1968 Burgundyglo 4001 a risky adventure

[teeder]

Sepp, I don't think there is a clear cut off date for the HS.
Wints has / had a Dec '68 with a Hi-gain and a Feb '69 with a HS. My old Feb '69 4000 was one digit off his 4001, but it had a greenie hi-gain.

[daveman]

If the seller in my case was local to me, he'd have had his collar felt by now, but from across continents and oceans, I could do nothing.

He'd have his collar felt by now. That's a new one to me. What a great expression.

[jdogric12]

You guys take me way to seriously! Remember it's just an internets lol

[chefothefuture]

Sepp, I don't think there is a clear cut off date for the HS.
Wints has / had a Dec '68 with a Hi-gain and a Feb '69 with a HS. My old Feb '69 4000 was one digit off his 4001, but it had a greenie hi-gain.

Ditto on the unclear transition. What is clear is that if your bass was originally equipped with a horsie, it would have been a green resin bobbin.
Adding to the fun is that the bobbin heights are different between the horsie and the high gain. The high gain being some taller.
A high gain bobbin can be fit to horse shoes, but in most cases, the heads of the screws need to be ground in order for the E and A strings to gain clearance.
And this sometimes isn't even enough.
A give away that the bobbin may not be original to the shoes is the height and if the screws are ground.

The other issue is with the shoes themselves. This has been discussed, but there is a difference between the bass shoes and the lap steel shoes from the later period. The bass shoes are more "open" to allow for string clearance.

Find a green gain and Go Green! LOL!

[Kopfjaeger]

John,

I am in a pretty good situation, relatively speaking. I have Mark Walkers 68 horsie 4001 here at my house so I can take a ton of measurements. His has the green bobbin.

I do have a spare pair of shoes and I can measure them against the opening of Mark's. Being magnet, how difficult would it be to spread them slightly if I had to? Is the metal softer or harder than other steel?? I would think the chrome plating would crack first.

Sepp

[jps]

...how difficult would it be to spread them slightly if I had to? Is the metal softer or harder than other steel?? I would think the chrome plating would crack first.

Sepp

Sepp, don't do it, they will most likely crack (and not just the chrome plating). The RI HSs can be bent as they are made of mild steel, not the tungsten (I think that is what I read a long time ago somewhere?) alloy the magnetic shoes are made of.

[Kopfjaeger]

Hmmm,

So the magnetic material the shoes are made out of is somewhat hard and brittle, comparatively. Damn, that's not what I wanted to hear! I may be in the market for a shoe swap then. Anyone with 67-68 Shoes they like to swap for a pair of 63's??

Sepp

[Colonel Sanders]

Hmmm,

So the magnetic material the shoes are made out of is somewhat hard and brittle, comparatively. Damn, that's not what I wanted to hear! I may be in the market for a shoe swap then. Anyone with 67-68 Shoes they like to swap for a pair of 63's??

Sepp

I have a pair of 63 magnet on my 64 and the string clearance is fine.

Unless you dedicated to authenticity, they will do great.

For the record, my HS has a repro bobbin wound by Sergio.

[jps]

Here is a photo showing the available space under the shoes in mine.

[Kopfjaeger]

Jeff, what year is that bass? Not a raised lip bobbin or the late 60's rectangular one either. Those shoes look quite flat across the tops like earlier shoes.

Sepp

[jps]

This was built up from parts scavenged by a couple guys, one who built it, mostly from vintage parts (early '60s), although it is possible the bobbin is from newly made parts. Doesn't matter to me as it is a great sounding pickup and sounds/looks (pretty much) the part; the basses that it has been in and the folks who have heard it haven't complained, yet. Yeah, it would be cool if it were a complete, totally original, never been molested with horseshoe pickup, but, so what, it does the job wonderfully.

The bass in question in that photo is a May '08 4003.

4003JPSVP_1200_7124.jpg

4003JPSVP_1200_7119.jpg

4003JPSVP_1200_7114.jpg

4003JPSVP_1200_7148.jpg

[Colonel Sanders]

This was built up from parts scavenged by a couple guys, one who built it, mostly from vintage parts (early '60s), although it is possible the bobbin is from newly made parts. Doesn't matter to me as it is a great sounding pickup and sounds/looks (pretty much) the part; the basses that it has been in and the folks who have heard it haven't complained, yet. Yeah, it would be cool if it were a complete, totally original, never been molested with horseshoe pickup, but, so what, it does the job wonderfully.

The bass in question in that photo is a May '08 4003.

That is a nice bass! I like the full witdh inlays and the larger body. I find the recent ultra skinny body to be just too small, looking quite unbalanced.

[Lefty4003S8]

I like that bass, Jeff!!! VERY nice.
One day, I'd like to do a project like that.

[jps]

Thanks, guys. That project was pretty straightforward, just a tiny bit of routing of two corners of the neck pickup pocket (I agree, the newer bodies are getting a bit too thin at the horns, but dimensions on these varied a lot over the decades so this current crop is just another variety).When I sold the bass to a forumite he asked that the stock pickups be put back in, a good reason to keep original parts around! Pickguardian made both custom pickguards (the 2nd one was white plastic in the same shape; Tony did a great job on both pickguards ) and the finger rest (also Pickguardian) along with the RI TRC.

[heinpete]

...Pickguardian made both custom pickguards (the 2nd one was white plastic in the same shape; Tony did a great job on both pickguards ) and the finger rest (also Pickguardian) along with the RI TRC.

...the pickguards from Tony are magnificent!!! Also they don't exhibit this ugly, bulbous shape on the right side ( right from the PU-switch, looking from front) of the current 4003 pickguards ...I find the current pickguards a bit mis-shaped...