I was talking to the worship leader about bringing in my 1655 and he said it would be cool.

I wanted to clean it up and during the process decided I really didn't like the internal battery mount. I hate the idea of slackening the strings just to change the battery.

I have a Celebrity battery box that I could use instead. It would allow easy battery changes.

I also didn't like how the output jack and battery box are hard-wired into the pre-amp.

I could have simply clipped the old battery wires outside the pre-amp, and solder the new battery box inline.

I opened up the pre-amp box and saw that it would not be too difficult to install a 3.5mm mono female plug for the output jack and a 5.5mm female plug for the new battery box.

I cut a hole in the side of the bowl for the new battery box. And, I installed the new female plugs into the pre-amp. That went fairly smoothly.

One of the things I like to do when I change strings is to tighten everything up, including the bridge reinforcement screws. That's when the fun began.

In someone's infinite wisdom, they decided to use aluminum 4-40 screws for the bridge. Then they decided that maybe these needed to be glued using epoxy.

When I put a wrench to the nut and attempted to tighten it, the screw sheared off. It was then that I noticed the glue. Needless to say, I didn't try to tighten the other nuts.

Oh, joy! Now I had to decide whether to leave the bridge with just two of the three screws, or to drill out the pearl dot and replace the screw. I wasn't enthusiastic about a weakened bridge mounting on a 12-string. I was even less enthusiastic about having to replace the screw.

Thankfully, I do have some recent experience removing pearl decorations, so I decided this was the way to go.

I looked around online for replacement 5.5mm pearl dots. Almost like hen's teeth. I could buy 5mm or 6mm, but not 5.5mm. In the end, I went with 6mm knowing I'd have to sand/file it to fit the old hole.

I drilled out the pearl dot, then tried to unscrew the screw. That's when I found the screw had glue along its entire length. Naturally.

I broke out the soldering iron so I could apply heat directly to the screw. I was able to remove the screw and drill out the hole.

The new dot is ready for gluing as soon as I get replacement aluminum screws and nuts from McMaster-Carr. You can see the size difference between the 6mm dot on the left and the 5.5mm dot on the right.

Once I get this job done, I still need to decide whether to leave the guitar strung in Rickenbacker style or revert it back to standard stringing. I'll break out my Yamaha 12-string which is standard, then play it again to hear how different it sounds when strummed.

Thanks, everyone.

I received the screws from McMaster-Carr and installed it and the pearl dot. It's not flush like the other dots, but visually, it'll do.

I started to string it up, installing the low-E and high-e strings. Before going any further, I thought it would be a good idea to test the electronics.

In keeping with this thread, when I plugged it in, I got nada. I pulled the pre-amp and removed the cover to check the new jacks for dead shorts or broken solder joints.

Everything looked good. I went over to Jerome's OvationTribute.com site to see what I could find in the archives.

He has a schematic for the single-knob pre-amp, but I don't read schematics, so that was of no immediate help. But, he did have a copy of the VT troubleshooting sheet.

Using it, I found that I had soldered the hot wire for the new output jack to the wrong lug. Once I re-soldered it to the correct lug, everything worked fine.

So, I buttoned up the pre-amp and re-installed everything. Phew!

I decided to string it up using standard 12-string tuning. I played it last night and I think I'll keep it this way for a while.

I do like the sound of the analog pre-amp.

Dan,

Can you explain, for us not in the know, what is "Ric-style tuning"?

Hi Tom,

A picture is worth a thousand words. The first pic below depicts the standard 12-string tuning.

Basically, it's 6 courses of 2 strings. The bottom four strings (EADG) are paired with strings that are tuned up an octave. The two upper strings (Be) are paired with strings of identical diameter and tuning.

Rickenbacker reversed the tuning of the bottom four strings so the octave and normal strings are reversed.

Dan,

Thanks, I got it now.  The above Rickenbacker headstock pics, from Reverb, says it all as well. (I did not notice the string layout until your answer, duh)  The tuner layout is probably why the "Ric-style tuning".

A good read:  Reverb interview of Rickenbacker's Dick Burke in 1993, including a discussion of Roger Rossmeisl's clever design for Rickenbacker's 12-string headstock.

PS:  the above pics are my first on OFC.  Hope they meet OFC's requirements.

Maybe. As I wrote, the two styles do sound different with the octave strings being less prominent in the ric-style tuning.