Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi,
I have a 4003 Ric bass, manufactured in October of 1982 that I bought used about a year ago. When I bought the bass, it did not have the original bridge pickup. It had a Seymour Duncan blade pickup installed in the bridge position. I removed the SD pickup and replaced it with a used 70's Ric bridge pickup. The problem now is that the "G" string does not lineup properly with the pickup pole piece. The volume of the "G" string is significantly lower than the other strings and that is a major problem for me because I play often and need the bass to respond properly.
***I have also noticed that the neck is narrower than my other two Rickenbackers (a 1977 4001 & a 1995 4003). I am assuming that this narrower neck width may be a contributing or exact factor as to why the "G" string does not lineup.
Out of curiosity, I have measured the neck width at the end of the fingerboard (the end of the fingerboard after the 21st fret) with a digital caliper. The width is: 2.217" or 56.43mm.
Also, I think worth mentioning, The pickup pole pieces on my 1995 4003 have the same width as the 70's used pickup I bought.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
The Questions:
1.) Does anyone know if Rickenbacker made a different width pickup for certain "narrow neck width" basses?
2.) Has anyone had a similar problem and how did you work around this?
3.) Is there a blade type pickup that Rickenbacker makes that would solve the problem? Ex: Is there a toaster pickup for the bridge? Would that work?
4.) I know I could put a Bartolini Pickup in the bridge position but i would like to keep the Ric Sound. Any other pickup options?
Thanks Fellas,

Welcome Ric!

IIRC the pole pieces are not necessarily centered on the bobbin, you might want to try rotating the bridge pickup 180º and see how that works. Another thing to check for is that the notches in the bridge saddles have been cut in the correct locations. Currently I have three Rick basses, from '67, '73, and '98; through the years the neck has gotten slightly wider but that has not seemed to have an affect on string output. Regarding the use of a toaster in the bridge position, yes, this can work great, I did so on an '04 4003FL I used to own. A friend in Delaware has it now and might bring it to MARF on the 16th of this month at Pick Of The Ricks in NJ, near Philadelphia. If you can make it to MARF , and bring the bass, we can certainly sort out any problems with the bass.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=399145

BTW, You can call me anytime at the photo lab if you want to talk about this.

www.labwork-bw.com

JPS,
Great info, thanks. The saddles are actually lined up quite nice. I wish that the neck was wider on this bass, I will try to rotate the pickup first and see how that goes but I have a feeling it might lower the E string volume.... JPS, I do not know much about Toaster pickups, are they a blade type pickup or do they have more pickup bobbins across the pickup? How does one acquire a Toaster pickup? I haven't seen one for sale recently. Let me know your thoughts, thanks JPS, ric

p.s. I would love to make MARF but I live in LA and I can't escape that weekend.

Sorry you can't make it out to MARF, Ric. The folks in So Cal do confluences from time to time and have been doing an annual one (SCARF), usually in August. I used to live in L.A., from mid '84 to mid '90, during some nice friendly times, like the open season on the freeway, and so on. Actually, I did enjoy living out there as it was a great place to go to the mountains on the weekends for hiking, or to get away to the Sierras or Death Valley, etc.

Toaster pickups are actually guitar pickups with 6 magnet slugs, although they have a nice smooth even field so they work perfectly for bass or guitar. The string to string balance is excellent on them; I got my first bass with toasters in 1973, my 4005WB, and have loved the tone of them for bass ever since.

As to getting toasters, they pop up new from time to time from Rickenbacker directly, in their on-line boutique, or from authorized dealers, such as Pick Of The Ricks. Used, it is more a game of constantly checking ebay or the Marketplace here, although we do have a 30 post requirement to gain access to that due to some unfortunate circumstances in the past. 30 post are easy to build up here, this forum is amazing full of great people and information; we consider this more a "family" as the sense of community is very strong among us.

Rickenbacker does have toaster pickups in stock, at the moment:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/cart.asp?category=Pickups

Thanks Jeffrey,
Btw, your suggestion to flip the bridge pickup worked! I still am interested in getting a Toaster, seems like the smoothest response, especially when bending strings etc.

Okay, here's my next naive question: I looked on the Ric link you sent me, there is only a neck position pickup. Is there a "Bridge pickup" Toaster pickup or do they work in both positions? Also, how do you mount the pickup in the bridge position? Thanks so much for your HELP! , and btw, i dig this forum, I have perusing it for about a year now, great info, I think Ric players are a separate breed and it's great to be able to get answers because most luthiers are not that familiar with Ric's. cheers, ric

PM sent!

jps wrote:PM sent!

Hey Jeff, nice avatar pic.

And welcome aboard, Ric!