How Does A Rickenbacker Horseshoe Pickup Work 

Dylan, are you planning to look at Rickenbacker Toaster pick-ups too?

Technically, the magnet doesn't have to be anywhere near the coil of an inductive guitar pickup. According to an interview of Seth Lover by Seymour Duncan, and verified to me personally by Lindy Fralin, Jeff Lace, Larry Fishman, and every electrical engineer that I've asked, most descriptions of how inductive pickups work are wrong. The typical description says that the magnet creates a flux field around the coil that is disturbed by the vibrating string, inducing a current in the coil. What is actually happening is that the pickup's magnet is magnetizing the string, the string thus becomes a magnet moving near a coil, inducing a current in the coil. You could remove the magnet(s) from a conventional pickup and it would still work as long as you had magnets somewhere in proximity to the strings. Also, if you wanted to make a horseshoe pickup, if you had the correct dies (which you might be able to make fairly simply out of some round and square steel stock), you could use a simple arbor press to shape 3/16" steel into U shapes., or even use a simple sheet metal brake if you're willing to accept 90 deg bends instead of a smooth curve.

Chill, folks. He has to make a living.

Well said, you don’t have to make these videos

I have a solid body heavy wood body the size of a palour 1930s era it has copper fretts 18 of them ,an a single volume dial antique in appearance, that's attached to a copper wire rickenbacker horseshoe pickup ,now I've researched the frying pan was made they say a lapsteel also was made ,but no where can I other than it being said various videos no where is it said that a 6 string rickenbacker copper wire horseshoe pickup wooden dobro in vintage cream binding palour size and shape is there 1. Can someone please tell me what I have.if there is a record of this anywhere .

Interesting engineering. What I DON'T get, is why Ric still DO that single in the bridge and hum bucker in the neck! Wouldn't it make MORE sense soundwise, to put the humbucker in the bridge with fatten up the sound, and the single toward the neck to thin it out a bit?

Cheers dude, I'm no pickup expert but your content keeps me coming back.

Hi Dylan! Could you please talk about the rio grande humbucker pickups, specially the muy grande, which is a different humbucker with two real single coils. Thanks!

Thank you for covering this. Every time I'd hear "horse-shoe pickup" what I imagined was not even close to reality.

is it possible that the 50's Fender pickups have cobalt/steel magnet rods rather than Alnico ?

My favorite place to be is up there. Soak it up!

hey dylan, you should grow a beard to mark your 45k subscribers milestone😁

So he saw some great places before they burned. Maybe

Man I thought this was a video about how the horseshoe magnet works on Rickenbacker basses... Not about where this dude went and what he's doing, who the heck is this guy anyway. Well it might have an answer to the question that's labeled in the title of the video but I ain't going to listen to this to talk and watch and drink beer to finally get around to a quick explanation and not 18 minutes long. If you would get to the point of the question that the video is titled he would probably get a lot more likes but I ain't going to sit and watch it from the find me talk about the Horseshoe pick up magnet. See ya

May I ask where you got your T-shirt?

Dylan, just wondering, would titanium be a suitable replacement for aluminum in an alnico magnet and would that change the way the pickup sounds

All i can say is, today in (2022) i received a lap steel guitar from (1948) a rickenbacher NS and she sounds wonderful. I cannot agree with you on the part where you say the magnets decay over time. I checked the horseshoe magnets they are week but produce a very nice sound especially the thick sound on the higher strings. I make pickups for a few years but cannot wrap my mind about this guitar.

Please enplane how a Magnitone/Dickerson lap steel pickup works with no bobbin, no former...just a coil of wire around a half of a round magnet

Why is it that guitarists who are mostly all obsessed about tone, never really talk about Gauss in pickups and how that affects tone. I had a vintage pickup that was demagnetised when I bought this guitar and I ended up charging it again because it sounded very weak and thin.. What was great with this example was finding that both the neck and bridge pickup was the same maxon model pickup. So it got me thinking why they sound so different from each other?? (bridge being the one that was demagnetised). After recharging it they became very similar again and was a huge improvement, Im just wondering how many guitarists think about gauss in their magnets in their pickups in general. Especially vintage pickups and how they change over the years.

You've got to make money so if they dont care why dont they leave. Only thing is I'm sick of the worx commercials. Great products but man they could change the commercials here and there. I've bought an electric screwdriver which is awsome and has several bits that you never have to worry about losing. An Zip Snip that'll cut everything from paper to carpet. A bladerunner( stationary jig saw on a able with guides). Hydro shot , and a hand truck that is multi use. All started from buying the blower.weeder combo. All works fantastically. I'd actually like to see products you are pushing since I know you won't push a product you dont believe in.

Fender is selling Cunife wide range humbuckers now. 😎 Might have to buy em and take the magnets out to make something good 🤷‍♂️

Dylan. Would you do a video on the neck pickup of the Rickenbacker bass, the early "toaster" pickup? I like it for that Paul McCartney tone like on "Rain".

Where can I find specs for 76 model Gibson Les Pauls? Thinking about building one in a deep dark blue infused with metal dust to make it glow in a spot light but seem almost black in low light since I can't seem to find the real thing in that color. I saw one around 79 or 80 think it was a 76 model but not sure no bindings on the body carved top. Think it was a studio.

The Rickenbacker pickup has a unique tone...I guess that’s a nice way of putting it. I’ve never cared for the tone. I owned an older 360 for a short time and sold it. I believe the bridge pickup was of the horseshoe design as I had to feed the strings through a “tunnel” in order to restring the guitar. At least you confirmed my understanding of how the pickup works. As to the tone, to each their own. To the folks complaining about your sponsoring plugs, whether your for own business or for a third party paying you, there is no free lunch. That BLT, chips and Pepsi may be gratis to the one dining on that for lunch, but make no mistake that someone, somewhere had to engage in doing work to earn the money that paid for the lunch that the one is enjoying. Be grateful that it’s free. Enjoy the meal. Ruffles preferred over the Fritos on the plate? Keep the whining to oneself and just say thank you. Be grateful that the meal cost nothing. As to You Tube adding more commercials? Dylan has no control over that. Sniveling to him about it accomplishes nothing. If one is willing to pay a $12.99 monthly premium to You Tube, one of the benefits is that the You Tube commercials go away. There’s other bennies, but I’ll let the interested prospect research the matter on their own time. Lastly Dylan, I know where your at as I used to camp, hike, fish & hunt (deer & boar) in that area quite a lot as a younger man. You’re in some beautiful country. McArthur-Burney Falls Park is one of my favorite state parks and Lake Britton is one of my favorite places to fish. Highway 97 northbound out of Weed is my preferred route into Oregon. Imoho, it’s a prettier drive than I-5.

I know this is off topic of this video and that you have looked at a MFD pickup before but I think it would be cool if you would compare construction of a fender pickup and a the MFD pickup in the Comanche. Dig the vids.

Maybe since you make pickups you can find a way of repairing the horseshoes on that pickup or even replacing them with alnico infused horseshoes. Hell build your own. If you're successful I want a set. Maybe you could cast a horseshoe magnet rather than bending metal. Nice jeep.

Check out the Trinity Alps while you’re in NoCal. I wish I knew you were in the PNW, I would have treated you to some awesome beer.

This vid made me look further into pickup design. Although you didn’t go specifically into it, it explains why some pickups sound better on lower wattage amps. Something made for a stage stack, like George Lynch’s, won’t sound right on a 15 watt house amp.

would love to test a horsehow pu myself , great video, beautiful american landscape be careful, you are it riot territory, stay away from the cities,

The bonus class should be about whatever people ask the most questions about during the first class.

Good info, Dylan, thanks much!! I share your vids across FB, Twitter & Parler when I can bud!! I hope to see ya hit 100K subs!!

Nice vid! If you are going to do the toaster pick-ups, how about including a bit about Rikenbaker's blend control?

People just try to complain or they can’t have something informative to add to help. We love to learn so keep up the great job!

I have an old epiphone tenor that needs one of this style. See them on lap steels from the 30s, but would love to build my own.

Alnico pickups was just a name to me, it isn't now, thanks for the knowledge.

What a waste of my time!!

First Ducati I ever saw was in that stupid movie 'Fled' 🤣

FINALLY talking about Rickenbacker.

Never heard of horse shoe pickups till today. Thank you!

Honestly I've got no idea how this pickup looks until I saw this video. Thank you!

08/11/2020: Nice review of your travels. It would have been cool, if you gave today's demo sitting with that lake or Falls behind you. Speaking of cool, you look like you are in a mild climate. It is 105 degree heat index here in Florida. Well, Florida does have its 4-seasons too: Warm, Hot, and Well done ... Have a great day!

Rickenbacker now uses plastic "horseshoe" covers - for example the 4001 bass. People claim it cuts down on hum of the pickup and serves a purpose. Dylan, can you confirm or deny that the current pickup cover is actually serving a function tonally?

It's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it...

Charlie Christians sound fantastic tho!

Thanks! Nice weather out there!

just get ad blocker

You mean a lot to us!!!

Cool info!

JP, MA!

Literally the greatest pickup ever made. While not made to sound the best on its own, but perfectly made to compliment the neck toaster.

Do ceramic magnets last longer than AlNiCo? Should I sell my AlNiCo guitars first?

I thought for a moment I was going to see an Elizabeth warren commercial.

love the glasses Dylan!

What sunglasses is that? Kingseven?