Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Very cool Marcello,...vintage knobs, about 10 bucks from Mike Parks at www.the-music-connection.com would really set her off. But she looks great just the way she is.

Marcello, I love the vintage pickup configuration with the triangle inlays and binding. I would definitely add the vintage knobs as Scott suggested.

very cool indeed!

Scott, I hope the translucent red 4004Cii5 I ordered comes out as nice as your trans red 4004, that bass is beautiful !

The latest addition to the family...

Congrats Dano, You posting that one would be the same as me posting that. Ours were made at the same time. I hope you are enjoying yours as much as I am enjoying mine.
I wish I had a way to post a pic of my Rick Quartet.

Thanks Joey,
I've been playing this since the first day it arrived. I'm finally starting to get used to the close string spacing. My 4001V63 JG is still my favorite and this is a very close second. Note the J.R. mod on the mute compartment. Very cool...

I thought I noticed somthing in there. What pickup did you use? Is that a Seymour Duncan ? I've been wondering if Bartolini still makes the mute replacement pickup.

Yeah, I tried to locate a Bartolini also but I don't think they make them anymore. Most people who bought the Bartolini's wound up removing them because they couldn't notice any difference in the sound. The SD 1/4 pound jazz neck PU does make a noticeable difference. Thanks to Jeff for sharing this great idea with us!

Dan ... that looks so much like my 4003s5 BT ... even the 1/4 pound jazz pickup is the same ...

I wired mine into the same volume control as the neck pickup ... I run the neck bridge pickup volume control at 7 or 8 and the mid pickup at 10 ... It is the best bass I have ever owned ... I can't believe they quit making them ...

Very nice Dan, I really need to get serious about putting one of those pups in the mute compartment of my 4000.

Jeff, I also would like to see the return of the 4003s/5 (and 4003s/8). I like the thin neck and close string spacing. It takes a little getting use to. I just put a set of RIC strings on her and they sound great! Randy, I always wanted to try a PU in the mute compartment. It really does make a difference and helped brighten up a otherwise dark sounding bass. Actually the sound can be compared to my 4001v63. The SD jazz neck PU will need to have it's corners trimmed to make it fit into the mute compartment. I used small nylon washers to help raise it to it's maximum height. I also did as Jeff suggested and wired it to the neck volume control. A very easy mod that's totally reversable and no routing is needed.

Jeff and or Dano, is that the neck or bridge 1/4 pound SD pickup that you've replaced the mute with? Normally jazz bridge pickups are a little wider than the neck p/u because of the change of string spacing from p/u to p/u on jazz basses. My 4003S/5 feels left out and wants to be a true triplet.

I used a neck SD 1/4 pound jazz ... it works better for 2 reasons ... 1 - hum canceling because it is reverse wound ... 2 - smaller size ...

and you do have to take off the cover and trim the plastic a little and I put a little foam rubber under to hold it tight ...

I had to add the 2 additional screws to fix the pull up problem. I cut a little metal to make for easier hand muting. I had to put a small piece of vinyl tape under the bridge to cover a chip in the blue paint that was caused by the nasty curl up of the bridge.