Anatomy Of A Rickenbacker Bass Part 6

[leftybass]

Great job, Ted!

Here's a green hi-gain from '69 to add some visual.

Great picture Kevin. That is an unpainted transitional Hi-gain with the old-style aluminum base plate. There are certainly not many of those to be found.

Good bet that one of these was in my '69 when it was made......

[cassius987]

I love the Toaster pickup. I would consider installing it into every position in every one of my basses (and have done so at times). Thanks for this thread about Ric pickups in general... a very fascinating and deep subject.

[ricosound]

My old '71 to add to the green transitional brigade.

[teeder]

Very cool. They must be more common than I thought.

I'm sure it was short lived.
Anyone have a '72 with a "Greenie"?

[rickfan60]

Many are unpainted like that but you have two with the old-style plates. That is is what surprises me the most. Perhaps the factory had a bunch of them left over from horseshoe production.

[rickaddict]

A great read for us Rick-crazed people.

Thanks, Ted!

[paul_yan]

Great thread again, Ted!

I love the Toaster pickup. I would consider installing it into every position in every one of my basses (and have done so at times). Thanks for this thread about Ric pickups in general... a very fascinating and deep subject.

Joshua, I'd love to hear your impressions on the toaster at the bridge position. How does it differ from the treble high-gain pickup, sound-wise? Is the volume consistent with every string?

[rickfan60]

Thanks guys. I am glad you are enjoying it so far.

A minor correction I should have said that the 4002 is the rarest of all Rickenbacker BASS pickups. I don't know how many 481s there are but it could be fewer than 4002s.

[cassius987]

Joshua, I'd love to hear your impressions on the toaster at the bridge position. How does it differ from the treble high-gain pickup, sound-wise? Is the volume consistent with every string?

A pickup's sound is (from what I have been told) equally dependent on where it is positioned on the instrument and the "coefficient(s)" or "factor(s)" that gives the pickup it's unique color of sound. So a Toaster in the bridge pickup position behaves much more like a bridge pickup than the Toaster we often think of from the neck pickup position. It is still quite articulate and honeysweet but there is a definite treble EQ boost and a certain sharpness that I rarely if ever encounter in the Toaster on the neck position. The volume consistency is like you would expect--spot on, very even-sounding. I often run the bridge Toaster solo for Latin and funk charts--it sounds great. I had trouble with volume consistency in the bridge pickup with Hi-Gains, but Toasters never do that to me in either position.

For my sound, I absolutely love it and wouldn't do without it. The installation is very simple too (basically as simple as any other pickup swap). It covers a wide range of tones, and even goes well into overdrive and distortion. I'd be interested to see what the mod would do for a metalhead running it through effects. In any case, for me (mostly a fusion and trad. jazz player, with smatterings of rock and blues), the bridge Toaster is definitely the way to go.

[weemac]

I am focusing on the solid body 4000s in this series but sometimes I have to reference other models and that probably confuses things a bit.

I thought that may have been the case!

Eden.

[paul_yan]

Very cool of you to give such a detailed description, Joshua. Thank you very much!

[bottom4]

This is the HS that came in my '85 V63

[rickfan60]

That's right. You have a special one. It is a one of a kind or were the first ones made that way?

[jps]

That's right. You have a special one. It is a one of a kind or were the first ones made that way?

I think the very early/prototype V63 Bob Atherton (?) had also had a vintage magnetized HS pickup. A detail shot of that bass is shown in the color photo section of the Smith book.

[johnallg]

Nice photos of Kevin's green higains. HIs '69 read a little shy of 6k IIRC - we measured it at RIO!! last year. Kevin, if you remember the reading please correct if I'm off.