Where does the 'modern' toaster used on the Tom Petty 660/12 fit in? I loved it's combination of clarity and cut-through with that iconic jangle/chime. My JetGlo 91 Tom Petty is long gone, and I recently , finally, found a 660/12 JG to replace it. And as much as I love everything about it, I still miss those higher output toasters.
Regarding the 200 series HB2 humbuckers starting out around 12k and later going to around 14k, I think maybe 12k might be a little lower than I've seen. I can only go off my 1989 230 which has a neck pickup at 14.69k and a bridge pickup at 14.45k, and I also have a later one with the embossed RIC cover that is 15.57k. The later one is microphonic and the epoxy fills the bobbin fully whereas the earlier ones from 1989 have a slight gap between the epoxy and where the wires go through the connectors on the PCB board, which can allow a wire to get nicked, which happened to my bridge pickup when I refinished my 230 in Blue Boy. I was able to repair it with the help of a super good microscope, some 44 gauge wire, and some more epoxy. I had to melt the epoxy back to the bobbin, and found where the tip of the wire went through the bobbin, and VERY carefully soldered the wire to that tip of 44 gauge wire, then epoxied it all back in place. The difference by going up around 1k of more wire makes the pickup more muddy and doesn't sound as good to my ears so I happen to like the earlier HB2's. I can provide pictures of the pickup that I repaired, though they aren't the greatest pictures. I can provide pics of the Blue Boy 230 also, though a lot of people probably won't care about those models, but that color does look good on that shape, and its the only one in the world unless someone else has refinished theirs.
I owned a used pawnshop ‘83 4002 that had been gutted of its original electronics and pickups. I’ve always been curious about the sound of the original, but there seems to be next to zero recordings of them.
You mentioned Paul Barth was instrumental (sic) in the design of the 600 and 800 series Combos. According to Martin Kelly's book, FC Hall hired a design firm to come up with the 600 Combo design, which RIC adapted to the final design with some changes - no snakehead headstock and the body is carved out from the back rather than the front. Perhaps Paul Barth contributed to those refinements of the original design.
The other observation I have is that I've never seen a 450 Combo with two DeArmond pickups. The 450s have two of the original "toaster-top" pickups. I will stand corrected if there is an example of dual DeArmond's on a 450 out there.
Thanks, Ron! I’m on the road so don’t have the Kelley book with me, so will double check when I get home. Not sure where I pulled Barth from right now, so will recheck. And as regards the 450, I was equally surprised, but would direct you to my post on the 450 evolution here https://rickenbacker101.substack.com/p/timeline-the-evolution-of-the-450 where there are 2 such examples (1 in period promo literature and one refinished example…could be the same guitar?). Note also the rotary pickup selector!
Hi Andy,
Where does the 'modern' toaster used on the Tom Petty 660/12 fit in? I loved it's combination of clarity and cut-through with that iconic jangle/chime. My JetGlo 91 Tom Petty is long gone, and I recently , finally, found a 660/12 JG to replace it. And as much as I love everything about it, I still miss those higher output toasters.
Regarding the 200 series HB2 humbuckers starting out around 12k and later going to around 14k, I think maybe 12k might be a little lower than I've seen. I can only go off my 1989 230 which has a neck pickup at 14.69k and a bridge pickup at 14.45k, and I also have a later one with the embossed RIC cover that is 15.57k. The later one is microphonic and the epoxy fills the bobbin fully whereas the earlier ones from 1989 have a slight gap between the epoxy and where the wires go through the connectors on the PCB board, which can allow a wire to get nicked, which happened to my bridge pickup when I refinished my 230 in Blue Boy. I was able to repair it with the help of a super good microscope, some 44 gauge wire, and some more epoxy. I had to melt the epoxy back to the bobbin, and found where the tip of the wire went through the bobbin, and VERY carefully soldered the wire to that tip of 44 gauge wire, then epoxied it all back in place. The difference by going up around 1k of more wire makes the pickup more muddy and doesn't sound as good to my ears so I happen to like the earlier HB2's. I can provide pictures of the pickup that I repaired, though they aren't the greatest pictures. I can provide pics of the Blue Boy 230 also, though a lot of people probably won't care about those models, but that color does look good on that shape, and its the only one in the world unless someone else has refinished theirs.
I owned a used pawnshop ‘83 4002 that had been gutted of its original electronics and pickups. I’ve always been curious about the sound of the original, but there seems to be next to zero recordings of them.
Nice work, Andy! A couple of points:
You mentioned Paul Barth was instrumental (sic) in the design of the 600 and 800 series Combos. According to Martin Kelly's book, FC Hall hired a design firm to come up with the 600 Combo design, which RIC adapted to the final design with some changes - no snakehead headstock and the body is carved out from the back rather than the front. Perhaps Paul Barth contributed to those refinements of the original design.
The other observation I have is that I've never seen a 450 Combo with two DeArmond pickups. The 450s have two of the original "toaster-top" pickups. I will stand corrected if there is an example of dual DeArmond's on a 450 out there.
Thanks, Ron! I’m on the road so don’t have the Kelley book with me, so will double check when I get home. Not sure where I pulled Barth from right now, so will recheck. And as regards the 450, I was equally surprised, but would direct you to my post on the 450 evolution here https://rickenbacker101.substack.com/p/timeline-the-evolution-of-the-450 where there are 2 such examples (1 in period promo literature and one refinished example…could be the same guitar?). Note also the rotary pickup selector!
Thanks for the info on the two-DeArmond 450! Were you able to get a SN for that guitar?
Sadly no…