Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all,

For those who have modified a Ric, what is the most extreme mod you have done to it? Changing the pickups to toasters counts

I have modded a few, but not to the extremes guys like Dane Wilder and Jeff Rath have. Mine have been mostly to make them look more vintage.

Oh, what kind of mods have Dave and Jeff done to their gear?

I pretty much mod most of my basses,sometimes just small changes like trc’s,bridges,keys.
Dane Wilder did major mods to 2 of my favorites,both Laredos. And i have done quite a few mods on my mapleglo Cheyenne ii,the biggest change was defretting it.

Ooh very cool! That first 4004 reminds me of a 4002 with the pickup placement...

Like I said, earlier, my mods have been relatively tame ones. Here is the May '08 4003 I did some mods to.

This as I bought it brand new, totally stock from RIC (the pickup cover has been removed, though).
Here it is after the mods.

Most of my mods have been rather extreme. I am by no means a purist. If there is something on an instrument that I'm not fond of, or which I believe would work better in some other form, then I have no qualms about changing it to suit my purposes. I don't just own them to collect them or preserve them, I own them to use them. My only stipulation is that if something is going to be done, it is going to be very well done. Both of my RIC 12s have had electronic/wiring mods and a third pickup added. My 370/12 has also had the full Arnquist nut/frets/bridge mods to allow more finger room and much better playability for big hands. Those are the "minor" mods, along with better pick guards.

Major mods started with my 2030 bass, which I built a new body for. The guts of it are all pretty much as original, it's just the body that was changed. With flats it has a rather P-Bass like tone and It has a nice almost acoustic bass sound when used with half-rounds. It sounds like this:
http://www.broadjam.com/songs/toddbrads ... drive-in-d

Then I bought a 430 in nasty shape and also built a new body for it. I had a wide hunk of figured maple and could get the whole top from one width. The back was done with bubinga. I'm still a lousy six string player though, so I eventually sold it. The original 430 body was re-shaped, finished in red metalflake, bound and sold to a fellow who also had an old 430. He transferred his neck and electronics to the red body.

PunchyStrummer wrote:Ooh very cool! That first 4004 reminds me of a 4002 with the pickup placement...

That was the idea!
When Dane (and original owner John Luke) modded the bass,moving the pickups to the 4002’s positions was the prime impetus. The surgery necessitated the need for a pickguard,and they chose the iconic 50’s shape. I had owned a 4002 for a decade and missed the sound it got,(sold it when i bought my Cii). John offered the bass to me,and i jumped. That bass has a variety of fantastic sounds,thanks to individual coil splitting,as well as the pickup positions.....l

In addition to Woody's basses, I also modded these basses.....

Where's your doubleneck, Dane?

jps wrote:Where's your doubleneck, Dane?

You mean...this one?

And how about these.....