4004CII/5 Comments

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:51 pm

Jared, will you please stop showing off your horseshoe conversions!

P.S. Your 4003s/5 pickguard has an unsightly hump in it.

gshadoan · Post by **gshadoan** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:39 pm

>>Greg, glad to hear you solved your own problem.
Intersting choice of words. I really didn't see that I had that much ^$&%ing choice in the matter. That is unless I wanted to leave it in the case, and just play my SR305's. Thanks for all your support.

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:38 pm

Dane-

I cannot claim that 5'er conversion. Kendall James GAVE me those shoes, he had no use for 'em.

If only I could chrome like RIC...

There are no-good chrome guys here.

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:17 am

John - are the new pickups for the 4004cii/5 the same dimensions as the old pickups so that they can be easily retrofitted (as in Joey's case)? If so, is it just a matter of increasing the magnetic field to provide better coverage for all strings?

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:19 am

I really like the Rickenbacker sound and I really like 5 string basses ... but Rickenbacker's first two attempts a making a 5 string bass were flawed ... the 4003s5 had the strings too close and the 4004CII5 had pickups that didn't properly cover all 5 strings ... both can be fixed with mods ... but most players don't want to modify their $1600 bass ... me I like to mod basses for fun ...

I have found even bigger problems with Korean made basses ... I had one recently that I had to replace the nut to adjust it right and it would not intonate properly until I moved the entire bridge ... and some of the cheaper basses active circuits and humbuckers buzz louder than single coils ...

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:42 am

Greg, once the 5 string pickup redesign was finished, I'm sure John Hall would have helped you.

jwlussow · Post by **jwlussow** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:12 am

Talk about string spacing...check this out. Played this while recording at Deaf Dog Records in Chicago. Wow. I still prefer my 4003s/5 but this thing is an incredble jazz monster.....they offered it to me and I must say that I am considering it.....I am also looking forward to my BBR 4004Cii/5 that was ordered in January of 05.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:20 am

Ric could reuse the same pickups if they redesigned the rails like this ...

shinynewtoy · Post by **shinynewtoy** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:04 am

If that's a Thompson DO IT!!!!

He's not taking any more orders... talk about a great bass, and one that'll only get more valuable!

jwlussow · Post by **jwlussow** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:39 am

It's a Thompson. I am tempted but it is pricey. They had some minor problems with it and had to send it in for repairs. The day I played it, Carl called the studio to see if everything was OK.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:16 am

If anybody wants to sell me 2030, or 4004CII5 pickups ... the kind that adjust from the back ... I am interested ... they are perfect for my 4-2-5 conversion basses ... and 6 string guitars ...

david_schwab · Post by **david_schwab** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:35 am

So for me Rickenbacker has not done a 5 string bass that I like to play right out of the box ... but neither has Fender ... that's why part of my basement is a workshop where I modify basses into what I need them to be ...

That's why I designed my own bass. I wasn't finding what I wanted and got tired of modding basses.

for me the 4003s5 is to narrow and the 4004CII5 is too wide ... the perfect 5 string bass would have a nut 1 3/4" to 1 7/8" and a bridge 2 3/8" to 2 5/8" spacing ... I know some players like a 2" nut and a 3" bridge ... but that is too big for me ... also I would like to see Ric do a 5 string bass with single coil high gain pickups ... I just love that sound ...

I like the 2 3/4 spacing of the Schaller bridges set at the widest setting. One of my basses has a 3" Gotoh, which is just a bit too wide. 2 7/8 is ok. What is the spacing at the bridge on the 4004CII5? I'm not sure what my nut is... probably like a 4 string 4001 as far as string to string spacing. I hate the narrow nuts on Jazz basses. I did one like a P, but with 5 strings it's too wide! Hurts my hand after a while. One of these days I'm going to reshape the neck.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:08 pm

The Schaller adjustable bridges are really nice bridges ... I use them on my fender and gibson 4-2-5 projects ... if Ric hb1 and hb2 pickups could cover 2 1/2" string spacing then I could use Schaller on the 4004 and 2030 4-2-5 basses ...

I have not come to the place of actually creating a bass from a slab of wood ... I just modify them and assemble them from premade parts ...

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:14 pm

The B to G string spacing on the 4004Cii5 is factory set at approximately 2 5/8", but you can the adjust the spacing on the saddles of the ABM bridge from 2 1/2" to 2 3/4".
The nut on the 4004Cii5 is 2" wide, the string spacing on the nut is 1 5/8".