
Welcome back to Mod Garage. This month we’ll have a look at a special Stratocaster wiring that’s known as the Ricky King wiring. Born in 1946, Ricky King is a well-known German instrumental guitarist who was very popular in Europe during the ’70s and ’80s, with some top-charting hits like “Verde,” “Le Rêve,” “Mare,” and “Hale, Hey Louise.” King, whose real name is Hans Lingenfelder, was also famous for his “toothpaste smile” when performing. I don’t think Ricky King was very popular in the United States, but his personal Stratocaster wiring is an interesting one, so I think you’ll have fun with this.
King started his career as studio player in the ’70s and remains an active performer. Inspired by Hank Marvin, King chose a Stratocaster as his go-to instrument long ago—he’s often called the German Hank Marvin, which I think says it all. The Ventures and Swedish instrumental band the Spotnicks are also big influences, and you and you can clearly hear this in his playing style and in his trademark guitar tone. Across his catalog of 30 records, he’s sold more than 6 million copies and hopefully will continue making music for years to come.
Photo 1
King is known for playing ’70s Fender Stratocasters in vintage white with the era-correct big headstock, rosewood fretboard, and white pickguard, plus two modifications that are quite unique. Have a look at the cover of his Greatest Hits record from 1983 in Photo 1 (there’s his famous smile). Between the 5-way pickup-selector switch and the volume and tone controls, you can clearly see a small metal plate containing two small toggle switches.
I asked Ricky King about the secret of these two additional switches, and this was his answer (translated from German):
“With one of the switches, I was able to engage a little preamp inside the guitar to influence the volume and the high frequencies. This little unit was developed and built by one of the studio technicians, and the necessary 9V battery was also placed inside the guitar. You can have the same operation by using an external booster and EQ pedal, so this feature was later removed. The preamp also made technical problems from time to time, which was another reason to remove it. This was long ago, and I don’t have the original preamp anymore. In my later guitars, the additional metal plate with the two switches was no longer present and the only toggle switch I used was directly built into the pickguard. With the second switch I was able to engage all possible pickup combinations.”
With this description, it’s not too difficult to re-engineer the original Ricky King wiring from the era when he recorded his greatest hits. One of the switches engaged an onboard preamp that boosted both the volume and treble. Keeping the timeline in mind—we’re talking about the mid ’70s—and from the description (boost plus EQ), I’m pretty sure we’re talking about a treble-booster circuit with a fixed boost because there’s no additional element to control the boost level. We don’t know exactly how much is being boosted, and we don’t know what exact circuit was used. The trademark Ricky King sound was always ultra clean and free of any overdrive and distortion, so the boost was for sure moderate. From the timeline, we can’t be sure if it was an old-school discrete transistor-based circuit like the famous Rangemaster or a modern one using an IC circuit like the good old LM741 that was used in the MXR Distortion Plus. Both are possible, and my own guess is it’s a Rangemaster-based circuit with silicon instead of the old traditional germanium transistors.
The second switch you’ll recognize as a good, old 7-sound Stratocaster mod to get the two additional pickup combinations: bridge plus neck and all three pickups together, both in parallel.
To combine both mods, I’ll use a feature without knowing if this was originally used in Ricky King’s guitar. If so, all is perfect. If not, it’s a fine and modern upgrade, resulting in the same tone.
So, what do we need to get this wiring?
1. A DPDT mini toggle switch for the preamp and an SPST mini toggle switch for the 7-sound modification.
2. An onboard preamp circuit of your choice.
3. A stereo output jack.
4. A 9V battery, connector strip, and battery holder.
There are a wide choice of ready-to-drop-in onboard preamp devices available on the market. I would choose a PCB with a trim pot for the boost factor so you can set and forget it, pretty much like on Ricky King’s guitar. You’ll have to experiment, but don’t start with a high setting, the trademark King tone is always crystal clear (think Hank Marvin). Some units also offer trim pots for bass, mids, and highs so you can mimic the treble boost by setting bass and mids flat and kick in a little bit more highs. You can also download countless wiring diagrams for such units on the internet and make your own custom one if you want to.
I don’t think Ricky King was very popular in the United States, but his personal Stratocaster wiring is an interesting one, so I think you’ll have fun with this.
Depending on your Strat and the size of the preamp, you’ll have to decide where to place the unit and the battery. Usually Strats with the swimming-pool routing offer plenty of space for this.
You also must decide where to place the two switches, or if you want to substitute them with two push-pull or push-push pots. Between the 5-way switch and the controls is enough space to place both mini toggle switches. Die-hard Ricky King fans can naturally make a custom plate like the one on his original guitar.
With this wiring, we’ll replace the standard mono output jack with a stereo jack to make engaging the preamp module much more comfortable. It’s possible to leave the standard mono output jack, but instead of the 2PDT switch, you’d need a 3PDT switch. Such mini switches are available, and with their three switching stages, it’s possible to engage the booster signal plus the 9V power.
With the standard mono output jack, you’ll hear a noticeable “PLOP” when you use the switch, which can be very annoying. When you use the stereo output jack to engage the 9V power, the “PLOP” will be present as well, but you can’t hear it because the power contact will be closed before the signal contact, so it can’t reach the amp. I’m pretty sure 3PDT mini toggle switches weren’t available in the mid ’70s, so it’s most likely that a stereo jack was used in the original wiring.
Fig. 1
So, here is the wiring with both mods for you, as shown in Fig. 1.
That’s it. Next month, we’ll take a deeper look into the Johnny Marr Jaguar wiring before we finish the DIY relic’ing project after that.
Until then … keep on modding!- Mod Garage: Inside Yamaha's Dry Switch - Premier Guitar ›
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- Mod Garage: “Jimmy Page” Les Paul Wiring - Premier Guitar ›
- Epiphone Al Caiola and Its 5-Switch Tone Expressor System - Premier Guitar ›
- How to Improve the Tone of a Telecaster Neck Pickup - Premier Guitar ›
Over the decades with Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and solo, Bob Mould has earned a reputation for visceral performances.
The 15th studio album from the legendary alt-rocker and former Hüsker Dü singer and 6-stringer is a rhythm-guitar record, and a play in three acts, inspired by sweaty, spilled-beer community connection.
Bob Mould wrote his last album, Blue Heart, as a protest record, ahead of the 2020 American election. As a basic rule, protest music works best when it's shared and experienced communally, where it can percolate and manifest in new, exciting disruptions. But 2020 wasn’t exactly a great year for gathering together.
Mould’s album landed in a world of cloistered listeners, so he never knew how it impacted people. For a musician from punk and hardcore scenes, it was a disquieting experience. So when he got back out on the road in 2023 and 2024, playing solo electric sets, the former Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman was determined to reconnect with his listeners. After each show, he’d hang out at the merch table and talk. Some people wanted their records or shirts signed, some wanted a picture. Others shared dark stories and secret experiences connected to Mould’s work. It humbled and moved him. “I’m grateful for all of it,” he says.
These are the in-person viscera of a group of people connecting on shared interests, versus, says Mould, “‘I gotta clean the house today, so I’m going to put on my clean the house playlist that a computer designed for me.” “Everything has become so digitized,” he laments. “I grew up where music was religion, it was life, it was essential. When people come to shows, and there’s an atmosphere, there’s volume, there’s spilled drinks and sweat–that’s what music ritual is supposed to be.”
His experiences on tour after the pandemic heartened Mould, but they also gave him traction on new ideas and direction for a new record. He returned to the simple, dirty guitar-pop music that spiked his heart rate when he was young: the Ramones’ stupid-simple pop-punk ecstasy, New York Dolls’ sharp-edged playfulness, Pete Townshend’s epic, chest-rattling guitar theatrics. In other words, the sort of snotty, poppy, wide-open rock we heard and loved on Hüsker Dü’s Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey.
Mould’s time on the road playing solo in 2023 sparked the idea for Here We Go Crazy.
Photo by Ryan Bakerink
Mould started writing new songs in the vein of his original childhood heroes, working them into those electric solo sets in 2023 and 2024. Working with those restraints—guitar chords and vocal melodies—put Mould on track to make Here We Go Crazy, his new, 15th solo record.
Lead single and opener “Here We Go Crazy” is a scene-setting piece of fuzzy ’90s alt-rock, bookended by the fierce pounding of “Neanderthal.” “When Your Heart is Broken” is a standout, with its bubblegum chorus melody and rumbling, tense, Who-style holding pattern before one of the album’s only solos. Ditto “Sharp Little Pieces,” with perhaps the record’s chewiest, darkest guitar sounds.
“It’s a very familiar-sounding record,” he continues. “I think when people hear it, they will go, ‘Oh my god, this is so Bob Mould,’ and a lot of that was [influenced by] spending time with the audience again, putting new stuff into the set alongside the songbook material, going out to the table after the show and getting reactions from people. That sort of steered me towards a very simple, energetic, guitar-driven pop record.”
Of his new album, Mould says, “I think when people hear it, they will go, ‘Oh my god, this is so Bob Mould.’”
Mould recorded the LP in Chicago with longtime bandmates Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster at the late, great Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio. Then Mould retreated to San Francisco to finish the record, chipping away at vocals and extra guitar pieces. He mostly resisted the pull of “non-guitar ornamentation”: “It’s a rhythm guitar record with a couple leads and a Minimoog,” he says. “It’s sort of cool to not have a 64-crayon set every time.”
Mould relied on his favorite, now-signature late-’80s Fender Strat Plus, which sat out on a runway at O’Hare in 20-below cold for three hours and needed a few days to get back in fighting shape. In the studio, he ran the Strat into his signature Tym Guitars Sky Patch, a take on the MXR Distortion+, then onto a Radial JD7. The Radial split his signal and sent it to three combo amps: a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, a Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb reissue, and a Blackstar Artisan 30, each with a mic on it. The result is a brighter record that Mould says leaves more room for the bass and kick drum. “If you listen to this record against Patch the Sky, for instance, it’s night and day,” he says. “It’s snug.”
Mould explains that the record unfolds over three acts. Tracks one through five comprise the first episode, crackling with uncertainty and conflict. The second, spread over songs six to eight, contrasts feelings of openness with tight, claustrophobic tension. Here, there are dead ends, addictions, and frigid realities. But after “Sharp Little Pieces,” the album turns its corner, barreling toward the home stretch in a fury of optimism and determination. “These last three [songs] should give us more hope,” says Mould. “They should talk about unconditional love.”
The record closes on the ballad “Your Side,” which starts gentle and ends in a rush of smashed chords and cymbals, undoubtedly one of the most invigorating segments. “The world is going down in flames, I wanna be by your side/We can find a quiet place, it doesn’t need to be the Albert Hall,” Mould starts. It’s a beautiful portrait of love, aging, and the passage of time.
Bob Mould's Gear
Mould paired his trusty Fender Strat Plus with a trio of smaller combo amps to carve out a more mid-focused rhythm-guitar sound in the studio.
Photo by Mike White
Guitars
- Late 1980s Fender American Standard Strat Plus (multiple)
Amps
- Fender Hot Rod DeVille
- Blackstar Artisan Series amps
- Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- Tym Guitars Sky Patch
- TC Electronic Flashback
- Electro-Harmonix Freeze
- Wampler Ego
- Universal Audio 1176
- Radial JD7
Strings, Picks, & Power Supply
- D'Addario NYXLs (.011-.046)
- Dunlop .46 mm and .60 mm picks
- Voodoo Labs power supply
And though the record ends on this palette of tenderness and connection, the cycle is likely to start all over again. Mould understands this; even though he knows he’s basking in act three at the moment, acts one and two will come along again, and again. Thankfully, he’s figured out how to weather the changes.
“When things are good, enjoy them,” he says. “When things are tough, do the work and get out of it, somehow.”
- YouTube
Many of the tracks on Here We Go Crazy were road-tested by Mould during solo sets. Here, accompanied only by his trusty Fender Strat, he belts “Breathing Room.”
Seven previously-unheard Bruce Springsteen records will be released for the first time this summer with “Tracks II: The Lost Albums,” coming June 27.
A set spanning 83 songs, "The Lost Albums" fill in rich chapters of Springsteen’s expansive career timeline — while offering invaluable insight into his life and work as an artist. “'The Lost Albums' were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” said Springsteen. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”
From the lo-fi exploration of “LA Garage Sessions ’83” — serving as a crucial link between “Nebraska” and “Born in the U.S.A.” — to the drum loop and synthesizer sounds of “Streets of Philadelphia Sessions,” “The Lost Albums” offer unprecedented context into 35 prolific years (1983-2018) of Springsteen’s songwriting and home recording. “The ability to record at home whenever I wanted allowed me to go into a wide variety of different musical directions,” Springsteen explained. Throughout the set, that sonic experimentation takes the form of film soundtrack work (for a movie that was never made) on “Faithless,” country combos with pedal steel on “Somewhere North of Nashville,” richly-woven border tales on “Inyo” and orchestra-driven, mid-century noir on “Twilight Hours.” Alongside the announcement of “The Lost Albums,” a first look at the collection also arrives today with “Rain In The River” — which comes from the lost album “Perfect World,” and encapsulates that project’s arena-ready E Street flavor.
“The Lost Albums”will arrive in limited-edition nine LP, seven CD and digital formats — including distinctive packaging for each previously-unreleased record, with a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring rare archival photos, liner notes on each lost album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen himself. A companion set — “Lost And Found: Selections from The Lost Albums” — will feature 20 highlights from across the collection, also arriving June 27 on two LPs or one CD. “The Lost Albums” were compiled by Springsteen with producer Ron Aniello, engineer Rob Lebret and supervising producer Jon Landau at Thrill Hill Recording in New Jersey.
For more information, please visit brucespringsteen.net.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums
LA Garage Sessions ’83
1. Follow That Dream
2. Don’t Back Down On Our Love
3. Little Girl Like You
4. Johnny Bye Bye
5. Sugarland
6. Seven Tears
7. Fugitive’s Dream
8. Black Mountain Ballad
9. Jim Deer
10. County Fair
11. My Hometown
12. One Love
13. Don’t Back Down
14. Richfield Whistle
15. The Klansman
16. Unsatisfied Heart
17. Shut Out The Light
18. Fugitive’s Dream (Ballad)
Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
1. Blind Spot
2. Maybe I Don’t Know You
3. Something In The Well
4. Waiting On The End Of The World
5. The Little Things
6. We Fell Down
7. One Beautiful Morning
8. Between Heaven and Earth
9. Secret Garden
10. The Farewell Party
Faithless
1. The Desert (Instrumental)
2. Where You Goin’, Where You From
3. Faithless
4. All God’s Children
5. A Prayer By The River (Instrumental)
6. God Sent You
7. Goin’ To California
8. The Western Sea (Instrumental)
9. My Master’s Hand
10. Let Me Ride
11. My Master’s Hand (Theme)
Somewhere North of Nashville
1. Repo Man
2. Tiger Rose
3. Poor Side of Town
4. Delivery Man
5. Under A Big Sky
6. Detail Man
7. Silver Mountain
8. Janey Don’t You Lose Heart
9. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone
10. Stand On It
11. Blue Highway
12. Somewhere North of Nashville
Inyo
1. Inyo
2. Indian Town
3. Adelita
4. The Aztec Dance
5. The Lost Charro
6. Our Lady of Monroe
7. El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona)
8. One False Move
9. Ciudad Juarez
10. When I Build My Beautiful House
Twilight Hours
1. Sunday Love
2. Late in the Evening
3. Two of Us
4. Lonely Town
5. September Kisses
6. Twilight Hours
7. I’ll Stand By You
8. High Sierra
9. Sunliner
10. Another You
11. Dinner at Eight
12. Follow The Sun
Perfect World
1. I’m Not Sleeping
2. Idiot’s Delight
3. Another Thin Line
4. The Great Depression
5. Blind Man
6. Rain In The River
7. If I Could Only Be Your Lover
8. Cutting Knife
9. You Lifted Me Up
10. Perfect World
Bruce Springsteen - Tracks II: The Lost Albums Trailer - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.The guitarist-of-all-trades runs us through his formidable live rig.
Rhett Schull’s a busy guy. Between being one of the most prolific YouTubers in the guitar sphere, working as a trusted hired gun, and creating his own original music, including last year’s EP The Early Days, he’s an avid cyclist. Just a week before we met up with Rhett at Eastside Bowl in Madison, Tennessee, for this Rig Rundown, he was slated to ride a 100-mile race in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Those plans were dashed when 70-mile-an-hour winds stoked a wildfire near town and burned just over 26,000 acres. But the show must go on: The next night, Schull played a gig in town, a special release for people reeling from a brutal natural disaster.
Schull’s a certified gear aficionado and tone wizard, so PG’s Chris Kies headed to Eastside Bowl to have him walk us through his current live rig. Check out the Rundown here, and stay tuned; Schull’s got more music coming later this year.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Special Serus
Schull’s wife pointed out this Novo Serus J hanging on the wall of a guitar shop back in 2017, and it was love at first strum. Made from tempered pine and loaded with Amalfitano P-90 pickups, plus sporting an unmissable pink sparkle polyurethane finish, it’s a real looker, and one of Schull’s favorite guitars.
Third Man Thumper
After Schull did a video on the Fender Jack White Pano Verb amplifier, Fender sent him a Jack White Triplecaster Telecaster, part of his signature series of gear with Fender launched last year. Schull calls it one of the most versatile guitars he owns, with each of the three pickup options virtually splitting it into three separate guitars.
Firebird-Watching
This beauty from Gibson’s Custom Shop came to Schull following NAMM in 2020. On tour, he needs something with humbuckers and something with single-coils. Then, he thinks of what’s exciting him. These days, it’s this Firebird V, which doesn’t have a typical Firebird tone, but cuts closer to something like a Telecaster at times.
Rockin' Two With a Two-Rock
Schull runs two amps onstage, but he doesn’t run them in stereo; he believes the stereo image doesn’t translate as well in a live situation where listeners are spread across the speaker system’s field. With this Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature and an AC15-ish David Edwards Apollo, Schull gets a “broadband” sound set for big, fat clean tones, like one giant amp on the edge of breakup.
Fun fact: Edwards surprised Schull with the Apollo when Rhett went to Florida to work on some videos.
Rhett Schull's Pedalboard
Schull’s 2024 EP is very effects-heavy, so he commissioned the pedalboard-whisperers at XAct Tone Solutions to build him this double-decker station based around an RJM Mastermind PBC/6X switcher. Some of the stomps, like the Chase Bliss Mood, are activated by MIDI, and all the different sounds from each song—from intro to chorus to bridge to finish—is set up in the RJM. If Rhett wants to go off script, he can hit the function button, which lets him engage pedals on a one-by-one basis. A Line 6 HX One is a “wildcard” pedal in this rig, filling in gaps as needed.
In addition to those machines, the rig includes a Chase Bliss Dark World, GFI System Synesthesia, Hologram Electronics Chroma Console, Boss Space Echo RE-202, GFI System Duophony (which mixes the Dark World and Synesthesia), Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MkII (used for boost, EQ, fuzz, or overdrive depending on the song), Old Blood Noise Endeavors Beam Splitter, Source Audio ZIO, Memory Lane Electronics Tone Bender clone, and a Mythos Argonaut. A mysterious Japan-made Noel dirt pedal, finished in striking red and gifted to Shull by JHS Pedals’ Josh Scott, rounds out the collection. Utility boxes include a TC Electronic PolyTune3 Noir, Lehle Little Dual, a pair of Strymon Ojai power supplies, and a bigger Strymon Zuma supply.
Sterling by Music Man introduces the Joe Dart Artist Series Collection, featuring the Dart I, II, and III basses.
The original Dart I features the Sterling-shaped body with a single humbucker and volume knob. The Dart II, featuring the beloved Ernie Ball Music Man Caprice body, swaps the humbucker fortwo single-coil pickups, each with its own volume knob for precise, hum-free control. Completing the trilogy, the Dart III is a short-scale StingRay bass with a split single-coil pickup and single volume knob.
A blank canvas, the bass collection embodies the no-frills philosophy of the original Ernie BallMusic Man design—everything you need and nothing you don’t. All three basses are equipped with passive electronics, Ernie Ball flatwound strings, and are available in Natural or Black finishes. No tone knobs here.
“Jack Stratton and I are thrilled to team up once again with Sterling by Music Man to build affordable versions of the three best basses I've ever held in my hands. The JoeDart I, II, and III represent three different sounds and feels, three different eras of bass,and three different shades of my own work as a bassist,” said Dart. “The feel of these instruments is incredible, and the quality would be remarkable at any price point.”
This is a special “Timed Edition” release, only available for pre-order on the Sterling by MusicMan website for two months. Each bass is made to order, with the window closing on May 31st and shipping starting in September. The back of the headstock will be marked with a “2025Crop” stamp to commemorate the harvest year for this special, one-of-a-kind release. A gig bag will be included with each purchase.
All basses are priced at $499.00
For more information, please visit sterlingbymusicman.com.