Recommendations for 4003 project

[johnallg]

Ian, I do not know of the SD pickups.

A 77/78 NOS bridge pickup is really a nice pickup. I prefer the higains from the 70s - they both measure around 8k give a little - balance between the neck and bridge, and great tone. Unwinding today's higains to 8k will give you almost the same sound and tone. Not sure if RIC was using a coil winding machine in the 70s or if the coils were basically hand-wound on a manual winder.

Ted? Anyone??

[ianmatth]

POTR had the 7.4k toaster pickups last week, but now they are out of stock and said that hopefully they'll have them in 3-4 weeks. Does anyone know another place where I can find the 7.4k toaster pickups for bass?

[jingle_jangle]

Bass and guitar are the same.

[ianmatth]

I've seen pictures where the bottom side of a toaster pickup that said it was for a Rickenbacker guitar had 6 poles. Also,the 7.4k toaster pickup on POTR was listed as a bass pickup, and it may have had a picture that showed the bottom having 4 poles(not sure, may be getting it confused with another bass pickup). Anyway, if anyone knows where to find toaster pickups for this bass project, please let me know.

Here's the link and picture from the following eBay auction showing the back of a 7.68k ohm toaster pickup having 6 poles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

[johnallg]

Ian, all toasters have the 6 magnet rods as poles. The only difference between the guitar and bass ones is the bottom plate - the guitar has a mount hole drilled for clearance of the mounting wood screw, whereas the bass has a threaded hole there to mount to the pickguard. Only differences.

[ianmatth]

Thanks John, I've seen people use Ric guitar pickups on basses, and I figured the 7.4k toster pickups for guitar and bass were ultimately the same thing but with slight differences, so after seeing that picture where the pickup was suggested for 6 and 12 strings, I assumed the bass version would have 4 poles, as I'm to seeing bass pickups with 4 poles. Still would like to hear if any body knows where to find the 7.4k toasters other than POTR, otherwise I might have to use something else.

[johnallg]

Take a high gain, pull out the poles, cut off the magnet on the bottom, chase the holes with a 1/4" drill, buy 1/4" x 5/8" alnico5 rod magnets, get a toaster cover, and make your own. Unwind the higain to 5k-7.4k also.

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_P ... lnico.html

[aceonbass]

I've now got an HB1 in the neck pickup of my custom 4008 too. I have both HB1's wired with coil taps using stock RIC push-pull pots as tone controls. They measure about 7.5 ohms when tapped and sound a little brighter.

[ianmatth]

I'm looking into custom pickups now. They won't look like Ric pickups, but they will probably sound even better, and I can have them customized for somewhere between 6.0-6.8k in the neck position and 7.3k in the bridge position. I'm ordering 2 Audere Classic 4-band preamps today. One is for my 4003 project and one is for my 1998 4004L Jeff Rath 4-2-5 conversion where I am switching to the Schaller bridge with 2.5" spacing, gluing steel rails on top of the HB1 pickups to extend the magnet range for that wider spacing, and having it repainted Jetglo (I can't stand that Corvette/Ferrari red). I might make a thread about that project later.

[ianmatth]

I haven't heard back from one pickup designer after giving him the cavity dimensions, so I assume it wouldn't work with what he would make. I spoke to another pickup designer today and he said he could make some custom pickups for about $120 each, but that I'd probably be better off getting proper Ric pickups if I really wanted the Ric sound. He also said he could unwind and remake high gain Ric pickups or totally remake dead Ric pickups for about $50 per pickup, so that might be a good option if I can't get the 7.4k toaster pickups. I probably also need a bridge pickup assembly and pick guard, the only thing about the pick guard is that I ordered the Audere with 3 stacked knobs and the stock 4003 pick guards have 5 holes, so there would be 2 holes with nothing there which might not look so good.

[ianmatth]

Take a high gain, pull out the poles, cut off the magnet on the bottom, chase the holes with a 1/4" drill, buy 1/4" x 5/8" alnico5 rod magnets, get a toaster cover, and make your own. Unwind the higain to 5k-7.4k also.

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_P ... lnico.html

That's probably what I'm going to do as I won a neck pickup from a 1976 4001 on eBay. I was just wondering though, since the proper toasters have 6 poles, and this modified toaster will have 4 poles, will it still have "the wide field setup" that "gives the Toaster a smooth and even string response" (according to Ted in his Anatomy Of A Rickenbacker Bass Part 6 thread), will it maybe even be better for bass since the six pole toaster was originally made for a six string, and is it possible that it would even sound better if I used 5/8" or even 3/4" diameter alnico rod magnets?

[johnallg]

These higains do not have the plastic molded coil form and you should not pull out the poles as it will damage the copper windings.

Try the '76 higain as is. I think they are the best sounding pickups. They are wound to 8k (+-) and sound wonderful.

[ianmatth]

The auction said the pickup measured 9.21k. If I would have realized I couldn't modify it, I wouldn't have got it, so I'm not sure if I'm going to use it now, but I'll have it to either use or sell in the future. I'd imagine it's easy enough to switch out, if I want to try it and later decide to use a toaster pickup instead. So what kind of high gain pickup would I need if I wanted to make my own toaster?

[johnallg]

One where the bobbin looks like this:

[aceonbass]

I believe only 90-up RIC high gains can be modified in this way.