Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ummm.. I was hoping for a wider neck 5 string.

On the other hand if you open shop Jeff, I may become a customer if RIC never gets around to shipping the 4004C-ii/5 I've heard rumors about.

Once you get used to the slimmer neck you can play faster and cleaner ... I sold my 5 string jazz bass ... the neck was so wide that you could park a mini van on it ... it is way too much work playing that bass ... my fingers weren't long enough ....

actually my shop is open ... it only has one customer me ... I keep my shop pretty busy building and modifying stuff for me ... well I have done work for a couple of friends ...

Beautiful job Jeff!

OK ... it is updated ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/4004L5.htm

I did some more work on this bass ... I put the Ric Humbuckers back in and put in a better bridge. The new bridge improves the B string performance. The string spacing got a little wider as well making it "Finger friendly"

I will include some sound bites on the web site soon ...

Hm... H**l, I'd really like to see the inside of those humbuckers to be able to say you're getting the most out of your 5-string bass, Jeff.

Maybe I should get some custom pickups from you to put in it ...

The dual rail Ric Humbuckers cover the strings nicely ... they go a little wider than the toaster and high gain pickups do ... The rails are 2 5/16" long whereas the spacing on the outside poles of a ric pickup is less than 2"

That's an interesting mod, Jeff. I don't have an issue with the 4003/s5 spacing, and find most 5 string necks bulky and cumbersome, so modding an existing guitar is a possiblity, despite going against my irreversable mod policy. If I were to have this done myself, I would probably want to go one step further and plug the two tuner holes and space them out a bit more, but that is a lot of extra work in finishing. Looks great!

I love the neck and string spacing on the 4003s5 ...

When I got my first 4003s5 it was an adjustment for me. the first was going from 4 to 5 strings ... I kept grabbing the wrong string ... then getting used to the tight string spacing was an adjustment as well.

Now my brain is reprogrammed ... when I play 4 string basses I get confused and grab the wrong string ... When I play wide spaced strings it slows me down and feels awkward.

OK ... I put a sound bite on the web ... you should be able to click on ... "Hear what this bass sounds like" to hear 3 bass tracks and a drum track together ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/4004L5.htm

somebody was asking me about this bass ... where did I get the nut? I got a 6 string carvin bass nut and shaved off the part for the high C string ... the spacing is perfect then ... I had to shim it for height though ... you can get big blank nut made from plastic or metal from allparts, warmoth, carvin, and others ...

when you changed the wiring to vol-vol-tone, was this difficult ? and did you have to modify the hole that was the selector switch ? This is so much more a versitile set up, I've been thinking of doing it to my cheyenne II but dont want to do any irreversable mod.

yep ... I drilled out the hole a little bigger ... it was already modified before I got it ... it was wired toggle, volume, volume, ... no tone ...

I like to blend the 2 pickups ...

Yeah, you guys with the 4004's how do you blend the pickups? They only have one volume and tone from the factory don't they? I like to back off the bass pickup a bit for bite. A switch wouldn't do it for me, it would shut it off entirely.

exactly ... on my 4003s5 or 2030 or 4004 I run the treble pickup at 10 and the bass pickup between 9 and 7 ...

don't try this with the basses that have the old bass cut capaciter installed ...

plus the 4004L looks cool with 3 chrome knobs ...

Jeff,

Actually, that's how I mainly set my PU volumes with my RIC with the capacitor! Bridge PU full up and neck PU 3/4 to 7/8ths!