Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Blimey Jeff, that is quite a modification..! I know I have always been a “basses are for playing, not collecting” sort of a bloke, but….that is quite serious & more than a little non reversible.

I also thought your mod was meant to make the bass easier to play? Well with that 5th string on board that blows that theory out of the water

I use this method:

I balance the outer corner of my palm (lower left corner looking at your right hand)on the upper edge of the shoe on the neck side, and use that as a pivot point. From there I can reach down to pick in my preffered picking spot, i.e. roughly the middle of the two pickups and then by changing slightly the angle and hieght on my palm at the pivot I can reach down to mute the strings just before they go under the horseshoe.

Over the years I've tuned my picking / finger style for my right hand that allows me to continuously hold my pick between my thumb and index finger, leaving the next two free to use finger style, this way I can switch back and forth at will, and for some songs I'll switch in the middle.

I think it's this style that has allowed me the flexibilty at the back edge of my palm to deliver the mute effectivley, without having to result in radical metalwork.

Bob ... I have to mod the bridge to get in a 5th string ... so most of the mute superstructure has to come out ... then I just remove the rest and it allows me to get in 5 strings and palm mute easily ...



palm muting works best when you rest your palm 1/2" in front of the saddles ... I can simulate a flat wound string quite effectively ...

on my old '68 4001 it was too valuable to take a dremmel to so I would slip the edge of my hand between the superstructure and the saddles and palm mute ... this bareley worked ... it won't work on some Rics due to the position of the saddles ...



but that is why I like to complain about the mechanical mute ... it gets in the way of basic playing techniques ...

That is also how I do it, if your bridge is low it is hard to do, not too bad if your bridge is high.

I did the same modification as Jeff, but on an Allparts replacement, so I didn't ruin the original.

I usually cut up allparts bridges also ... but sometime I modify the Ric Bridge ... what gave me the idea was the stock 4003s5 and 4003s8 bridges ...