Would the pole-pieces really get in the way? I didn't think that the strings were that close to the body . . . or at least, not any closer than the strings on a 4003 . . .
the pole pieces do get in the way a little so you may have to remove a few milimeters of wood and screw down the high gain a little on the 4004 to make it work right ... and if you put ric single coil pickups in a 4004 it sounds more like a 4001 than a 4003 because of the lighter thinner body the 4004 has ...