Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I just replaced the high gain pickup on my '79 4001 with a toaster. The spacers that came with the toaster are about twice the thickness of the ones that I took off. The old ones may have been cut at some point, but I don't know. How much space is supposed to be between the toaster pickup and the strings? It seems like it might be a bit low, but I don't want to crank down on the screws anymore. The pickup does have a good sound, so I believe it will be a keeper.

On a couple of my basses with toasters, I eliminated the spacers altogether to get the pickup as close to the strings as I could. Just my personal preference. If you're going for optimum height, be careful cranking the adj screws so you don't crack the pickguard.

I did the same as Mark.

If you want even more height you can ditch the little screws(4) holding the two cover pieces together. The two screws going through the pickguard will thread into the bottom retainer holding it together. You won't be able to adjust it, but you will be able to balance it against the bridge pickup by moving that up or down relative to the neck pickup.

I actually used the little rubber grommets that came with the Toaster, but cranked down just enough to compress the little bugger to about half it's thickness. Worked fine, pickup height is right where I want it.