4001/4003 to 4000 conversions?

[antipodean]

well,if you already have a 4000,why do that to your V?

My 4000 spent 6 months out of action with truss rod issues. In addition, I had issues with the toaster/horsie balance on the v63, and just liked the sound of the horsie soloed. On top of that, I have a pair of '70s 4001s that do the blended neck pickup thing better than the v63 (one RI toaster, one higain), probably by virtue of their vintage treble higain. As there are not a lot of '60s spec 4000s around, the idea of "devolving" the V63 was/is appealing. As the mod is totally reversible, it may be fun to try - and a lot cheaper than finding a '68 4000.....

And me sitting on two V63s......

That sounds uncomfortable - I'd try a chair John....

[cassius987]

Not a huge job and it's a fully reversible mod. I note that it is a bit easier if you have a mono bass.

I just make a dual mono jack pair when I do this kind of job--that's what I did for my 4001FL, since I didn't want to mess with Ric-O-Sound and three independent volume controls.

I'm intrigued as to how much difference will be made by the simplified harness and the absence of the neck pickup's magnetic field.

Me too. The harness can be approximated by the ROS jack but not the magnetic field loss.

[jps]

My 4000 spent 6 months out of action with truss rod issues. In addition, I had issues with the toaster/horsie balance on the v63, and just liked the sound of the horsie soloed. On top of that, I have a pair of '70s 4001s that do the blended neck pickup thing better than the v63 (one RI toaster, one higain), probably by virtue of their vintage treble higain. As there are not a lot of '60s spec 4000s around, the idea of "devolving" the V63 was/is appealing. As the mod is totally reversible, it may be fun to try - and a lot cheaper than finding a '68 4000.....

And me sitting on two V63s......

That sounds uncomfortable - I'd try a chair John....

Maybe he turned them into a chair.

[cassius987]

Here's a quick follow-up. I took my 4003 and took out the neck pickup, leaving the (HB-1) bridge pickup in, and plugged into ROS to record. With the tone knob rolled off it is a warm sound for sure although the neck pickup's fundamentals are long gone.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10781508

Pardon the slop/confusion in my playing, that bass is tuned CGDA and I'm still not totally used to it, since the string intervals are fifths.

EDIT: Just realized a hilarious gaff I made. There's an inline cap on this pickup that I put in to keep it from comb filtering and phasing out with the 4002 bridge pickup that was in the neck position. I should probably remove it now. I think it's a 0.1 uF, so it's not cutting much, but perhaps a little of the signal is lost.

[johnallg]

And me sitting on two V63s......

That sounds uncomfortable - I'd try a chair John....

Maybe he turned them into a chair.

Heavens no! They look and play way to nice for that! Unlike you guys.

[woodyng]

Evan-#1 to the GO FOR IT! I shoulda realized you had more than just the 4000 and the V,- I would do the same if i had several more ricks. at one time, i was thinking of redoing my 4000 as a 50's model,with the differntly shaped pg,but it's not exactly a reversible mod,so i decided against it.

[Ivan3000]

Throw a horsie in there and convert!

[TheCurvedEarth]

Don't ruin a 4001/4003 by changing it to a 4000! Just sell it and buy a 4000