters.

dunbarsirly1936.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.anatomyofguitartone.com/home/5/28/19/vintage-rickenbacker-tone

Share this post