Horseshoe Pickup

[Gary Meixner]

Is there any way to adjust the string height on a Rickenbacher B6 with a horseshoe pickup? I find when playing high on the neck I need to use a very light pressure or the first string will occasional contact the pickup. Most the time it isn't a problem but sometimes when I lay into a note I get an annoying "doink" that nobody appreciates.

Thanks,

Gary

[Noah Miller]

The two screws immediately to the sides of the horseshoes are for height adjustment. On earlier pickups there are thumb wheels, on later ones there are actual screw heads. The range is limited, though, because there isn't a whole lot of room between the shoes and the bobbin.

[Gary Meixner]

Noah,

That is what I thought but I couldn't get the bobbin to budge when adjusting the thumb screws. It may be that it is already set as low as it will go. In that case I will need to adjust my playing style. Thanks for the input.

Gary

[Tim Whitlock]

A thin shim under the bridge under the problematic side may help (raising the bridge up). As Noah mentioned, there is very little leeway so use as thin of a shim as you can find, like a playing card or an old credit card. Also, sometimes the horseshoe can become unlevel, causing the string to hit the front or the back edge of the horseshoe. In this case a shim can help you level it.

[Rick Aiello]

Often times, when it’s difficult to adjust the height … the springs are rusted and lost some of their springiness …

Get them out and take them to a good hardware store and get some new ones … if they have a slightly smaller gauge spring, get that one … cut to length … makes a big difference

[Fred]

Heavier strings might be helpful.

[George Piburn]

Often those bridges are over filed grooves including all sorts of lousy spacing's depths and so on, Consider a replacement bridge and make your own grooves if any at all.

Then you can micro manage string heights over the pickup poles by groove depth.

[Gary Meixner]

Hey, thanks for the responses.

This is a very early Ricky Bakelite model. The bridge and saddle are molded into the body, so no adjustment there. Someone did file very shallow string slots in saddle, on the bass side only. I might consider filling them but will probably leave them alone.

I think the 1st string is hitting the bobbin and not the polepiece, but is really hard to tell, and it only happens occasionally.

I am going to try heavier strings and that might resolve the issue. While I have the strings off, I will take the pickup out and see if there is anything keeping it from adjusting - although my gut tells me it is probably already as low as it will go.

This is an awesome guitar. I broke one of the tuners a few years ago and stopped playing it. Recently I bought an original replacement tuner from a forum member and am playing the thing again.

All of the original tuners are quite stiff, and I would love to put modern replacements on it but don't want to modify the guitar to do that. If anyone has had success with this, I would love to hear about it.

Bakelite is so temperature sensitive and when on stage I am tuning between every song - but the guitar sounds so good.

Thanks again,

Gary

[K Maul]

I think the 1st string is hitting the bobbin

I am going to try heavier strings and that might resolve the issue.


All of the original tuners are quite stiff, and I would love to put modern replacements on it but don't want to modify the guitar to do that. If anyone has had success with this, I would love to hear about it.

* I had that issue with my Rickenbacker and I don’t think heavier strings are going to help. They just are wider circumference which is going to make them more apt to hit whatever they’re hitting. That’s just my opinion.

* I replaced tuners on my Rick. They were strip tuners that I got from - I think - Stew Mac. Ebony buttons. And they fit perfectly. I don’t know exactly what kind you have on your guitar. Mine was one of the stamped sheet metal “student guitars” but the thing rocked and it still does.

[Stephen Cowell]

When I have nut depth problems I just put paper under the string... shim it up until it clears or is level. I'd assume the same thing would work for the molded-in Ricky bridge... even better, since the bar won't get close to the bridge, the string level's not such a concern. Good luck!