Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

For those of you who have modified your stock Rickenbackers what was your most useful modification. For me it was changing the tailpiece of my 350 Liverpool and adding the Mastery bridge. Easier to string in the case of the tailpiece and in the case of the Mastery Bridge greater sustain and easier to make finer adjustments with respect to intonation.

Hmmm, not really into modding Rics. Why mod a Ric? We buy them because they link us to a past when men were men and guitars were guitars. Mods? Mine were minor:

I have threaded a thin strip of felt hidden at the top of the R tailpiece in order to prevent those ringing ghost notes that occur on many guitars between the bridge and the tailpiece.



And I've done a cosmetic mod on my Midnight Blue 330 -- switched to gold guards/TRC and oven knobs:

I'm very happy with the mastery bridge as well. I put it on my 620 and I think it made the guitar even better.

To me the hipshot bridge was a useful mod on my 4003, to be able to tune it CGCF. Also very happy with the humbucker I have in neck position

Tom a gorgeous midnight blue. Love the gold guards, trussrod cover and oven knobs. Nice job on fixing the ghost notes too! Even small changes can make our instruments more appealing and encourage playing all the more. Thanks for sharing yours.

I got a Mastery bridge for my '02 620 too, very noticeable difference. Added a Mosley vibrato and am currently trying out some high gains.

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... lebrity%3D

I had the blend control on my '96 350V63 replaced with a 6-way rotary switch to get more pickup combinations.

I wouldn't really call my mods useful, but I had my local luthier put checkerboard binding (back+front) on my 1997 RM FireGlo - 350v63 MapleGlo, and my 330 Montezuma Brown. You could call it useful to the eyes because they look even better now than they did originally!!

Chuck a gorgeous 620! What are the additional tones you have beyond, neck, bridge and combined?

Paul: I would argue that an instrument that appeals to you even more will increase your playing time and bonding with the instrument. Nothing like checkered binding!

Thanks Peter, the 620 has been my number 1 since I got it.

The switch mod was for my 350V63. I can get each of the three pups by themselves, plus neck middle, bridge middle and all three. The 6-way switch added to the already great tone it had from the start.

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... lebrity%3D

I'm just a mod kind of guy ... and/or if something bugs me, I have no qualms about changing it. My 36012WB and 330/12 both got a separately wired middle pickup added which can be run to a different channel or amp. They got new back-painted guards with smooth, polished edges and all pickups were switched to either toasters or high gains with toaster covers. The nuts were changed for better spacing and the 360 was sent out to Mark Arnquist for a full width re-fret for more room, and vintage-style bridge cleanup (12 saddle) to get rid of sharp edges, along with strobe intonation to what he calls a "sweetened tuning".

At one point, I bought an old, beat up and badly modded 430. I built a new body with a figured maple top and bubinga back, maple veneered the headstock front, and refinished the rest. The original body was then reshaped, cleaned up, painted red metalflake and eventually sold to another 430 owner.

My 2030 bass also got a new maple body and pickguards.

Todd: Thanks for sharing these changes to your Rickenbackers. It has to be right. There is something unsettling about having an instrument that does not suit me. I have done a number of things over the years that follow the program "if it's not broken fix it."

Changing the wiring harness to a PTB style. This opened up many tonal possibilities that allows me to tailor the sound on the fly. Adding the Mastery bridge is a very close second. The increase in sustain and note clarity is quite noticeable.

Aaron welcome to the RRF and thanks for your comments. Another good review for the Mastery Bridge. I had not thought of the PTB wiring harness. Good work.

I don't know about "most useful," but it was fun to do. This mod added switches to one of my 4004Cii basses to allow switching between single coil or hum bucking, switching a series cap in and out for each pickup and a switch for "Standard" or "Ric-O-Sound" output.

I also added stacked knobs for individual tone & volume like a 4001/4003.

The only ones I actually use is the Ric-O-Sound switch and the stacked knobs.

All of these mods are completely reversible.

My wiring mods with a push-pull on the fifth knob.

Putting a cap across the two outside lugs of the fifth knob, turning it into a bass roll off for the neck pickup as apposed to just another vol for the neck pickup. Easy to do, and reverse if you don’t like it. I think it’s very useful.