Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What is your take on the hipshot bridge? It seems to offer a little more accessability to adjusting the strings. It may not be stock, but is it more practical?

The Hipshot is good, a few small possible issues, but it fits perfectly with no mods.
Mine's brass, and heavy, I haven't tried the aluminum one.

JH has stated that they've changed the design now to not be a trademark infringement & will still produce them, so the look will change

I found the adjustability of the Hipshot bridge on the 4003FL I had to be easy and it offered plenty of range of movement along with the ability to palm mute the strings with no obstructions. The look does take a bit of getting used to with no mute assembly there, just the flat plate to cover the route.

It is worth getting. I am still waiting to see what John has up his sleeve (or on his desk) with the new RIC bridge.

Waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...

Just my opinion, but I think that's why it's taking so long.

If JH is doing this project himself, it's probably a little lower on the priority list than if it was delegated to someone.

I'm sure he's got plenty to do as it is, but I too am eagerly awaiting the new tailpiece.

Don't waste your money on the Hipshot. I have one which is still in the box because the plating sucks and they - Hipshot - don't want to know about it.

I bought it on a whim and to see what the fuss was about, but no way I would put that rubbish on the 4003.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation Manuel, I have one of the hipshots and it has very good plating on it. I still love to have the neck out very straight, with little relief, so I had a little trouble with the g string saddle screw wasn't quite long enough for adjustment but they sent me some others and that was fine.
It does add a bit more heft to the bass though.

I have a (relatively) new 4003 and the bridge plating looks like it is about to pop off. I guess you just get some good ones and some bad ones, no matter the manufacturer. The hipshot looks nice, but I'm waiting for the RIC release.

That's interesting about the plating as I have lots of Hipshot products (anybody surprised to hear that?) and not a one has any plating issues. Maybe they are having problems with their plater or maybe it is similar to what RIC went through with platers in California.

I guess that can happen, it could be a one-off.

But they won't return emails, apart from one I received from Jason saying that it doesn't sound normal. I sent him a picture of it and haven't heard from them since.

It's a bad plating job, with part of the upper section of the piece having been missed. Check it out - how that got through quality control (?) is baffling.

I mean, they had to have at least seen it when they installed the saddles on it!

This is exactly how it arrived out of the box. It's the section inside the oval red line with the arrow pointing to it - the plating has been missed from the top internal edge through to the bottom edge, as well as continuing up the internal rear flange.

Hipshot is really a pretty small operation, I think, try calling and talk to Dave if you can. He has been great with me.

No experience with this part, but I did have some troubles getting emails returned from Hipshot when I was looking for measurements of tuners. I got someone on the phone and they emailed a dimensioned drawing to me in minutes.

I also have a lot of their products and they've held up well.

Hipshot's been good to me. The Ric bridge is (for me) a vast improvement on my 4003 for ease of intonation.

I have their tuners on my f****r basses and they are superior to stock, in feel and accuracy.

Most notable as far as Hipshot customer service is: when I bought a used j bass with a worn-out d-tuner (which the first owner had failed to properly lubricate) Jason had me mail it to him and he repaired it and sent it back free of charge. Almost nobody goes that far these days.

Almost nobody goes that far these days.

I would put Walter Woods in that league!

Jason is the guy that has been sending me, shall I say - sent me, one email in response to quite a few I sent him.

I think I will call on them with the bridge they sent me next week or so, and see what they have to say.

I have their aluminum bridge and a d-tuner on my gigging V63. The bridge has been on there for a couple months now and I really like it. It's easy to adjust, lighter than the brass unit, has great tone, and very comfortable since I play behind the HS. I don't look down, so I don't notice the look.
I am patiently waiting on the new Rick bridge though.