Experiences with Pickguardian?

[incubus2432]

When I played 4003's I used to anchor my thumb on the bridge p/u surround and once I switched to playing 4004's I had a slight adjustment period getting used to not having an anchor/reference point. Then my need for an anchor just went away and now I float all over the place. My forearm is now what I rely on for a light anchor. I'm now more open to moving closer to and away from the bridge for my finger plucking, picking, strumming and whacking.....it has opened up my technique a bit and I find myself changing position without thought when I need subtle (or sometimes drastic) tonal changes.

[jps]

I thought you were a hack player? That certainly does not smack of hack!!!

[rickenbrother]

Ever since I started playing 5 string basses many years ago, I starting putting my thumb on the top string, as long as I'm not playing that string, instead of anchoring it to a pickup, thumbrest or any other part of the bass. If I'm playing the top string, whether it be a B or E string, then my thumb floats. Makes its easy to get to different playing areas of the strings for different tones.

[cassius987]

Hope to see a couple of photos.

Oh you will! I plan to take lots of pics and start doing some recordings of the bass so I can "debut" it on other forums like bassplayer.com...

When I played 4003's I used to anchor my thumb on the bridge p/u surround and once I switched to playing 4004's I had a slight adjustment period getting used to not having an anchor/reference point. Then my need for an anchor just went away and now I float all over the place. My forearm is now what I rely on for a light anchor. I'm now more open to moving closer to and away from the bridge for my finger plucking, picking, strumming and whacking.....it has opened up my technique a bit and I find myself changing position without thought when I need subtle (or sometimes drastic) tonal changes.

I didn't make this thread looking for all of this advice but I'm really grateful to be receiving it! Thanks so much to all of you because it's giving me a lot of stuff to work on...

[jps]

Anything that helps to make us better musicians is all good!

[incubus2432]

I thought you were a hack player? That certainly does not smack of hack!!!

.......but what non-hack does this......



....case closed.

[dog]

Somebody call 911!

[cassius987]

I thought you were a hack player? That certainly does not smack of hack!!!

.......but what non-hack does this......



....case closed.

What's the red stuff? Did your fingers bust out and bleed everywhere?

[rikk]

Years ago when I played Fenders I used the thumb rest that came with then. Eventually they all came off. After reading this thread I could not consciously remember where I rested my thumb, or my hand for that matter on my RICs. They are all different, some with the standard RiC bridge hardware, others with Pickguardian mods and one with different pups. One by one I grabbed my basses and started to play then looked at that my right hand was actually doing. I put my thumb on the E when playing all the other strings, but whan I play the E I kind of float over the bridge pickup assembly and touch the side of it. I never consciously thought about it before, just did it.

BTW, I have had Tony at Pickguardian make me lots of plastic. He does a great job, including a custom bridge PUB guard to mount HB1's in my 4001.

[cassius987]

The 3/4'' spacing on my new pickguard doesn't work without routing. Should've just asked for 1/2''. Now I think I'll just wait till my warranty is up (in 4 & 3/4 years) and do 1/2'' spacing.

Worse than that is that the plexi " gaping hole cover" does not have the right screw holes... I guess, as Tony said could happen, RIC threw him a curveball and used slightly different spacing on the pickup surround screw holes. His are made to be just about 1/8'' wider (in total) that what I have stock on my 4003FL.

This is fairly depressing since I put a decent bit of $$ into it and won't end up using anything I paid for. It's not Tony's fault at all, just poor luck, and stupidity on my part for not measuring the chrome pickup surround--shouldn't have assumed they're all the same.

Oh well. I went ahead and just took off the pickup shield so I could pluck over the pup and installed a Hipshot bridge. Now I can palm mute and the Hipshot's super-low action gives this bass an extra shot of "mwah", so that's quite pleasing. But I was really excited about the new pup surround...

I kind've like the chrome surround on its own... it has a certain sex appeal. But... *pouty whiney loser behavior*

Would it be out of bounds to e-mail Tony with clear specs and ask him to redo just the white pickup surround (not the clear pickup guard)?

Also, if somebody wants a 3/4'' spaced pickguard with even knob placement, I'll cut you a VERY good deal... I have no use for it since the reason I got it was to avoid routing, and it doesn't avoid it after all. Just PM me if interested.

[cjj]

Would it be out of bounds to e-mail Tony with clear specs and ask him to redo just the white pickup surround (not the clear pickup guard)?

You can always ask. The worst he can do is say "No."

[dog]

The 3/4'' spacing on my new pickguard doesn't work without routing. Should've just asked for 1/2''. Now I think I'll just wait till my warranty is up (in 4 & 3/4 years) and do 1/2'' spacing.

Worse than that is that the plexi " gaping hole cover" does not have the right screw holes... I guess, as Tony said could happen, RIC threw him a curveball and used slightly different spacing on the pickup surround screw holes. His are made to be just about 1/8'' wider (in total) that what I have stock on my 4003FL.

This is fairly depressing since I put a decent bit of $$ into it and won't end up using anything I paid for. It's not Tony's fault at all, just poor luck, and stupidity on my part for not measuring the chrome pickup surround--shouldn't have assumed they're all the same.

Oh well. I went ahead and just took off the pickup shield so I could pluck over the pup and installed a Hipshot bridge. Now I can palm mute and the Hipshot's super-low action gives this bass an extra shot of "mwah", so that's quite pleasing. But I was really excited about the new pup surround...

I kind've like the chrome surround on its own... it has a certain sex appeal. But... *pouty whiney loser behavior*

Would it be out of bounds to e-mail Tony with clear specs and ask him to redo just the white pickup surround (not the clear pickup guard)?

Also, if somebody wants a 3/4'' spaced pickguard with even knob placement, I'll cut you a VERY good deal... I have no use for it since the reason I got it was to avoid routing, and it doesn't avoid it after all. Just PM me if interested.

Well, I am sorry for your bad luck. But, if anything came of all of this, it is the replacement bridge. You may remember that I ordered the aluminum version 3 days after I received my new 4003. I won't go into the reasons again, but after installing it, I never looked back. I am glad to hear that you're happy with it.

As for the 3/4" guard. That is bad news. I did find to my surprise that I had no forward clearance for mounting the p/u and had to take the full 1/2". It's really a bummer to be built up, just for a let down. Hope you are well. Ron

[cassius987]

Well, I am sorry for your bad luck. But, if anything came of all of this, it is the replacement bridge. You may remember that I ordered the aluminum version 3 days after I received my new 4003. I won't go into the reasons again, but after installing it, I never looked back. I am glad to hear that you're happy with it.

As for the 3/4" guard. That is bad news. I did find to my surprise that I had no forward clearance for mounting the p/u and had to take the full 1/2". It's really a bummer to be built up, just for a let down. Hope you are well. Ron

You're right--I wasn't going to try the HS until I had the new PG and p'up surround. I'm so glad I did. It's got even more "fretless character" now. The action is lower than it was before, which was REALLY LOW. I really never expected to love a 4003FL this much--I always thought I'd use it until I could get a 4002FL through some mystical quest during which I'd have to slay a dragon. But my 4003FL--now even more with HS--is probably THE sickest bass I've ever played. I couldn't be happier. Ultimately the PG screwup is a small disappointment. I may just leave the neck Toaster where it is anyways. This is never going to be a "traditional vintage" bass.

Tony, gentleman that he is, told me to mail him a tracing and he'd get me a replacement. I will do it! But my wife thinks the "deshielded" chrome surround with a Toaster poking out is really hot so who knows. It's not at all sharp like anyone said either--I'm totally comfortable with it. So who knows what I'll do in the end.

[dog]

I didn't know that you had replaced the bridge HG with a toaster. I won't ask if you like it. That seems obvious. But I am wondering if you can describe the advantage of the toaster in that position compared to the HG. I do realize that it is sometimes hard to describe tone comparisons, without someone (me) being able to hear it. I'll thank you in advance

[jps]

Here is a photo of my former 4003FL with a toaster in the bridge position.