I mentioned elsewhere that I rewind a lot of Rickenbacker HiGain pickups ... here's a typical one sitting here as dead as a dead thing.
![image](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd125/horsetales_photo/IMG_2974_zps46d11b20.jpg)
Plenty of mojo and playing wear on this-un! Also totally open circuit!
Below: you can clearly see the huge, but relatively weak 'rubberised' magnet that the coil sits on.
![image](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd125/horsetales_photo/IMG_2975_zps9c1ab64f.jpg)
Off comes all that dead 44awg wire. This pickup has died for the same reason as many Rick pickups. The hair-fine start of the coil is crudely soldered to a sawn off brass screw driven through the bobbin base ... no strain relief, and it's ripped loose due to a bump or bash. Of course it is hopelessly buried in the core of the pickup, so a rewind is the only move. Cut to the chase ... I have put my own strain relief system into the bobbin and the rewind starts.
![image](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd125/horsetales_photo/IMG_2979_zpsa9e4788f.jpg)
Wound and taped
![image](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd125/horsetales_photo/IMG_2980_zps9cf9954b.jpg)
Then back together with new double sided tape to attach the bobbin to the magnet before the screws go in
![image](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd125/horsetales_photo/IMG_2983_zps43c4bede.jpg)
The moral here is take it easy with Rick bass pickups ... very crude construction can lead to a prematurely dead unit.
Comments
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I too love Ricks ... but talk about plowing a lonely furrow sometimes!
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message