toaster screws and toaster height

[henry5]

I can't get the neck toaster on my modern Ric as high as the ones in my vintage basses, as the fingerboard sits higher relative to the body, and the very high toaster is a big factor in my sound; I have it very close to the strings. I figured I could raise it a little more if I could do something about the round head screws that hold the toaster together and which butt up against the rear of the scratchplate, preventing an extra couple of mm being added to the potential toaster height. Does anyone know what these are, and if these can be replaced, what with? I thought about having the screw holes countersunk too.

[cassius987]

I don't have a good answer for you (your idea seems perfectly feasible, though; you should also lose the rubber grommets at the same time). If you can take one bolt as a sample, Your Local Hardware Store probably has a threading guide to establish exactly what you need to find.

I am the opposite, I tend to back my pickups off as much as possible. May I ask what about the sound makes you like the Toaster to be so close to the strings?

[jps]

Shaun,

You can remove the corner hardware and use thin wire going though the holes and twist the wire together to hold the toaster's case together. That should gain you considerably more height along with removing the two grommets on the sides.

[henry5]

I don't have a good answer for you (your idea seems perfectly feasible, though; you should also lose the rubber grommets at the same time). If you can take one bolt as a sample, Your Local Hardware Store probably has a threading guide to establish exactly what you need to find.

I am the opposite, I tend to back my pickups off as much as possible. May I ask what about the sound makes you like the Toaster to be so close to the strings?

I just find it bigger, fuller and more dynamic, and I don’t want to have to lower the treble pickup, which currently dominates. I always find there’s a sweet spot for both, but that requires the toaster to be all the way up. I play very, very lightly and if I back the pickups off too much it just sounds really weak.

FWIW we don’t really have much in the way of local hardware stores anymore, or that would have been my first thought.

[henry5]

Shaun,

You can remove the corner hardware and use thin wire going though the holes and twist the wire together to hold the toaster's case together. That should gain you considerably more height along with removing the two grommets on the sides.

That’s not a bad idea Jeff, I may try that; many thanks.

[jps]

Let us know if that corrects your problem with toaster tone.

[cassius987]

I just find it bigger, fuller and more dynamic, and I don’t want to have to lower the treble pickup, which currently dominates. I always find there’s a sweet spot for both, but that requires the toaster to be all the way up. I play very, very lightly and if I back the pickups off too much it just sounds really weak.

Interesting. What kind of strings do you like to use?

[henry5]

I just find it bigger, fuller and more dynamic, and I don’t want to have to lower the treble pickup, which currently dominates. I always find there’s a sweet spot for both, but that requires the toaster to be all the way up. I play very, very lightly and if I back the pickups off too much it just sounds really weak.

Interesting. What kind of strings do you like to use?

Roto stainless, 40-95 or 40-100. Been doing this for nearly 40 years now. Same with guitar and all other basses, always have the pickups pretty high.

FWIW, here's the best example of my Ric tone; bass comes in at 2:50.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxUe-_g9nQo

[bigbajo60]

Curious as to how close you like to get the toaster to the strings...
When depressing the strings at the highest fret, what's the resulting distance from the bottom of the strings to the top of the toaster housing?

[henry5]

Curious as to how close you like to get the toaster to the strings...
When depressing the strings at the highest fret, what's the resulting distance from the bottom of the strings to the top of the toaster housing?

Very small!
FWIW the reason I sold my V63 back in the day was the same. And yet I never had the issue on either of my CSS, they both went higher and were fine.

[jps]

Curious as to how close you like to get the toaster to the strings...
When depressing the strings at the highest fret, what's the resulting distance from the bottom of the strings to the top of the toaster housing?

Mine are about a hair's breadth between the bottom of the E and G strings and the top of the toaster on my 4004L SPC.

[henry5]

Curious as to how close you like to get the toaster to the strings...
When depressing the strings at the highest fret, what's the resulting distance from the bottom of the strings to the top of the toaster housing?

Mine are about a hair's breadth between the bottom of the E and G strings and the top of the toaster on my 4004L SPC.

Ditto.

[bigbajo60]

Curious as to how close you like to get the toaster to the strings...
When depressing the strings at the highest fret, what's the resulting distance from the bottom of the strings to the top of the toaster housing?

Mine are about a hair's breadth between the bottom of the E and G strings and the top of the toaster on my 4004L SPC.

Ditto.

Interesting...
I'll have to look into experimenting with that!

[jps]

You can't be too heavy handed, though.

Let us know how it works for you.

[henry5]

I've just measured and on my main 72, fretting the last fret on the E, the clearance between the toaster and the bottom of the E is about half a millimetre, give or take. On the bass I need to adjust, it's about 3mm.