Rickenbacker pickup output help

[mikethedigimon]

I picked up a Rickenbacker 610 not too long ago and the bridge pickup is not as loud as the neck pickup (it has the regular Rickenbacker single coil high gain pickups). My telecasters are louder than this! Is this normal for the hi gain single coils?

[SGNick]

Yes. it's the nature of the beast, depending on the vintage, there's a capacitor inline with the bridge pickup that doesn't help matter either.

That's what the 5th knob is for, to adjust the volume so that both pickups have the balance between them that you are looking for.

[mikethedigimon]

Originally Posted by SGNick

Yes. it's the nature of the beast, depending on the vintage, there's a capacitor inline with the bridge pickup that doesn't help matter either.

That's what the 5th knob is for, to adjust the volume so that both pickups have the balance between them that you are looking for.

They sound great, but I just wanted to make sure they're working right (they really shouldn't call them hi gain haha)

[SGNick]

Originally Posted by mikethedigimon

They sound great, but I just wanted to make sure they're working right (they really shouldn't call them hi gain haha)

They're wound to like 11-14K

[Whiskeyrebel]

Everything else being equal, you could relate DC resistance to number of coil turns and thus signal strength. But with really thin wire you could get high DC resistance and not have a high turn count. Or if the magnetic field is less strong, or less effectively coupled to the coil or to the strings.

[Help!I'maRock!]

i raised the bridge pickup and lowered the neck pickup.

what does the in-line capacitor do?

[teleharmonium]

I don't think a 610 with high gains has a high pass cap.

If it's there, it's a .0047 uF cap that the pickup output goes through, which throws away low end from that pickup. (Not to be confused with the .047 uF cap on the tone control for that pickup.)

Many teles and other guitars have a hotter pickup at the bridge than at the neck to compensate for the instrument naturally being louder at the neck position than at the bridge. Ric just makes pickups that are all about the same output.

Actually one thing that works really well is to put a scatterwound toaster in the neck position and leave the high gain in the bridge. This balances out the volume difference and also makes the neck pickup a lot more clear sounding.