Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello,

I have a 4005 mid seventies rick bass. It suffers from a bridge PU with low output.
The neck pickup has been replaced with a newer high gain PU. I am considering replacing both PU's with the 4004 Humbuckers as they are excact footprint replacements. Anybody any thoughts about the results that can be expected ?
So good or bad idea ?

Thanks a lot.....

Marcus.

Marcus,
As rare as the 4005 is, I would suggest that you keep it as stock as possible. Didn't the 4005 always sport toaster pickups even into the 80's? You could have the bridge pup rewound at Fralin's or someplace similar. If you have the pup that was replaced with the hi gain, do the same with it and get the bass back to it's 2 toaster original look and sound, if not get a replacement toaster. If you just don't like the toaster sound ric humbucks might be preferable but personally I only have experience with my eb2 humbucking pup which sounds great in a semihollow body bass. Just out of curiosity, since I've never seen a mid 70's 4005, Do you have any pics and what color is it?

Marc, I've only seen and played one 4005 in recent years, but I can tell you that the Rick humbuckers have more midrange presence than the high gains. The output of my 4004 (with HBs) may be slightly higher than my 4003 (with high gains), but not much. However both are noticeably higher output than the toasters. The single coil noise of the high gains doesn't really bother me, of course the HBs are quieter. To my ears the toasters just have too much noise in relation to their output (low S/N ratio).

But all the Rick pickups sound somewhat alike. I believe this is because their overall coil shape is the same, despite the other differences.

David, I have a Gibson EB-0L, and I have to tell you that the sound of the EB-series humbucker is not even remotely like the sound of any Rick pickup. There's just no basis for comparison.

Dave, I wasn't comparing at all... I just stated that I had no experience with Rick humbuckers. But, I would think that they would sound slightly different in a semi-hollow body 4005 than in a solidbody 4004. I know that my Gibsons (solid and semi-hollow) do with the exact same pickup.

I had a mid 60's 4005 once and it sounded incredible with the original toaster tops. I would put in a pair of new Rick toasters. Besides, the 4004 p/u's would definitely lower the value of this otherwise very valuable instrument.

Ofcourse if I would go the route of Rick humbuckers i would do this only if totally reversable, I would never compromise the instrumenst by any unreversable modifications. By the way the 1976 4005 did not have toasters as standard but dotted PU's. And David it is Burgundy, I will send you a pic if you like. I think I will go the route of replacing the bridge PU with a new high gain PU to mach the neck PU. Maybe the 4004 Humbuckers are to much of a gamble.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Marcus.

A very interesting subject to me, as many of you probably know by now.
Marc, I've never played a Rick 4005 bass, but I've always felt that its treble pickup is in a very unfavourable location - close to the bridge -and hence its output can not match that of the neck pickup. The problem is compounded in the case of toaster pickups.
I assume from your posts that the original pickups on your 4005 are high-gains. One way of addressing the bridge pickup low output issue is to substitute a very strong magnet for the original one. There are a couple of other ways that do not compromise the original look of the instrument.

Sergio,

I could live with the difference between the pick ups due to the spacing. But one is a High gain button top (neck) and one is an old (76) button top PU (neck) the output if I remember corectly was measured at 8.1 K on the bridge and 12.7 K on the neck.

Marcus.

sorry correction,

the old button top is at the bridge position.
this is the lower 8.1 K output one. I am looking to replace this with a high gain one to mach the neck (12.7 K) position.

Thanks for you post(s), Marc. Yes, a pickup with more windings will help, however I can't stress enough the fact that using a much stronger magnet than the original one definitely does the trick.
And installing a treble pickup close to the bridge as on the 4005 Model is not a wrong move, using an undergaussed magnet is.