Need help with RICKENBACKER COPY please (!)

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How cool is the ric copy

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OK! Look I re-wired it!! Now the volume knobs and the tone knobs do their job. And the blender switch is still the master volume. But it probably cuts alot more of the highs than it used to, running through 5 pots instead of one like before. If I replace them to all 1 meg pots, will that be totally fixed? I already bought the 500Ks.

Still want to make the small knob a blender/mixer knob instead of a master volume. Anyone know how to do this??

Here's a pic of the new wiring. Thanks Danw for replying and givin those links. I had no idea how to do this before.
 

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ANyone know what adjusting the pole peices up or down will do??

will changing the pots get rid of the noise and cutting out when I turn the knobs? The bridge tone knob does it too.
 

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:( Anyone? I want to wire it as soon as the pots get here in the mail. couple days.
 
To get the fader pot to do it's job, you are going to need a different type of pot. It needs to have a dual action, like a pan control or stereo balance control. A single action pot explains why it only works as a master volume. Your pups may be wired more like DiMargio pups so you may want to check some of their wiring diagrams too. The adjustment screws on the pups are supposed to allow you to adjust for the difference in height (make the distance from pup to string more even) due to the arch of the bridge/fingerboard. It probably wont make a lot of difference so don't worry too much about it.
 
Ok, there are a few things troubling me about this setup that I haven't been able to figure out. As far as I can tell, a blend pot looks like it's just two pots on the same shaft, whose sweeps travel in opposite directions, so that both volumes are all the way up when the knob is at its center position. That's why the six lugs. What I can't figure out is how to wire that in where it won't just be redudant with your other volume controls. You could put it in between the pickups and the selector switch:

blend-pot-in-series-w-selector.jpg


and I think it would function as it's supposed to when both pickups are on. However, it would also affect the sounds of each pickup on its individual setting. For example, if you had the blend knob turned entirely in favor of the bridge pickup, when you switched to the neck, you'd get no sound. Is this how it's supposed to work? I've never owned a Ric (real or cloned) so I don't know if that's the intended function. That seems redundant with the existing volume controls to me. I can see having it instead of a selector switch, or in combination with a master volume instead of individual controls, but in this configuration it doesn't make any sense to me.

Furthermore, I don't see in the Ric diagram where they're using a blend pot at all. The thing they're calling "mixer" doesn't have enough wires going to it. It looks like a regular pot that sends some of the output from the neck pickup past the tone control.

By the way, the bare wire coming out of the pickup wire is a shield, which you'll want to connect to ground if you haven't already. Shielding is used to combat hum and keep things like nearby radio stations from coming in through your guitar.

If you've got scratchy sounds when you turn the knobs, yes, replacing the pots should take care of that.

I've never adjusted polepieces on my guitars, but I'm inclined to agree that it won't make a big difference. You can always turn them a little and see if you can hear a difference. The bottom line is if you can't hear it, it doesn't matter. You can get a more noticeable effect by adjusting the height of the pickup. If you want to lessen the bass response, you can pull the bass side of the pickup back away from the strings.
 
i can't find the place for their wiring diagrams

I just rewired it so the volume control is indipendant on the middle switch. I have a special blender pot comming in the mail. still dunno how to wire it up. do you mean that 5 wires are more like dimargio pick=ups??
 
I was thinking that the dimarzio comment was more likely to mean that the wire colors may be different than represented on the SD diagram. Like I usually see the red and white wires soldered together, but I think in the first picture you posted it was the black and white wires.
 
yes i see now. Thanks, danw! Still gotta find out how to wire the blender switch. My friend has a real rick. And the blender knob works like it's supposed to. doesn't affect the volume. I thought you said a resident expert would reply soon? lol.

I want to try and get rid of some of the bass. Can I do this with capacitors?? I read something about treble bleed caps. Between the input and output of the volume pots. what exactly do these do? Could you explain? I read the things over and again but it's worded strangley. Or I'm stupid.

and any ideas by chance on filling in the chipped paint? Maybe just a black sharpie
 
If your friend has a real ric, why don't you just wire yours the same as his? Why the hell are you looking for a diagram?

The point of a capacitor is that only the higher frequencies will go through one. The way a tone control works is to run part of the signal to ground through the cap, so that the higher frequencies get sent to ground, that is, knocked out. It's like a volume control that only affects the high frequencies.

When you turn down the volume on any guitar, the tone has a tendency to get a little darker. A treble bleed cap is one that placed parallel to your volume control, so a little of the higher frequencies bypass the volume control altogether. That way you can have the same bright tones at low volumes as you do at full volume. If you run the signal through a cap, sure it'll take the bass out, but I think it'll do too much -- you'll get a thin, nasty, clock-radio kind of sound out of that.

And yeah, I'd black-sharpie those chips. From 10 feet away I bet nobody would see it. Or just leave it chipped. A beat-up guitar is a respectable thing.
 
I thought I mentioned already, because rick pick-ups are singal coil. I already looked inh is a while back too, and it's wired wierd. And that was years ago. It looked alot different than the inside of mine. And before I came here, and read what you told me, i had no idea how to wire guitars, or how it worked at all!

So lemme get this straight, all I can do with the tone knobs is turn down the highs?? Can't do nothing bout bass? If only highs go through capacitors, can't I filter the lows?

I'm thinkin of maybe relicing it. I heard of people messin it up on purpose. the white isn't even white anymore, its cream or caramel cause I smoke so much in here!
 
Since you're not separating the coils in any way, wiring humbucker pickups is no different than wiring single coils. For single coils, people typically use 250K pots, and 500K for humbuckers, but even that's a matter of preference.

By run the signal through a cap, I mean put a cap in between two of the components that currently have a wire between them. Like to run the whole signal through a cap, where the wire runs from the jack to that
master volume control, just put a capacitor in between the volume control and the wire instead of hooking it up directly. I'm pretty sure what you'll get is a thin, clock-radio sounding guitar.

Here's another idea you could try, though. Seems like the extra bass response is bugging you pretty good. Instead of a blend to blend the two pickups, suppose you use that blend pot to make a variable bass cut. I think this would do it:

bass-cut.jpg


The circle is a capacitor. At one end of the sweep, the signal is normal. At the other end, it's all clock-radio. The places in between might be interesting combinations of the two, especially in combination with the tone knobs. I don't know if it would work, but it could be interesting to try. The only problem I foresee would be a slight weakening of the signal.

And I'd hold off on the relic thing. It's hard to do right, and really easy to screw it up.
 
The easiest way to get rid of too much bass is to adjust the pups. There should be a screw at the outside edge at the top and bottom of the pups, lower the bass side, should turn counterclockwise to lower, and maybe raise the treble side a little. Don't get too cloce or you may get string buzz and loose some sustain. BTW I was refering to the color codes for different pup wiring. I agree, look at your friend's Rick and wire yours the same as his, sometimes looking at the real thing makes a lot more sence than pictures or diagrams.
 
Once you get the blender take the guitar & pot to a guitar tech & have it FIXED! Unless you like the sound of it now that is.
 
have what fixed?? you think it's broken?? I don't think it's broken, I just got alot of bass sound, which I think is because of the semi-hollow body.

I guess I could get his guitar and get all the same electronics, but he's not gunna let me have his ric for a while. Anyway, now I'm interested in doing that variable bass switch thing. But you think this would really reduce the signal? Would that mess with the tone? What value capacitor would I use for that??

btw, this is totally different than the treble bleed thing right? For the treble bleed, I just put it on the first and second lug on the volume pots? .001uf?


What would wiring them in parallel be, exactly? Aren't they already wired parallel? Or no, because they connect at the 3-way?
thanks again-danw
 
Dani Pace said:
The easiest way to get rid of too much bass is to adjust the pups. There should be a screw at the outside edge at the top and bottom of the pups, lower the bass side, should turn counterclockwise to lower, and maybe raise the treble side a little. Don't get too cloce or you may get string buzz and loose some sustain. BTW I was refering to the color codes for different pup wiring. I agree, look at your friend's Rick and wire yours the same as his, sometimes looking at the real thing makes a lot more sence than pictures or diagrams.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the screws on the sides that adjust pick-up height?? I only see screws in the pick-up and two on the sides. Do i gotta take the pick-ups out?
 
so, that first way you posted, danw, to hook up the blender, you aren't sure bout that??

And that variable bass switch, what size cap you suggest? and do I hook the middle wire on the 3 way switch up to the pot or?
 
would using one of the higher values like .050 or .100 do a better job for a variable bass control ?
 
nopainkiller said:
Do you mean the screws on the sides that adjust pick-up height?? I only see screws in the pick-up and two on the sides. Do i gotta take the pick-ups out?
Click to expand...

Yep, the screws that adjust the pup height. Simply lower the bass side a little to reduce the bassyness. You shouldn't need to remove the pups to do this. Lowering the pups will also help with any feedback problems too, hollow bodies tend to feedback at lower volume than solid body guitars. If the pups are already set low you can raise the treble side.

A good way to set the height of the pups is; press the string at the last fret (assuming the bridge height is set where you want it) and look at the gap between the bridge pup and the string. On the treble side you will want a gap about the same as the thickness of a nickle, on the bass side you will need about twice this much. This isn't an exact measurement and it will vary from guitar to guitar but it's a good starting point. From here you can adjust the pup more or less to get the tone you want. Once you get the bridge pup to suit you then adjust the neck pup so the volumes are about the same on both pups. It's not rocket science, let your ears be your guide. Pick up adjustments are usualy the last step of a set up, so I suggest you get the electrical problems sorted out first and save this step for later.
 
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