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Topic: 1961 Rickenbacker cw-6 |
Tom E Smith
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2017 8:55 pm |
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HELP
Does anyone have a Volume/Tone harness wiring diagram. The CW-6 that I have has 3 control knobs. I know that 1 control knob is the Volume control and this works fine. I suspect the other 2 knobs are supposed to manage treble and bass tone separately BUT, (1) neither one appears to make any difference at all in tone and (2) I don't understand how this works with a single pickup.
Lastly, the current wiring harness in this cw-6 has the horseshoe pickup in line between the jack and the vol/tone controls.
Thanks for any help in understanding this wiring.
Tom |
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Tom E Smith
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2017 3:56 am
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Guess no one has any ideas for me so I'll move on.
After loads of internet searching I have found that this steel could be either a model CW-6 or JB-6. The models differed by essentially different scale lengths. Mine measures 22-1/2". There are no visible markings other than the characters "C43" stamped into the jack pate. The codes on the potentiometers indicate 137 6128 (CTS sometime in July 1961) no other codes. However the wiring harness looks like it was extensively modified/replaced at some time. The pot shafts are split yet the chrome knobs are smooth inside with set screws. Some of the wiring connections have the wires twisted together and wrapped with newer looking electrical tape. Some solder joints look less than professional. SO, I really have no concrete evidence as to the year this thing was made.
The wiring harness is really confusing to me although I'm not an experienced electronics guy. There are a number of resistors in locations I have not seen before and several ceramic caps that to me looked like someone attempted to wire this thing like the PTB circuit Leo Fender developed for G&L back in the mid 60s. I have ordered the components needed to replace the entire harness following the schematic I found on the G&L site for their Legacy model guitar. This model G&L was the first containing Leo's PTB circuit.
I'm not a steel player but I found this steel at a used guitar shop back in the early 90s and I thought I would try having this close by while I played my 6 string electric so I could shift over to slide without having to change guitars during a song. Thought it would be a great ides that I'm just now starting to really mess with.
Anyway. thanks to all who took a look at my original post.
Tom |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 14 Apr 2017 6:00 am
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deleted
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 21 May 2018 1:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2017 6:20 am
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A fellow Forum member will probably have a similar Rickenbacker, and may be able to provide a wiring diagram. Be patient, and someone will likely come through for you.
Alternatively, Gibson used a triple control setup on their postwar Ultratones and Centurys. I have used this wiring diagram provided by Forumite Steve Ahola to install new electronics in three different gutted-out "project" Gibson lap steels:
I did not use the reverse audio pots as specified on the diagram. Standard 500K CTS pots worked well on all three instruments. I purchased mine from Stewart-MacDonald:
http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_Electronics/Components_and_Parts/Potentiometers/CTS_Control_Pots.html |
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Terry Barnett
From:
Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada
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Posted 26 Apr 2017 4:00 am
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| Hey Tom...if your guitar has been radically modified, use the schematic Jack posted. I'm certain that Rickenbacker wouldn't have been over thinking that guitar...maybe the third hole was for a "boo wah" switch, but it would have been simple. I owned an Ultratone with the same schematic and it worked very nicely. I also owned a Gibson console with a "boo wah" and though I rarely used it, it was interesting. Long story short...simplify. |
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