4004Cii to 4002/4004LK Conversion

[ilan]

Now it lives up to the 4004 designation.

[cjj]

Funny, I hadn't thought of that, but you're right!

[ajish4]

4_pair_spaced_1200.jpg

Now it lives up to the 4004 designation.

[VRICKY63]

When I'm playing I move my right hand to different positions between the end of the neck and the bridge. Some spots have a more high end sound (back by the bridge) and some more full and deep (close to the neck). Pickup placement would have the same affect . I like the positions of the pickups in the top photo.

[ilan]

The '4 also looks a bit naked, compared to the chromey and busy front of the '1/'3. Four pickups make it look the business, with all those shiny surrounds. If not for the tone, then for looks and for more optional thumb rest positions.

But what do you do with the controls? I'd probably go with master vol / master tone / 6-position rotary switch as pickup selector. Four solo'ed pickups and two combinations that sound best after some experimenting.

[woodyng]

wow this thread has really grown-i've just seen the last 4 pages since my initial post,a lot of interesting ideas and opinions for sure. ok,if it were me,i really liked the pic with the 3 pickups,that has the current "standard" bridge position,and the extra pickup between that and the bridge. (which is where the bridge pickup is on my cii). eliminate the neck pickup completely,and you would have woody's ideal custom pickup arrangement - i'll take burp over woof most days......and i would definitely keep the hb1's,maybe with an available coil tap on any neckward pickup....

[cjj]

Yeah, thanks for all the replies and ideas!

I'm really thinking 3 pickups at this point, with the new one closer to the bridge. As has been stated, what exactly do you do to wire up 4 pickups? Well there are a zillion ways, but with 3, it's a far more logical task.

The current configuration of my 4004 has coil taps to run single coil on each pickup. This does give a different sound than the HB-1 normally has. I'm not sure how to describe it other than a bit clearer. Anyway, I like the idea of being able to switch the pickups to single coil.

I've never found a lot of use for the pickup switches on Rick basses other than initial setting up of the EQ etc. on my amps by turning off the pickup I'm not adjusting. This can be done by turning down the volume too, so the switch, for me anyway isn't really a big deal. This leaves the switch position open for the installation of another pot.

I like to be able to adjust the volume and tone of the individual pickups. Not that I change them a lot, but sometimes I want a certain sound that I find really requires a tone change for a particular pickup. I didn't like this on the original 4004 with only one tone and one volume. Stacked knobs did the trick there, and adding a third set of stacked knobs for the third pickup is a natural extension of this concept.

Unfortunately, a stacked pot in the switch position takes up a lot of the room I'm currently using for switches. But, I think there's still room for the top row of switches I have and room more on that row. So, I think there's room for 3 switches to individually select single coil for each pickup, a switch to select which pickup the middle pickup is paired with, and my stereo/mono switch. Of course, I could ditch the stereo/mono switch since I always run stereo (and I can select that at the rack too), but that would make life a bit more difficult if I ever wanted to use a mono cable into some other amp.

Anyway, I'm heading towards the three pickup solution for now. That does, of course, always leave the option of going for 4 at some future point. At present, it's somewhat of a moot point anyway since I haven't been able to scrounge up any gold HB-1's. At $99 a pop from RIC (if they are ever available), getting two, just in case I want to go to 4 pickups is a bit spendy, but if a couple show up used for a decent price I might just get two, just in case...

[jps]

You could route out a bigger control cavity and make a new cover plate, then you can tinker to your heart's desire.

[gareth]

I have to be honest though. As an LK owner and having played a stock 4004, they aren't so different that you wouldn't be able to get a very similar sound with some patient EQ.

It's a cool idea though, and I'm always one for fixing stuff that isn't broken.

[cjj]

My motto is, "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is!"

[rickenbrother]

My motto is, "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is!"

Seems to bit of that going on around here through the years. Especially some of the mods we've seen on ebay!

[incubus2432]

I have to be honest though. As an LK owner and having played a stock 4004, they aren't so different that you wouldn't be able to get a very similar sound with some patient EQ.

I agree BUT I must say that since I had mine wired for volume control of each p/u the tonal control available at your fingertips is a welcome addition. There are a wide range of subtle tones available that simply aren't possible on a stock LK or 4004. I tend to be a "crank all the controls and forget it" type of player but I certainly enjoy having the option to change that mindset on occasion. Don't get me wrong......it's not like the changes are HUGE and totally changing the character of the bass but there is certainly some subtle variation.

Keep in mind that my ears have been rattled with some ear crunching metal and race car/motorcycle engines for longer than I care to admit so if I hear subtle variations who knows what a musician with delicate sensibilities will pick up.

[cjj]

Well, whadda ya know? Doing a little searching on the net about the effects of pickup position and I found this cool article (WARNING: Extreme Techno-Nerd Content - Includes cool mathematical formulas - including integrals!):

http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponse/index.html

And even better, for those who really don't want to do the math, he's got a cool Java applet where you can enter stuff like the scale length, string frequency, number of frets and pickup position (for multiple pickups too!), and it will graphically show the frequency response:

http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResp ... index.html

There's even tables at the end with string frequencies and scale lengths of many guitars & basses - including Ricks!

Just what I need to figure out the placement of the extra pickup(s)...

[johnallg]

After looking at this, I remember seeing this a couple years back IIRC, possibly in conjunction with a 4002 discussion. Can't even remember where I saw it....

Good (re)find! What I see happening is a new veneer top with re-routs.