Hillman's Rickenbacker Basses

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:46 am

Don Adamek kindly sent in this photo of a bass from the Byrds' Boxed Set along with a customized Model 4001V63 for Hillman. I will leave the additional details to Don.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:37 pm

Well, to set the visual record straight, by the time this pic was taken sometime in Jan of '92, the "box set" bass on the right was not exactly as it was when I got it from Chris.First off, there was No fingerrest; I added that.I also mfd. a new pickguard, as the original was cracked, but not broken[still have it in my "old guard collection].Chris didn't like the "horseshoes" 'cause they got in his way for picking;his tech had removed them, and the PU on the black bass on the left has the PU that came on Chris' bass on the right.Finally, the stock neck PU that was on Chris' Mapleglo was Not a toaster, but instead, a Hi-Gain.The black bass was originally an early V 63 I found that had this great feeling neck, but that was otherwise really beat up.I made new body wings for it, as well as tried my hand at fingerboard replacements, since the original board had gotten some nasty deep dents in it. I succesfully removed the old board and made a new one from Cocobolo, and left it unfinished, though I oiled it.I also routed under the board to put a couple graphite strips in to help the sustain.The pickguard in gold was kind of inspired by the one John Jorgenson had on his turquoise 450-12 that he used in Desert Rose Band.I was restoring and customizing an old Capri 360 for John around 90'-91' and John told Chris about this bass project I was working on redoing.Chris seemed to favor black guitars, so I asked him what he thought about a black Rick with gold guards, and he said, "Go ahead, lets' do it, sounds cool".Chris asked me if I'd consider part payment for the now tweaked Rick of the boxed set bass, plus a little cash on the side, so that's what we did.I ended up trading the blond bass to a guy for another Rick bass I liked a whole lot more.2-3 years ago, I guess Chris decided he probably wasn't likely to be doing much bass playing anymore, and I heard he was trying to sell the black one.Not much more to tell.More than a little fun doing business with one of the first bass players I listened to as a teen in the mid 60s, when I first
took up bass playing.

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:48 pm

I love that blonde bass. It really looks nice, I'm a real sucker for those basses. Especially since there getting hard to find. I was fortunate enough to find one not too long ago.

iamthebassman · Post by **iamthebassman** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:25 am

I love that photo, it's my desktop wallpaper. I'm in Texas where it's already starting to get into the 90s, so the snow scene is nice. Plus I'm a huge Byrds/Hillman/Ric bass fan.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:24 pm

I really like the black one. And I haven't had to look at that cold ugly white stuff now for two years, actually it's pretty coming down but once it's there for a day or two forget it.

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:35 pm

Bob: I catch your drift. Both of these basses is captivating, each in its own respect.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:31 pm

Possibly of interest on this subject here;before I did the deal with Chris on the basses above, a couple years before that, at a Desert Rose Band show backstage, I asked Chris if he liked Rick basses, and he said, "Yeah, they're really cool, I'd dig one of those like McCartney has." This was maybe a year before he got the blonde V63.Then he told me he actually Did own a mid 70s 4001, while he was with the Souther,Hillman,Furay
Band.Apparently, that bass wasn't kept long at all,and he made some rather disparaging remarks about it.Anyone ever seen a pic of him with them, with it?? I haven't...

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 6:47 am

I am glad to be out of the snow. I live in the south and I played in the upper midwest all winter. So I've seen all the snow I care to for a while. Thank goodness spring is here!!!

I still dig that mapleglo bass!!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 2:20 pm

Yeah, I sold two V 63's like an idiot a few years ago and now I'm going to have to pay premium prices to replace them. I'm going to have to look for an old jetglo though. Don does that black one have magnetized horseshoes? I've heard some of the early V 63's did, if so does it sound any different with it?
Yup no drifts for two years, I won't be so lucky this year though, my school is one hour away in Western Ma., so not only will I have the thrill of seeing and living in snow agan I will have the additional thrill of driving extensively in it.

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 2:29 pm

So Bob, you're back from Peru now?

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 5:44 pm

Hmmm, I guess if you're not looking real close at that pic, that you might Not notice that the black bass has No horseshoes on it; the pickup it has on it in the bridge is the Same one that was Originally on the blonde one; Chris had the 'shoes removed, as they got in his way of picking.The blonde bass was a 1990 issue V 63; the horseshoe on the blonde bass in the pick was a new one I bought aftermkt. in 1990.Side by side sound comparisons of the 2 basses here, strung with Identical sets of Med. guage GHS flats, revealed, at least in This sound test, that horseshoe or not, the tone was nearly indistinguishable.The 'shoes on the blonde one were Not magnetized; only the non moveable poles on the coil were magnets.One mod I did to Both basses, on the bridge PU, was to make replica aluminum baseplates for the coils, like you would find on early 70s 4001s.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 3:12 pm

Actually I did notice it, I was just not thinking when I posted it, I took the horseshoes off of mine too and the pickups looked just like that one. When I took mine off I got more noise and I thought they sounded a little thinner. But as they get in my way too I was not able to really get my sound with the horseshoes on so my test was probably not valid.
John, I won't be back for another 4 weeks, gotta wait for that good weather, haha!

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 5:54 pm

When I took mine off I got more noise and I thought they sounded a little thinner.

...as they say, YMMV.I got no noise issues when I did it, and FWIW, another thing I did before getting the bass done in black was to paint sheild all the inside routs, including under the bridge PU surround, as well as foil tape sheild the underside of the pickguard.Only noise out of that bass was hum if you got near an amp and its' transformer.

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:27 am

I hate to dig up this old thread from the grave but here goes.

Can anyone give a rundown of which songs/albums Hillman used Ric basses on? I'm a brand new Byrds fan and I love Rics!

Cole

bassman · Post by **bassman** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:35 pm

Well I have The Byrds CD Box set and he used the v63 for the new recordings on it which includes a live version of Mr Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn Turn! (part of the Roy Orbison Tribute Concert) along with 4 new studio recordings.

He also used it in The Desert Rose Band. If you ever see the video "She Don't Love Know Body" from 1990-91, you can see it throughout that video.

Here's a picture of Crosby, Hillman, McGuinn from 91 including the v63