Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Thanks Jeff, 2 vols will work fine for me too. I was going to use the blend when I was thinking humbuckers and got some recs on those from some other folks in a different forum.

I decided on the toasters since I already have a 4003 as well as a Gibson with humbuckers. I figured it would be nice to have something really different from the instruments I own already. Thanks for the input!

Got my new toasters today, really nice looking pickups. I have one dumb question (never seen these up close before!). They came with 4 mounting screws and 4 rubber grommets. Am I assuming correctly that the grommets fit in the 2 mounting holes of each pickup? Just wanted to be sure. Thanks!

Yes you're correct, William.
They are to be "penetrated" by the 2 mounting screws as a spacer between the pickup edges and the 4001/4003 pickguard. You don't have to use all 4 of them.

Do you just place them under the mounting hole in the pickup or do you insert them into the hole (like most grommets are installed).

I won't have a pickguard on my project, should I make any adjustments for that?

Just thought of one other question: are these pickups, once mounted, adjustable for height or do you just screw them down?

Sorry for all of the dopey questions, but this is new territory for me!

Thanks!

If you are mounting them straight to the body place the grommets between the pickups and the body. Not to state the obvious but, you will also have to route out an area under the pickups for the magnets that protrude from the bottom of them to fit into the body. When I got my toasters they each came with two mounting screws and 6 grommets. A I put these in my 4004Cii I used all of the grommets, three each under each side of the pickups. This was because the body is routed out for the whole pickup to fit in the body; on my 4005WB the pickups sit above the body so I have grommets under the pickups like I suggest you do. Is there enough space between the body and the strings to do that? You will need something like an inch or so of space with out the pickups having to be recessed somewhat into the body.

It's a semi-hollow body, so there's lots of room for the magnets to hang inside the body after routing. I was just going to rout for the magnets and surface mount the pickups. So, one gromment under each screw will work then.

Thanks!

Update: the pickups are just high enough we'll have to countersink the routs about 1/4" which should still work nicely as there's another 3/8" of wood below the maple top. So, that should work.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Cool, show us pics when you are done.

Sure, be glad to. Here's some pics of it so far:

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wwalen ... ct&.view=t

I think of it as my butcher block bass!

That's going to look great with the toasters. The back is especially nice looking. What kind of knobs are you going to use for the controls? I think the metal knobs that RIC currently uses on the 4004 series might be kind of nice on it, they look like late '50s vintage Rickenbacker knobs. Is the center area of the body solid?

My current plan is to use a chrome plate from a 51 p bass for the two volume controls with a side mounted jack. I was also thinking no pickguard and maybe the 52 p bass knobs too. I'm kind of fond of those, but I'll have to check out the Ric knobs you mentioned too.

The body is hollow, a top and bottom half glued together. There's a 3/8" brace running along the bottom of the maple top for extra support. So it should sound different, that's for sure. Just for fun, I laid out the toasters on top of the body and they do look great on there. Should be able to get the routing done next week. I have a luthier helping me with that. I don't have the necessary power tools, but can do all of the other work myself.