4004Cii to 4002/4004LK Conversion

[bassduke49]

I dunno, Joey. There's room for at least two more pickups in there.

[jps]

That looks great, Joey. Do it!

[rickenbrother]

Paul: a third pickup would be cool, adding two more might give it the look of one of those guitars that we see in some of those "ugliest guitar" threads.

Jeff: if it was mapleglo, it would have been done long ago!

[VRICKY63]

Are we playing Bass or guitar ? A pickup close to the bridge would be useless . There is some serious tone just in front of the existing bridge pickup on a Cii. I would put the new pickup between the old ones.

[incubus2432]

For controls I like the current configuration on my LK....V/V/V/T done with two stacked pots and the toggle is just on/off for use as a kill switch. With eack pickup having it's own volume and tone it would be too much fiddling to get silence between songs and then having to dial it all back in again. I never quite found seperate tone controls useful anyway.

[cjj]

This is great! At least there are a lot of opinions out there.

Yes, the V/V V/T option would work and might be a consideration. Personally, I adjust the tone controls individually more than the volume. In general, I run with the volume up full on both pickups. Of course, I always run stereo with each pickup going to its own preamp (Sansamp) so I can set the overall volume for each pickup at the amp for the balance I need. Minor tweaking is still nice to have available though.

Now, with 3 pickups, this becomes more of a problem. I can't (and won't) run to 3 amps, so the 3rd pickup has to get paired with one of the others, making a separate volume pretty much necessary. Not sure about tone though, maybe one is enough.

As for 4 pickups, yeah, my thoughts are that it'll start looking like one of those monstrosities with a zillion pickups, definitely not like something RIC would actually produce. Part of the reason for this is for functionality/tone, part is just for fun, but I can't stand hack jobs, it's got to look like something RIC might have done and 4 pickups just seems too over the top.

My initial inclination was to put the third pickup further towards the bridge. I like the edgy tone I get from the bridge pickup on Rick basses, but the 4004Cii already has its bridge pickup in about the same place as the 4001/4003. It doesn't seem to have quite the bite though, perhaps it's the HB-1, or the woods used in the Cii, so moving closer to the bridge seems a reasonable thing to do. And the fact that RIC did this with the 4002, 4004LK, 4005, and even to some extent the older 4004Cii supports this idea.

But, as VRICKY63 says, and from what I've heard, moving further from the bridge to the 4002 neck/4004LK mid position could open up a whole new range of great tones. So, I'm still unsure of what to do.

I'm hoping that I can do some experimentation by moving the pickup around. I haven't ever removed an HB-1 so I'm really not sure what things are like under there. If they don't hang down too far into the body, perhaps the double stick tape idea might work so see what the different positions do...

[rickenbrother]

Are we playing Bass or guitar ? A pickup close to the bridge would be useless .

I guess you've never played or at least heard a 4002.

[86kubicki]

Are we playing Bass or guitar ? A pickup close to the bridge would be useless .

I beg to differ - here's a 4002 recorded using only its bridge pickup:

http://www.soundclick.com/seagreenvibe

[cjj]

Are we playing Bass or guitar ? A pickup close to the bridge would be useless .

I beg to differ - here's a 4002 recorded using only its bridge pickup:

http://www.soundclick.com/seagreenvibe

Yeah, that's a great tone! Now, I wonder if an HB-1 in the 4002 bridge position would be close to the 4002 pickup...

[rickaddict]

Are we playing Bass or guitar ? A pickup close to the bridge would be useless .

I guess you've never played or at least heard a 4002.

I have. I own one! And I agree with Rick. IMO it's next to (if not completely) useless.

Hey, at least I'm being honest!

[rickaddict]

I beg to differ - here's a 4002 recorded using only its bridge pickup:

http://www.soundclick.com/seagreenvibe

Well that does sound good, Steve. How come mine doesn't?! I must not have skills!

Different strings, different playing styles, different amplification?

It's too bad CJ can't play an LK or a 4002 or a 4005 to see if a pickup that close to the bridge would work for him before he goes to all the trouble to install one.

[cjj]

Yeah, that would be great! Unfortunately, the probability of one being anywhere within about 1000 miles of me is rather slim (there aren't many cities within 1000 miles of me ). Now, if anyone wants to send me one to try out...



Hmmm, I guess I could always buy the one Jake is selling... If only I had the money...

[rickenbrother]

It's too bad CJ can't play an LK or a 4002 or a 4005 to see if a pickup that close to the bridge would work for him before he goes to all the trouble to install one.

That would be a big advantage for CJ.
A sound clip of a 4004LK bridge pickup would be great.

[rickaddict]

Well then the way I see it, the only way to find out which pickup configuration will best suit CJ's needs is to build the Rickenbacker 4004 equivalent of this:

[86kubicki]

Different strings, different playing styles, different amplification?
It's too bad CJ can't play an LK or a 4002 or a 4005 to see if a pickup that close to the bridge would work for him before he goes to all the trouble to install one.

The was recorded using the 4002's XLR connection (which only uses the bridge pickup) and TI Flats. I think you may be right about the technique aspect Jeff - I tend to play close to the bridge which probably gives the overall tone a bit more definition than if you play closer to the neck. As far as a 4005 goes, I think the fact that the bridge pickup is right up against the bridge gives it a thinner sound as the string amplitude isn't very great at that point, (does that make sense?). The 4002's bridge pickup isn't as close to the bridge as the 4005, so I don't think you can say they would both sound the same (obvious differences in pickups/electronics aside).
And I like Joey's mock-up quite a bit - I'd love a 4004cii just like that, but without the neck pickup!

P.S. We know you've got mad skillz Jeff!