Treble Pickup Bezel

[tomersg]

I Understood he won't unless you take 10 minimum. Someone at a Dutch bassguitarist forum I frequently visit organizes ordering 10 at the moment.

I'm not sure there are even 10 Ric basses at whole israel...

[berth]

I Understood he won't unless you take 10 minimum. Someone at a Dutch bassguitarist forum I frequently visit organizes ordering 10 at the moment.

I'm not sure there are even 10 Ric basses at whole israel...

Then skip to plan B. Let someone in the states order you one.

[68Goldfish]

I just got one of these over the weekend. Instalation was a breeze and it looks perfect. I wouldn't hesitate to recomend it to anyone.

[ilan]

I'm not sure there are even 10 Ric basses at whole israel...

I'm sure there are. Between You, Marc Lazare, Gil and myself, we have more than 10, and that is only counting Israeli Forumites. In fact I'm sure there are over a couple hundred 4001's and 4003's in Israel, including some rare examples (like a 4000 with a horseshoe pickup I foolishly passed years ago...)

[Jim Dandy]

Glen - Thanks for the review! I have a couple of questions about it, if you don't mind. How stable is the bezel when you rest your thumb on it? Can you feel it moving at all?

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

to me, it looks like the entire width rests underneath the inside of the surround so movement seems unlikely depending on the strength of the spring pressure under it. i've seen various styles of springs over the production life, so a spring with less wraps will possibly allow it to move slightly. not much surface for thumbresting as it will depend how much coil heighth is available through the opening. also, there have been many varying shapes of coil bobbins so gaps will occur on some. maybe fitting will be an issue on some as sometimes the coils are not centered on the plate 100 % of the time. i've had some poles that were well off center to the adjusting screws on the surround. not an exact fit science.

[Tarrbot]

to me, it looks like the entire width rests underneath the inside of the surround so movement seems unlikely depending on the strength of the spring pressure under it. i've seen various styles of springs over the production life, so a spring with less wraps will possibly allow it to move slightly. not much surface for thumbresting as it will depend how much coil heighth is available through the opening. also, there have been many varying shapes of coil bobbins so gaps will occur on some. maybe fitting will be an issue on some as sometimes the coils are not centered on the plate 100 % of the time. i've had some poles that were well off center to the adjusting screws on the surround. not an exact fit science.

Well, I got mine today for the S/5 and it fits well. I assumed that the springs fit under the bezel.

No movement. And seeing it in person you can see why. It's not flimsy at all. Very sturdy and the big pup adjusting screws also keep it from moving.

IMO, every 4003 should ship with one of these or something very similar to it so that when you have the cover removed, just pop this in place and that ghastly cavity is cleaned up.

A lot of folks don't use the cover and when people see a Rickenbacker without the cover, that ghastly cavity is glaring out. Like the eye of Sauron.

Eye-of-Sauron-icon.png (3.02 KiB) Viewed 1689 times

Selling a 4003 with one of these would go a long way to polishing the overall fit and finish that a lot of people seem to complain about, IMO.

[cassius987]

I think the people who notice the cavity the most are the players, not so much the people watching. If it works for you I wouldn't be ashamed of it in the slightest. I never once looked at--say--Geddy Lee playing with a Ric and went, "Oh my, look at that cavity!" Or Paul d'Amour for that matter, who played a shoeless Horseshoe on his 4001CS.

[Tarrbot]

Too true, Josh.

And just last night I was doing the exact opposite and implying that a lined fretless wasn't so bad and it was all in the sound coming out.

I must be schizo lately.

The long and short of it, though, is that this is a nice piece that compliments the looks.

[68Goldfish]

Glen - Thanks for the review! I have a couple of questions about it, if you don't mind. How stable is the bezel when you rest your thumb on it? Can you feel it moving at all?

Well, you can push it in if you want but it takes some pressure. Nothing you'd do normally. Once it's all in place it's not going anywhere. I do agree with a previous statement about the pickup not being exactly centered on the plate so it's not perfectly centered in the hole of the bezel but you have to look really close to see it.

[rickenbrother]

Welcome to the forum, Glen.

[68Goldfish]

Welcome to the forum, Glen.

Well, thankyou!

[paul_yan]

Welcome aboard, Glen! Thanks for the review.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

just looking at it again, i was thinking it could be moulded with a dimple on the one side to allow for one's thumb to rest in it as they were playing before while resting the thumb on the edge of the coil. this is an idea for those who did rest their thumb there previously. two models...one with dimple , one without ? just a passing thought. of course there is the problem of the 4001 basses issued with the flat top surround...three models ?? geddy would want a dimple !

[rickaddict]

just looking at it again, i was thinking it could be moulded with a dimple on the one side to allow for one's thumb to rest in it as they were playing before while resting the thumb on the edge of the coil. this is an idea for those who did rest their thumb there previously. two models...one with dimple , one without ? just a passing thought. of course there is the problem of the 4001 basses issued with the flat top surround...three models ?? geddy would want a dimple !

I like the dimple idea. I had a couple of these bezels for a day or so before I shipped them out to Mario and Jurgen. I asked Mario if I could open the part and check it out before I sent it on. He agreed, so I did! I think it's really well designed. It is more flexible than... say, the bridge pickup base plate, but it wouldn't bend under normal use. It fits very nicely under the newer scooped surround and not as nicely under flat 70's type surround but I think it would still work.

I'm all about resting my thumb on the pickup though and the bezel wouldn't allow me to do that so I wouldn't want one. The route around the pickup never bothered me. I might try one of these if it were made with a dimple as Ron suggested.

One thing I'm curious about that no one has commented on is...Does it affect the sound? I would think that part of what I hear and love about my Ricks has to do with sound waves bouncing around in that hollow cavity surrounding the bridge pickup. So what happens to the tone when we seal off the cavity?

When I inspected Mario's, I fitted it to a surround and pickup I have that aren't installed on a bass, so I didn't get the chance to find this out for myself.