4 to 8 String conversion

[jingle_jangle]

Gareth and I just had a powwow and it looks like the bass will remain a 4-banger. There's just not enough meat in the neck to risk putting all that tension on it. We're going to find something else for a conversion.

[johnallg]

Gareth and I just had a powwow and it looks like the bass will remain a 4-banger. There's just not enough meat in the neck to risk putting all that tension on it. We're going to find something else for a conversion.

I'd look at an early 2000s 4003. The neck on my Nov 2004 is beefy enough to handle 8 strings. These are the necks referred to as baseball bat necks.

[gareth]

Yup, the neck on the 4003 is as slim a neck as my 75 4001, and has a nice tilt to the headstock. The 4008 is the only RIC bass I've seen that isn't a single piece of wood all the way down the neck. The neck is in two pieces, nicely bookmatched together in the middle. This means that there are no headstock wings as it's two halves placed together. Also, the headstock is completely in line with the neck, which I believe will help the neck resist the extra string forces of four extra strings.

Paul also noticed that the angle on the neck is not consistent on both sides. There's something to be said for a practiced eye to be sure. All in all, it didn't make sense to try to force the 4003 to be a 4008, much as I would have liked to do it. I want to use it for playing music, and I suspect if I was to string it up with 8 strings, I would only have been able to use it for archery.

Now I want to see more 4008's to see if they were all made this way, or if they are all a little different depending on who built them.