Cii 5 HB1s ?

[VRICKY63]

Im sure Mr Rath knows.....what pickups were on the Cii 5 basses ? Would HB1s have been too narrow ? They look like HBs without the surrounds.

[blueflamerick]

HB-2s. Same pickups as in the 2000 series basses.

[rickenbrother]

Now why would someone like Erik or myself who actually has one, know what pickup was in a Cii/5?

[VRICKY63]

OK . Im sure Joey knows...............................Is it wider than an HB1 ?

[rickenbrother]

From what I understand, the pickups are the same internally. Because they have different covers, they have different footprints, but the size of he footprint doesn't change the amount of coverage the pickup has.

[nukebass]

I had assumed it had better magnetic field coverage than the "standard" Cii pickup. Otherwise, I couldn't figure on why they would opt to not use the surround.

[blueflamerick]

I had assumed it had better magnetic field coverage than the "standard" Cii pickup. Otherwise, I couldn't figure on why they would opt to not use the surround.

The HB2 is mounted to the guitar differently than the HB1. HB2s are mounted by allen head screws from the back of the body. No need for the HB1 surround and frontside screw holes.

[86kubicki]

My take (which is purely conjecture) is that RIC had the 2000 series bass pickup in house as "new old stock" when the 4004cii/5's went into production. As those pickups were a bit wider than the 4004cii pickups, (I believe), they were used for the 5 string model. However the pickups weren't wide enough and those basses suffered from a volume drop-off on the B and G strings. I really hope when the re-designed 4004cii/5 is back in production, that it has new "5-string" pickups like those on the 4004cii. And by the way, I've been playing my newly arrived 4004cii since it arrived a few days ago. and it is terrific!

[jwr2]

I think he asked me because I am about the only person who has ever dismantled a hb-1 or hb-1 pickup.

These pickups are a marvelous design. They have dual coils and dual rails. I just measured one of the rails and I am always saying they are 2 1/4" ... well they are actually closer to 2 9/32".

The hb-1, hb-2, toaster, horseshoe, and high gain pickups all cover about 2 1/4" or sometimes slightly less. This becomes problematic when you build a 5 string bass. A good finger friendly spacing on a 5 string bass is 2 1/2" to 2 3/4". 2 1/4" is on the narrow side and 3" is on the wide side. So if you use Rickenbacker pickups you have to either go with a tighter spacing or only 3 or 4 of the 5 strings. It is really a shame Rickenbacker never really got the 5 string bass right, because I love Rics and a love 5 string basses. So I modify my 5 string Rics to have a 2 3/8" spacing which is workable and pushes the coverage of the pickup to the edge of their effective range.

The hb-2 pickup actually has 2 versions. The first couple of years of the 2000 and 200 series instruments had single coil versions of that pickup wound to 8k ohms. Then somewhere about 1990 they got 15k ohm series humbucker hb-2 pickups. Even tough the hb-1 and hb-2 have the same guts to my ears the rarer hb-2 snarls a little more.

So yes the 4004cii5 came from the factory with hb-2 pickups. And yes they probably had 2000/200 series pickups left over that they used, or they produced more of those pickups.

You know I'd like to hear a 4004cii5 bass with nice wide pickups and a good 3 band preamp with sweepable mids.

I got 2 pickups from a 4004cii5 and put them in this bass ... it really kicks a$$

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/c5pbass.htm

[jwr2]

This is my post with the typos fixed ...

***************************************************

I think he asked me because I am about the only person who has ever dismantled a hb-2 or hb-1 pickup.

These pickups are a marvelous design. They have dual coils and dual rails. I just measured one of the rails and I am always saying they are 2 1/4" ... well they are actually closer to 2 9/32".

The hb-1, hb-2, toaster, horseshoe, and high gain pickups all cover about 2 1/4" or sometimes slightly less. This becomes problematic when you build a 5 string bass. A good finger friendly spacing on a 5 string bass is 2 1/2" to 2 3/4". 2 1/4" is on the narrow side and 3" is on the wide side. So if you use Rickenbacker pickups you have to either go with a tighter spacing or only 3 or 4 of the 5 strings gets covered by the pickups. It is really a shame Rickenbacker never really got the 5 string bass right, because I love Rics and a love 5 string basses. So I modify my 5 string Rics to have a 2 3/8" spacing which is workable and pushes the coverage of the pickup to the edge of their effective range.

The hb-2 pickup actually has 2 versions. The first couple of years of the 2000 and 200 series instruments had single coil versions of that pickup wound to 8k ohms. Then somewhere about 1990 they got 15k ohm series humbucker hb-2 pickups. Even tough the hb-1 and hb-2 have the same guts to my ears the rarer hb-2 snarls a little more.

So yes the 4004cii5 came from the factory with hb-2 pickups. And yes they probably had 2000/200 series pickups left over that they used, or they produced more of those pickups.

You know I'd like to hear a 4004cii5 bass with nice wide pickups and a good 3 band preamp with sweepable mids.

I got 2 pickups from a 4004cii5 and put them in this bass ... it really kicks a$$

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/c5pbass.htm

[ilan]

IIRC the first Cii/5's had HB1's with the surround. Then it was changed to 2000 Series pickups with white _________RIC lettering, about the same time some Cii/5 owners started complaining on online boards (and probably also directly to RIC customer service) about B and G strings volume drop.

[rickenbrother]

For the record, I've never complained on a public forum about my Cii/5 basses.

[blueflamerick]

I've never complained about mine either, and I don't think the cii/5 ever came with HB-1s.

[jwr2]

For the record, I've never complained on a public forum about my Cii/5 basses.

Why not?

If I spent that kind of money for a 5 string bass and it turned out to be a 3 string bass I would have a lot to say!

[sloop_john_b]

For the record, I've never complained on a public forum about my Cii/5 basses.

Why not?

Because he likes the bass?