Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm looking a more traditional deep bass one from my neck pickup. Has anyone ever put an old Gibson "mudbucker" pickup in the neck position on a 4001s (replacing the original toaster). The routing under the pickguard is already big enough that no mods to the body will have to be made.

What do you think about this?

It sounds like a terrible idea to me, but then I'm not a fan of the mudbucker at all.

Have you considered trying an HB1? That might be where I'd start. Or maybe a Seymour Duncan SRB-1n.

I had an HB1 on my '74 4001 a while back and it sounded really nice. I had problems with it meshing with the High Gain so took it out and put a toaster there (which sounds really nice with the HG and the Lollar original HS.

Might want to cbeck out the Classic Amplification drop in replacement pups, well reviewed here and elsewherre, and can be had custom wound to your preference. Not sure why its necessary, plenty of bass in a toaster, but a mudbucker will get you...mud, and not much else.

I've heard good things about this pickup

https://nordstrandaudio.com/collections ... eplacement

What year is your 4001? The only years I knew had large enough cavities to accept a sidewinder were from '63 to '66.
Unless you're talking about a v63 or c64...

I've seen quite a few 4001's with Sidewinders (or the DiMarzio equivalent) installed. Personally I prefer the Guild humbucker (Original not anemic re-issue) or the Fender Wide Range, but not in a Rick.

No. Routing out the body to fit the mudbucker will weaken the neck, being neck-through, thinning the structure too much. The problem is that the grommets on the underside of the pickguard holding the pickup adjustment screws are sometimes too thick. Trim the grommets to be a little thinner, adjust the neck pickup a little closer to the strings, crank the bass control on your amp a notch, and if you have a well-ported cabinet you should be able to get the tone you want with the stock neck pickup.

Remember that all recordings alter the eq of the bass, add compression, and otherwise sprinkle fairy dust on the recording to make it sound more substantial. If you can find it, go back to the origin of the species: the two alternate takes of the Beatles' song Rain - one with bass compression and one without. The one without has the bass mixed much lower so the spikes won't cause the tonearm stylus to skip. The released version, being compressed, doesn't have that problem, and the bass is stronger in the mix.

I got the mudbucker installed yesterday. The only mod to the body was to make the cavity just a little bigger. This was done on the bridge side of the whole. I'm liking the tone I'm getting now. I played it last night for about a half an hour. I've also put a mudbucker on my P-bass. One pickup and just the volume knob. Keeping it simple.

My 4001s started life as a 2015 4003s. A couple of years ago I changed the pickups to a toaster and a horseshoe. The bass is still heavier than I prefer, so it doesn't get gigged to often.

Dave

Fred Mertz wrote:I got the mudbucker installed yesterday. The only mod to the body was to make the cavity just a little bigger. This was done on the bridge side of the whole. I'm liking the tone I'm getting now. I played it last night for about a half an hour. I've also put a mudbucker on my P-bass. One pickup and just the volume knob. Keeping it simple.

My 4001s started life as a 2015 4003s. A couple of years ago I changed the pickups to a toaster and a horseshoe. The bass is still heavier than I prefer, so it doesn't get gigged to often.

Dave

Would love to hear sound samples if you're setup to record them. This was a mod favored by Lemmy, Cliff Burton, and probably others.

callofcthulhu wrote:

Fred Mertz wrote:I got the mudbucker installed yesterday. The only mod to the body was to make the cavity just a little bigger. This was done on the bridge side of the whole. I'm liking the tone I'm getting now. I played it last night for about a half an hour. I've also put a mudbucker on my P-bass. One pickup and just the volume knob. Keeping it simple..

Now that you have the routing done, have you looked at the Curtis Novak BS/DS direct mudbucker replacement?
http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/EB-BS.shtml
I have no affiliation.

callofcthulhu wrote:

Fred Mertz wrote:I got the mudbucker installed yesterday. The only mod to the body was to make the cavity just a little bigger. This was done on the bridge side of the whole. I'm liking the tone I'm getting now. I played it last night for about a half an hour. I've also put a mudbucker on my P-bass. One pickup and just the volume knob. Keeping it simple.

My 4001s started life as a 2015 4003s. A couple of years ago I changed the pickups to a toaster and a horseshoe. The bass is still heavier than I prefer, so it doesn't get gigged to often.

Dave

Would love to hear sound samples if you're setup to record them. This was a mod favored by Lemmy, Cliff Burton, and probably others.

Lemmy had a thunderbird pup in his basses at that position, not a mudbucker. Which absolutely sounded fine btw. Ace of spades intro you hear that pup

I have a collection of original 60's mudbuckers that I have acquired over the years. Mostly from Ebay. Dave