For starters, I find that only the Rickenbacker sound has brightness and attitude - no other sound comes close, period. And as for the bridge mute pup being bright, this is to be expected, but tinny? I think that depends on how much wire you put in it and on how strong the magnet you use is. I wound my pickup to exactly 8.0 K and fitted it with a very strong bar magnet. It certainly does not sound tinny.
Eddier: yes, the pickup is in phase with the other ones, i.e. both coil winding direction and magnet polarity are the same.
Further details by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for reading.
Replacing the Mute with a Pickup? Sounds Interesting.
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
Okay, here's some further details as promised. However, I wish to stress that I made this pickup merely to prove that in spite of being in a very unfavourable location it can deliver just as much poke as the original Rick bass and treble pickups on any 4001/4003. Personally, and you may find my view a bit odd, I feel that it does not do much for the best sounding bass guitar around, the Rickenbacker bass, but since some of you like to modify your instruments (not that all mods result in improvements - removing the C3 cap is a case in point), here's some specs.
The pickup is similar in design to a Rick high-gain pu: four non-adjustable, staggered polepieces (slugs) hold together two hard plastic plates which form an approx. 4/8 inch tall bobbin wound with 44 gauge wire to 8.0 K. This assembly sits on top of a suitably sized, very strong ceramic bar magnet and is wrapped with aluminum foil (no, it doesn't look too shoddy) to eliminate noise. Pickup height can be adjusted via the two bridge thumb screws, which thread onto the extended bottom plate of the pickup. Basically this is how I built my pickup. Should any of you require precise dimensions, please advise.
As to wiring options, there are a number to choose from. The one I went for was to connect the mute p.u. directly, i.e. using no selector switch, to the bass p.u. on my 4001, which 'colors' its sound a bit and produces a distinctive 'honk' when you bring the treble p.u. into play and set both tones to treble. But, like I said, nothing beats the original Rickenbacker sound, which is why I won't be making this modification to any of my other Rick basses.
That's all, folks.
The pickup is similar in design to a Rick high-gain pu: four non-adjustable, staggered polepieces (slugs) hold together two hard plastic plates which form an approx. 4/8 inch tall bobbin wound with 44 gauge wire to 8.0 K. This assembly sits on top of a suitably sized, very strong ceramic bar magnet and is wrapped with aluminum foil (no, it doesn't look too shoddy) to eliminate noise. Pickup height can be adjusted via the two bridge thumb screws, which thread onto the extended bottom plate of the pickup. Basically this is how I built my pickup. Should any of you require precise dimensions, please advise.
As to wiring options, there are a number to choose from. The one I went for was to connect the mute p.u. directly, i.e. using no selector switch, to the bass p.u. on my 4001, which 'colors' its sound a bit and produces a distinctive 'honk' when you bring the treble p.u. into play and set both tones to treble. But, like I said, nothing beats the original Rickenbacker sound, which is why I won't be making this modification to any of my other Rick basses.
That's all, folks.
A Rickenbacker bass is much like the Jaguar E car - perennially ultra-fashionable.
No, I never cared for active electronics. I've even removed the active circuitry in my 70's K****r 250-B bass. And Rickenbacker basses certainly do not need active electronics. But maybe some bass players think otherwise.
A Rickenbacker bass is much like the Jaguar E car - perennially ultra-fashionable.
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ricnvolved
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jwr2
A jazz bass pickup will fit in that cavity if you remove the plastic cover ... the neck pickup is your best choice because is a little smaller ... I tried this on a Ric and it didn't really add a lot to the sound so I took it out ...
the nice thing about a mod like this is you don't have to cut up any wood or plastic and it is easily reversable ...
You can also put a jazz bass pickup in bridge pickup assembly it fits well and works ok ... but again no real gain in sound over ric pickups ... but it is easily reversable ...
Also you can put one of the 4004 pickups in the neck position .. it fits neatly in the same hole .. this will reduce hum and give it a nice smooth sound ... but again no real gain in sound over the ric pickups ....
the nice thing about a mod like this is you don't have to cut up any wood or plastic and it is easily reversable ...
You can also put a jazz bass pickup in bridge pickup assembly it fits well and works ok ... but again no real gain in sound over ric pickups ... but it is easily reversable ...
Also you can put one of the 4004 pickups in the neck position .. it fits neatly in the same hole .. this will reduce hum and give it a nice smooth sound ... but again no real gain in sound over the ric pickups ....
If you want to use a pickup in the mute space such a pickup must be tailor-made, end of story. A JB pickup (assuming you can make it fit the mute space, which I doubt) will not give you optimum performance because one) its polepieces will not be close enough to the strings and two)its magnetic strength is inadequate.
A Rickenbacker bass is much like the Jaguar E car - perennially ultra-fashionable.
Just came upon this thread and was wondering...
Wouldn't the bridge assembly's metal "gates" or "fingers" (the metal surrounding the spaces where the strings would normally pass over the mute) affect the magnetic field generated by a pickup installed in the mute cavity? Or is the entire bridge assembly magnetically neutral?
Wouldn't the bridge assembly's metal "gates" or "fingers" (the metal surrounding the spaces where the strings would normally pass over the mute) affect the magnetic field generated by a pickup installed in the mute cavity? Or is the entire bridge assembly magnetically neutral?
My first bass was a Rickenbacker...
My best bass is a Rickenbacker...
My last bass may very well be a Rickenbacker
My best bass is a Rickenbacker...
My last bass may very well be a Rickenbacker
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jwr2
The Ric bridge is a nonmagnetic material ...
a jazz bass pickup will fit in there with a little work .... you have to clip the corners a little, and of course remove the plastic cover ... I bet you could fit one of those danelectro lip stick pickups in there or some strat style guitar pickups would probably fit in there ...
anyway I did make a jazz bass pickup fit and work again there was no real improvement in sound ... I ran it into the same volume control as the bridge pickup ... maybe it would sound good rewired .. or maybe a better jazz pickup ... oh heck I'll leave it alone ...
a jazz bass pickup will fit in there with a little work .... you have to clip the corners a little, and of course remove the plastic cover ... I bet you could fit one of those danelectro lip stick pickups in there or some strat style guitar pickups would probably fit in there ...
anyway I did make a jazz bass pickup fit and work again there was no real improvement in sound ... I ran it into the same volume control as the bridge pickup ... maybe it would sound good rewired .. or maybe a better jazz pickup ... oh heck I'll leave it alone ...
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jwr2
The Ric bridge is a nonmagnetic material ...
a jazz bass pickup will fit in there with a little work .... you have to clip the corners a little, and of course remove the plastic cover ... I bet you could fit one of those danelectro lip stick pickups in there or some strat style guitar pickups would probably fit in there ...
anyway I did make a jazz bass pickup fit and work again there was no real improvement in sound ... I ran it into the same volume control as the bridge pickup ... maybe it would sound good rewired .. or maybe a better jazz pickup ... oh heck I'll leave it alone ...
a jazz bass pickup will fit in there with a little work .... you have to clip the corners a little, and of course remove the plastic cover ... I bet you could fit one of those danelectro lip stick pickups in there or some strat style guitar pickups would probably fit in there ...
anyway I did make a jazz bass pickup fit and work again there was no real improvement in sound ... I ran it into the same volume control as the bridge pickup ... maybe it would sound good rewired .. or maybe a better jazz pickup ... oh heck I'll leave it alone ...