Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

vates wrote:

cassius987 wrote:My MG has HB-1s versus Hi-Gains in my other 4003

Could you please post a pic of this mentioned 4003 fitted with HB1? A close-up of treble pickup, if possible. Thank you!

A-ha! So there's a pickup ring and a bezel are needed anyway, right?

Thank you!

How do you like the sound out of your HB1 4003 Joshua? Did you leave the stock pots in there?

I've thought about trying that with one of my Ricks.

vates wrote:

cassius987 wrote:My MG has HB-1s versus Hi-Gains in my other 4003

Could you please post a pic of this mentioned 4003 fitted with HB1? A close-up of treble pickup, if possible. Thank you!

Serge, there are already holes in the plastic bottom piece in the right location to mount a neck-type RIC pickup. You need the right height spacers and screws to complete the job.

cassius987 wrote:.....(My MG has HB-1s versus Hi-Gains in my other 4003.) The biggest difference to me is the openness of the neck pickup tone, which has more snarl on it than a 4003 neck pickup.....

Joshua- you seem to be the unofficial guru of pups now
The pic you posted of the 4003, humbuckers in both positions, how about the pots?

I've never changed pups before. I am pretty handy with a solder gun, I built my own cabs, crossovers and all. Is there a tutorial somewhere with pics? Or will it be self explanatory once I buy some Ric humbuckers?

coolhandjjl wrote:

cassius987 wrote:.....(My MG has HB-1s versus Hi-Gains in my other 4003.) The biggest difference to me is the openness of the neck pickup tone, which has more snarl on it than a 4003 neck pickup.....

Joshua- you seem to be the unofficial guru of pups now
The pic you posted of the 4003, humbuckers in both positions, how about the pots?

Good question. Volume pots should be 500k with the HB1s. A 4001 would have 250k and a 4003 would have either 250k or 330k, depending on date of manufacture, newer being the 330k.

johnallg wrote:

coolhandjjl wrote:

cassius987 wrote:.....(My MG has HB-1s versus Hi-Gains in my other 4003.) The biggest difference to me is the openness of the neck pickup tone, which has more snarl on it than a 4003 neck pickup.....

Joshua- you seem to be the unofficial guru of pups now
The pic you posted of the 4003, humbuckers in both positions, how about the pots?

Good question. Volume pots should be 500k with the HB1s. A 4001 would have 250k and a 4003 would have either 250k or 330k, depending on date of manufacture, newer being the 330k.

But then, all current 4004Cii's are shipped with 330k pots all around to go with the HB-1 pickups. So, I guess it depends on what you mean by "should". I'm sure RIC uses 330k because stocking only one value saves time and money, and that value is a reasonable compromise between the 250k & the 500k...

CJ, news to me. 4004 basses (HB1 pickups) used to have 500k pots. Huh.

johnallg wrote:

vates wrote:

cassius987 wrote:My MG has HB-1s versus Hi-Gains in my other 4003

Could you please post a pic of this mentioned 4003 fitted with HB1? A close-up of treble pickup, if possible. Thank you!

Serge, there are already holes in the plastic bottom piece in the right location to mount a neck-type RIC pickup. You need the right height spacers and screws to complete the job.

Thanks for clarifications, John! Frankly, currently there are no pickups in the project ric at all. So I'm trying to figure out what parts do I need to mount the pickup (in the bridge position) except the HB1 itself. As far as I understand considering Joshua's photo, I have to look for a metal ring, a base plate and for a thing that looks like a tubeampology bezel...

johnallg wrote:CJ, news to me. 4004 basses (HB1 pickups) used to have 500k pots. Huh.

I think RIC switched over to using just one value sometime around 2005-2006. Mine's a 2008 and it came with 330k's. It's got 500k all around now, VT/VT wiring...

Guess I need some education here. If higher ohm pickups are for higher output, why do the higher resistance value pots be more desired? Seems counter intuitive.

coolhandjjl wrote:Guess I need some education here. If higher ohm pickups are for higher output, why do the higher resistance value pots be more desired? Seems counter intuitive.

Well, yes. There's quite a bit of education one can get to understand how this stuff works, but a basic electronics theory class would get you most of it.

Anyway, we'll ignore the tone control circuit for now (which is a capacitor in series with a pot - a low pass filter) and just look at the pickup (an inductor) and the volume pot (a variable resistor). In the simplest terms, this is called a series LR circuit (L is the symbol for inductance, R for resistance). If the output is taken across the resistor (which it is in the case of a guitar), this acts as a low pass filter, cutting high frequencies and passing low ones.

The "cutoff" frequency, where the output power is 1/2 the input is given by the following equation:

Fc = R / (2 * PI * L)

So, we can see that for a given "L", as R increases, the cutoff frequency also increases. So, for a higher "impedance" pickup (more windings) you need a higher resistance to get the same frequency response.

Also note, as L decreases, the cutoff frequency also increases. This is why you get more highs out of a lower impedance pickup. So, why not just adjust the R value to get the same output regardless of the pickup? Well, there are physical limitations to the inductor (pickup) itself that will limit its overall frequency response (the windings have resistance too, so you've got a built in low pass filter right there)...

Thanks CJ. It looks like I'm going to try the humbucker install in both my 4003 pups. We'll see how those 330K pots do.