Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sweet

cool a picasso bass ...

atomic_punk wrote:All right, now who is gonna step up and make a 12-string Rickenbacker bass?

I've cut out my niche ... 4-2-5!

I think both potato headstocks look NICE, but has anyone attempted replicating ric's 12 string headstock design on a bass? For the octave strings, guitar tuners could be used, and therefore the 4003's original headstock shape would be preserved. Two 'channels' would have to be routed for the octave tuners to work, but other then that, wouldn't it be pure rock n' roll from there? What am i missing, because i haven't seen this done yet..

That sounds really nice, Tom!

Brian, I would think if one took Dane's approach to adding strings, it could be done, even without routing the headstock channels. Bring both shoulders back toward the nut an inch or so with new wings, fill all tuner holes, re-adjust the spacing of all 12 tuners, refinish, and I could see it fitting. The neck width it was would make pause with 12 strings. My current 12er is 2" wide at the nut versus 1 3/4" for my 4004Cii. At 2", I don't think there's enough room for cramming more in there already. The Rick neck might be a bit tight for that.

Certainly worth a try if someone wants to give one a whack, though.

atomic_punk wrote:All right, now who is gonna step up and make a 12-string Rickenbacker bass?

I don't know, but I'll bet you could sell it to the bass player in Cheap Trick.

2112 wrote:

atomic_punk wrote:All right, now who is gonna step up and make a 12-string Rickenbacker bass?

I don't know, but I'll bet you could sell it to the bass player in Cheap Trick.

I suspect Tom would stick with his waterstone TP12 basses which are a 12ver designed as a 12ver. One note of interest is the Waterstone pickup position "footprint" is very similar to a Rickenbacker, which imparts "a bit" of the same sonic grind!
I sure Bruce Thomsen (qwezirider) would agree.
I'm waiting for Waterstone to get new stock of the Tp12/32" basses

emac.

You know, I've never given that any thought (pickup placement) beyond having to adjust to the potency of the TP12 the first time I switched between the 4004 and the TP12 live. Scared the **** out of me on the first note. I have something to go play with and listen to now for comparison. I've read that Petersson likes to use only the neck pickup, which is a bit on the boomy side by itself. And the bridge pickup, once properly shimmed up (mine was very low...I don't know how real production models fare with that...Jim Morgan with Waterstone tells me the one I have was one of the first batch of 7 32" scalers they received from the manufacturer for ideas) is very bright.

The thing is, should I do the comparison now or wait until everyone in the house is actually awake?

Let them sleep - but let us know the results when you get them - inquiring minds (and ears) want to know!

aceonbass wrote:There are no octave tuners available to facilitate a tuner arrangement similar to the stabdard RIC 12-string tuner setup.

Well for an 8 string bass, the orginal eadg strings would use the orginal tuners, and the 4 octave string tuners would use smaller guitar tuners drilled to the
side, or 'depth' dimension of the headstock- they'd be arranged like a ric 12 string guitar, ie perdendicular to the original tuners. ok so that isn't clear at all, but that's what i was trying to say in the orginal post.

Would a banjo-style tuner work? (mounted off the back of the headstock?)

Steve, what Dane has here is really well planned out. I like it. The one issue not to forget here is the 'tater head' setup is a little lighter than conventional straight headstock. Due to how light the body is, the weight of the headstock was a major concern to me. To me a rather elegant solution is the headstock scalloping. The sound is unbelievable and I can get strings on and off, tune it and get the truss cover off - as my drummer says 'you know it sounds some what different but you still know it is a Ric.' I have called it a Gibson Ripper on Ric steroids.... and man as an 8 it is outrageous!