Most Useful Rickenbacker Modification

[pauleway]

My 2030 bass also got a new maple body and pickguards.[/quote]


That 2030 bass is awesome. Is that the original body shape or did you mod it? I've never seen a Ric bass with the 350 body style. Anyway - great job, Rickenbacker should come out with a bass model like that one, they would sell like hot cakes!!

[admin]

Louis I have always thought that the cap modification across the two outside lugs of the fifth knob was a great idea. Thanks for reminding us here. The neck pickup can often use a bass roll off and as you say, easily done and reversible.

[teb]

The 2030 has always played nicely and sounded good, but I thought the body shape for that whole series was pretty goofy looking, so I made one that was more Ric-like in shape. All the electronics are the same, the difference is just the perimeter shape and I did move the bridge pickup a little bit.

[teb]

These days I generally keep the 2030 strung with TI Jazz Flats for a pretty traditional 60's/70s sound, but it also does a pretty clean sound when strung with half-rounds. I had pondered at one point getting an acoustic bass guitar, but when I heard what the 2030 could do with the half-rounds I figured why bother?

sound sample:
https://www.broadjam.com/songs/toddbrad ... drive-in-d

[admin]

Todd: I love your cover of Loch Lomond. A high road performance.

[iiipopes]

My second most useful modification is installing modified stamped nickel mandolin tuner bushings in the slot tuners of a 12-string to alleviate the tuner posts binding.

[admin]

Scott what a great idea. Nice work. I must give this a go. The ties that unbind!

[pauleway]

That Ric-like body shape on your 2030 is perfect. Rickenbacker should take note and make a model and call it the "Teb" model bass!

[iiipopes]

Scott what a great idea. Nice work. I must give this a go. The ties that unbind!

Thanks. Measure the diameter of the tuner posts to make sure you order the correct bushings. Over the years, depending on tuner availability or spec, that spec may change. Mine are original 1981 USA Klusons. I got my bushings from Stew Mac, as they publish the specs so you can order the correct ones. As I recall, I had to trim the flanges of a few because the slots are just barely deep enough for the posts, which as we all know makes re-stringing very challenging. And being so thin, a pair of diagonal cutters did the job to trim the flange and I was able to simply slot them in. Part of the instability of Klusons is due to not using bushings, so they bind and jerk and wear over time.

[lumgimfong]

Replaced ultra-noisy 4003 high gains with HB1 humbuckers.
New v/t mono out harness and 550k pots and .022uf cap, copper shielding. Now it is a noisless 4003.

[admin]

Michael quiet is good. In what way did your pickup change alter the tone?

[iiipopes]

Michael, quiet is good. In what way did your pickup change alter the tone?

Sorry for entering stage left, but I have tried an HB-1, and Cassius987 and I experimented with pickups in our respective basses some years ago. An HB-1, in standard humbucking mode, compared to high-gains:
1) more mids;
2) less top end treble, translates to a bit less edge in articulation;
3) slightly higher output.

In single coil mode, very similar to high-gains, but a little thinner in tone and a little less output by comparison.

[lumgimfong]

I find no loss of highs. I can go Squire-brite no problem.
Overall I feel it vastly improved and enriched the tone.
Like the difference between talking on the phone(hi gain) vs. in person (HB1).

[iiipopes]

Like the difference between talking on the phone(hi gain) vs. in person (HB1).

An apt analogy, especially if the instrument has the .0047 in-line capacitor to the bridge pickup, since the phone company does the same thing as the capacitor: chopping off the low frequencies, for the phone company to get clarity in transmission over long distances at the expense of full fidelity, and for Rickenbacker instruments to enhance jangle on a guitar and articulation on a bass.

[Kiddwad57]

Most useful mods for a Rick bass:
1) Finding your favored strings and having a new nut cut to fit those strings.
2) Replacing the treble pickup cover with a Tube Ampology bezel!