Restoring a 1967 Rick 4001 bass - bridge pickup needed

[smkoch]

I'm restoring a 1967 fireglo Rickenbacker 1999 (4001S) bass. I have located all the parts inclusive the a reissue toaster neck pick-up. Only thing missing now is the horseshoe bridge pickup and chrome surrounding for this. A friend of mine gave me the email address for a guy who should be able to do a new horseshoe, but no reactions to my emails. Same thing with Rickenbacker. They don't answer my mails. Now I'm tempted to find a later higain bridge pickup with the smaller chrome surrounding and put this on just to get the bass up and working (I'm a touring musician and need the bass soon, since I'm currently lending a 4001C63 from a friend). Anyone who can help ? Anyone who has a horseshoe pick-up or higain pickup, a large 60s chromesurrounding or later smaller surrounding - original or reissue/remake lying around - doesn't matter as long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Also the reissue toaster pickup I've received has 6 poles like a guitar pickup. I've been told that the original toaster bass pickups was identical to guitar pickups, but is this also the case with the reissues or have I received a guitar pickup.

[jps]

Welcome, Søren!

The toaster you have is correct, they all have/had 6 magnets, and work great for either bass or guitar with nice even string response.

[wints]

Welcome Soren.

Good to see another RM1999 bass surface. Are in Denmark? Do you have any photo's of the bass? It's always good to see another example.

I too am restoring a 67 4001S/RM1999 (slowly!) and found that the RI surrounds from the V series basses will fit pretty well. This part with the longer taper is actually correct for a 67 bass, and that would be my preferred choice. Mark Walker has fabricated a couple I believe, and I'm sure you'll hear from him as well.
The horseshoes from a 60's lapsteel guitar will fit exactly. If you can find a set with the bobbin complete, you could use that, or fit a later hi-gain in there. The original bobbin from this period is almost impossible to find, and most owners have fitted the later high gain with the horseshoes. The horseshoes come up on eBay frequently.
The reissue toaster should be fine, as Jeff says, they all had 6 magnets, but some in the 60's had shorter poles due to the depth of the cavity.

RIC only deals with new instruments, not vintage. You've come to right place here for that...

[JakeK]

Do you have any photo's of the bass? It's always good to see another example.

+1

[weemac]

Welcome Soren to the rm1999 club!

Eden.

[1965]

This part with the longer taper is actually correct for a 67 bass, and that would be my preferred choice. Mark Walker has fabricated a couple I believe, and I'm sure you'll hear from him as well.

O rly? I'd love to get a hold of one for my bass

[smkoch]

Hi Jeffrey, Andrew, Jake & Eden!
Thank you guys for your quick response to my topic and the warm welcome in the club . Happy to hear that my toaster pick-up is the right one and special thanks to Andrew for some really cool information regarding the lapsteel horseshoes. Yeah, I know the V series surrounds will fit. Luckily, a friend of mine has a lovely C63 (which I believe has the same surrounds as the V-Series:-). This I have measured and it fits just fine but I just haven't had the luck to find one on eBay yet. I'll keep looking and also hope to hear from Mark Walker regarding this. If I could get a large 60s style surround from somewhere, I would be happy to put in a newer hi-gain pickup as a start. Higain pickups are up on eBay from time to time. I would do fine without the chrome cover/horseshoe, though I have actually never had any troubles playing Ricks with the thing on.
My bass is at the luthier at the moment and I have only got a few pics of the bass as it looked when I bought it. Got it from a danish music store that was turning the key. They'd had it in the backroom for some time. Probably got it from a school in a trade deal or something. The bass has certainly had a hard life. Underneath the pickguard I found traces of the original fireglo, grey primer, white paint and even purple. When I bought it, it was sanded down and then coated with a thick ugly layer of lacquer. Really amateurish work. It have received ugly routing for later pickups and a large pickguard covering the whole pickup area has once been fitted. It came to me with a homemade Rick style pickguard, a later 70s or 80s neck pickup (probably not a real Rickenbacker), no bridge pickup, original electronics (with pot codes indicating week 26, 1967 which goes well with the date code on the jack plate), original bridge base (but no bridge) and original tuners that seems to run smoothly. The frets are worn out. I received the bass without any strings, so have actually not played the thing yet. It seems to me, though, that the neck is very slim compared to both the C63 and a 4003 I'm currently playing. I have attached a couple of photos.

[woodyng]

interesting..it's hard to tell if there is a center (neck) piece running through the body from these pix,but as you said it's probably been refinished so many times. welcome! you could also put a 2nd toaster in the bridge position,it's been done by a few forum members here on various ricks....

[sashua]

Sent you an E-Mail Soren.
Think I can help on both accounts.

-Russ

[wints]

Soren, thanks for the photo's.

As I said, this place is much more productive than RIC for vintage help. Yes, your bass has seen the usual wear and tear most have from this period, but you can certainly get it back together again.

I'm guessing the serial number is either GF, or GI...

[smkoch]

Thanks again. Yeah, I think the serial number is GI xxxx (the bass is with the luthier at the moment and I can't find the piece of paper where I wrote the serial number, but as far as I remember you're right about GI .

Russ, I'll get back to you soon regarding your email.

Thanx again

Søren

[seyesbass]

Best wishes to you on the restoration Soren!
Be patient and as Andy said it will be worth the work.
I have had the opportunity to see quite a few RMs over the years and its fairly common for Ricks like these to have been given a hard time during the
(no disrespect intended) "Di Marzio years".
At the end of the 70s the bridge (horse shoe) pick up on an old Rick was regarded the same as a tredle sewing machine compared with a new electric all singing dancing one...they both did the job but the modern one was more powerful and the one to be seen with.
The same goes for the finish and being a fan of Squire, Macca et al I cant blame Joe Bloggs for wanting to keep up with the trend of re-finishing (what was to be) a vintage guitar. I am actually doing the same to a CS so I am guilty as charged!
But anyway thats the kind of "custom parts" era thinking going on at that time and the retro fit spares companies were doing big business replacing stuff on Strats etc. but the poor old Rick bass had way worse time of it than a 62 Jazz.
The problem we have with Rick basses is the ammount of surgery involved in the parts change but luckily for us the large pick guard covers most of the re-build later on.
I had RM DA24 and when I bought it it had a..yes...Di Marzio pick up at the bridge position and some wood had been shaved to make it fit. Fortunately the original surround was still there and I managed to fit a re-issue HS but as I said if you are patient with yours,fit a Ri HS then wait for a lap steel shoe and an original bobbin,you can eventually get it back to how it should be.
At one time the HS would have been the problem part but since the Ri ones crop up thats not too bad.
You are fortunate to have the tail piece because THATS the hard to find part these days.
Keep us posted!

[jps]

I have a RI horseshoe pickup available for a price that is far more reasonable than those insane ebay prices.

[walker]

Hey - I just saw this, almost exactly a year late; sorry! I do have a couple more vintage surrounds (2 steel & one brass) that I can cut down to exact specs (long or short tail) if you are still in need.

[teeder]

Mark,

I would be very interested in one of those!