60's Bass found, pickup original?

[Sprauge]

A threading needle spun and stuck on the horse shoe cover, so its magnetic. Thanks for the advice.[/quote]
The pickup wasn't in the shoes were they? The magnet to the pickup cold magnetize the shoes. You'd need to just measure the shoes themselves.[/quote]
yes the pickup was in there. I'll take it out next time

[BobHyde]

Nate, GREAT score on that bass! I am up in Seattle and had my eye on it, but you beat me to it!!

I think there are some folks on the forum that are building or have built replacement bobbins for the old horseshoes. I'm sure someone will chime in.

I have one of the reissue horseshoes in a bass and I personally think it sounds great. If you're up in my neck of the woods anytime soon, drop me a PM.

[opticnerve]

My May '68 4001 has a raised edge, molded plastic bobbin with panhead screw poles...see pic.

If this one is an April, IMO it should have the same pickup. The green fiber board type bobbin started appearing a month or three later.

[opticnerve]

Yes Bob, the molded plastic 6 pole bobbins can be converted to 4 pole versions...but still, 6 pole versions are pretty hard to come by.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

My May '68 4001 has a raised edge, molded plastic bobbin with panhead screw poles...see pic.

If this one is an April, IMO it should have the same pickup. The green fiber board type bobbin started appearing a month or three later.

does that have a booster mag under the coil ???

[opticnerve]

Good eye Ron!

No, not a booster mag. This was someones feeble attempt to remedy the old dead HS magnet syndrome.

Someone glued six little magnets to the underside of the bobbin. Also, I believe that the bobbin was heated &

compressed to make it thinner ( ) to compensate for the added magnets thickness.

Wow, someone went through a lot of trouble!

I'm really glad that someone went through all this trouble though, otherwise it would have ended up like

many others...IN THE DEAD HORSESHOE TRASH BIN!!!

I had the bobbin taken apart & had the middle built up, so now it's back to the correct height.

[T.A.R.]

Congrats Nate! Beautiful bass more pics please. Tony and Bad Ronbo, Thank you I learn so much here!

[chefothefuture]

Nate, GREAT score on that bass! I am up in Seattle and had my eye on it, but you beat me to it!!

I think there are some folks on the forum that are building or have built replacement bobbins for the old horseshoes. I'm sure someone will chime in.

I have one of the reissue horseshoes in a bass and I personally think it sounds great. If you're up in my neck of the woods anytime soon, drop me a PM.

Jason Lollar made me a great sounding coil a few years ago. Not sure if he still will. Fiber bobbin; looks a little off but the horsies hide it any way....

[wints]

My May '68 4001 has a raised edge, molded plastic bobbin with panhead screw poles...see pic.

If this one is an April, IMO it should have the same pickup. The green fiber board type bobbin started appearing a month or three later.

That's about right Tony. The green bobbin is here by early fall '68. Your very lucky that example had a very sympathetic owner and didn't just get rid of it. Then of course, there's the luck of picking up a 60's bass for the sale price here...

[Sprauge]

Back from work, here's more photos. The crushed inlays, and body curves are amazing!! A new case arrived today. From a buyers perspective, what would be the best bridge pickup (available right now for sale) to put in there?

[johnallg]

Beautiful!

Honestly, I would mount just the coil from the later higain in the magnetic shoes, leaving out the magnet under that coil, and see how it sounds. I'm guessing you'll like the sound.

[leftybass]

Super-looking bass. Congrats..!

[Sprauge]

I took the HS out, it's barely magnetic enough to hold a bobby pin. Should it be stronger? Do you think a $400 RI pickup would be worth it in this bass, or is there a cheaper route? I'm starting to have second thoughts about this one.

[woodyng]

First of all,don't pay $400 for a reissue horseshoe.....you should be able to get one from RIC for half that (when they have them). But you can probably find something suitable for less.

Financially you're already WAY ahead with this bass.

Just realized this was my first response on this post,so congratulations on getting a very nice vintage bass with a rather rare combination of features.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

Congrats Nate! Beautiful bass more pics please. Tony and Bad Ronbo, Thank you I learn so much here!

don't thank me for anything...people end up hanging themselves listening to my drivel !!!

i did have the wonderous opportunity to run my non-gene simmons tongue along the length of a '66 4001s/RM1999 in fireglo in toronto in the mid '80's that belonged to an aquaintance. it had a higain in the neck position, but taking a look at the coil under the shoes was 4 phillips panhead screw poles which i documented that evening on a piece of paper. as i had only seen one other horseshoe in my life at that time in a '60's lap steel in winterpeg manitoba, i was quite excited to see this one as it was in a bass. i also noticed a thin sliver of rubber magnet between the coil and shoes and told him about it and relayed it was probably a booster for weak mags. wish i knew where this bass is today.