Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey all,

I've decided I want to mod my 4004Cii/5 to replace the factory pickups and possibly the nut and bridge. I would appreciate some thoughts on pickups both in terms of sound and also to not have to rout too much wood. I am not completely sure I need to change the bridge but am open to thoughts on this. If I do, is there something better that just drops right in?

I will also be going with a VVT and pulling out the switch based on how Jeff Rath has modded the 4-2-5's he's done for me.

Thanks to all in advance for any inputs on this.

Paul

I believe Greg Shadoan replaced his pickups with wider ones, you might want to contact him.

Hipshot might have a five string bridge that would work, the four string one drops right in on the four string 4004 with no mods. My only experience in this area is taking my fours and making them fives, Hipshot doesn't offer anything for that.

Jeff Rath has a five string Hipshot bridge he got from me, check with him on that. I think Greg put Barts in his bass.

I would be tempted to put in 2 passive t-bird pickups wired up vvt ... you might also look at carvin, bartolini, EMG, or Seymour duncan soap bar pickups ... you could also look at an active system with a 3 band eq ...

I am thinking of putting a set of t-bird pickups in my dean 10 string bass and changing it from active to passive ...

you can make it work with a Kahler bridge and the original pickups ...





you can also glue steel rails on top of the pickup to widen the range of the magnetic field to cover all 5 strings ...



or glue small magnets on top of the pickups like this ...



and if you ever want to sell the Ric pickups in that bass I will buy them ...

I have a box with a lot of different 5 string bridges in it and a have several boxes of pickups as well I like to have a good supply of parts for bass building ...

Thanks for the suggestions. I did exchange info with Greg Shadoan on the Barts.

Of the pickups suggested, which ones would most closely keep the 4004 sound?

Jeff, sounds like you are offering to do the mods.......if you have some time on your hands and want to make a few bucks, let me know.

I don't want to route the holes for the pickups in a 4004 bass ... I am not that good with a router ... I would do it on a less expensive bass but not that one ...

the best way to keep the original sound is to glue small magnets on the original pickups ... I have a pickup that I could mod for you and it will fit the same hole ... perhaps we could try that ... I will have to find the parts in my workshop ...

Barts, emgs and other pickups will change the tone as they are parallel humbuckers ... the t-bird pickups are 15k ohm humbuckers which is the same as the Ric hb pickups ... but they have a different growl ... I have 2 sets of those in my basement ... some day I will put one in a 4003 4-2-5 bass ...

another possibility is have Sergio make a pickup for you ...

Jeff, I sent Sergio an email. I assume whatever he can do will still mean a wider pickup so some routing will be required. I don't know enough about parallel humbuckers vs. what's in there now to understand the sound difference. Any place to hear different pickup sounds on line?

Thanks as always for your help.

I would consider asking Dale to do the mod to the 5'er, as he has seen mine, and has impecable skill. The barts sound very rickenbacker to me, as discussed before, the pickups are not a major factor in the way my bass sounds. It does it all. Macca, Squire, whatever. I would not recomend changing the bride, or the nut, as the bridge is a very nice unit. I almost regret adding the brass nut atm, because the sound im going for these days doesn't require an unlitimed amount of sustain. Since Dale swapped out the rods it is really cool. The brass nut was modified in hieght from the factory one, which lowered the action. That you might consider.
Good luck Paul, I know after you do the mod you will understand what I have been talking about, how much this bass rules.

The best I ever had. (insert the who power chord)

Hey Greg, thanks for the advice. I made contact with Sergio and am going to try his pickups. Everything I've seen on this forum says they are stellar.

Yes, I hear they deliver...

for me it is easier to modify a 4 string 4004 into a 5 string than it is to modify a 4004cii5 so that the pickups cover all 5 strings ...

Man I am really hoping someday Ric makes a fully functioning 5 string bass ...

Hmm... Yes.

Most people on this forum know I went down Jeff's path and discovered how great those 4004's are as a five string. Well the other day I was going between my vintage 4001's and my five string 4004's and the transition was hardly noticeable. I measured the string spacing to see what the difference was, the 4001's were about 17mm at the bridge and the 4004's were 16mm, at the 12th fret they were 13.5mm/4001 and 12.8mm/4004. By the time you get to the first fret they are within 1/2mm of each other. And the flatness on the back of the neck of the Laredo sure felt very close to my 73 4001, just a little bit wider at the body. The thing that really gets you is the weight, my Laredo is noticeably lighter than any of my 4001's, my Cii feels about the same weight.

Paul, I can see why you't wanna replace the pickups with wider pickups, but why would you replace the nut and bridge? They're already set up right.