4003S/5 bridge pickup

[jiemp]

Hello from France !
I bought a 40003S/5 some weeks ago and I try to adjust correctly output level between the two pickups and between strings.
I have some difficulties with the B string, which output level is quite poor. For the neck pickup (toaster) I solved it by removing the little gommets and slightly
rounding the pickup hole pickguard, inside face, in order to get the pickup higher. But there is still a great difference on the bridge pickup, between B and E string.
B string is the standart 115, I tested a 130 and a 135 without great improvment apart of getting a higher action...So I came back to a 115 one.
The bridge pickup has non adjustable poles and of course B and G ones are lower than others ones. Is it possible to get the B pole higher ? I even imagine to drill it and fit a little metallic screw...
Any Idea here ? What would be the better distance between pole and string ?
Many thanks
Jean-Marie

[weemac]

I had an S/5 and it had a weak G on the treble pickup.
There are two things that can help:
The first and easiest way is to sit a washer on top of the weak pickup pole (the "B") and use a tiny drop of superglue so it dosent wander (see the first pic)
The second one was a bit more tricky...
The original Horseshoe pickups had the magnet wrapped around the pickup to create (hopefully) even magnetic field and there was limited adjustment on the pickup poles. However that saturated magnetic field did have a sound of it's own.. Bright but Juicy!
The reissue Horseshoe pickups were inside out in that the pickup has alnico slugs that are in contact with magneticaly conductive steel to simulate the field saturation it also plays havock with the pickups inductance and you get a sound quite a bit like the original Shoes (not exact but more than near enough)

I found making a special set of steel shoes that fit around the standard Hi-gain pickup went along way to recreate the saturated sound of a proper shoe. The effect is to wet up the sound and make it sound a little more.... Horsey... Another side effect was to even up the string to string response a fair bit too!

I sold the S/5, (too many strings) the washer remained on the pickup pole and the shoes are in my parts box....

Eden.

[jiemp]

Thanks Eden for your answer. I'will try the washer first, that doesn't take more that 5 minutes, I will give you the feedback tomorrow, as I have to leave home now !
bye
Jean-Marie

[Kopfjaeger]

Is this the fireglo 5 string from Japan that sold on ebay a month or so ago with the broken truss rod?
Not that it has anything to do with your issue, I'm just nosey.

Sepp

[jiemp]

Yes it is the one sold on Ebay from Japan. I simply fit a new truss rod and neck is ok and straight.
B string is not so bad when both pickups are working together. but on treble one, E strings and others have a clean hard attack, B string has a flat weaker sound that's why I first tried bigger strings.

Two weeks ago, the man in Japan sold also a 4003S/8, fireglo, for 2850$.
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 452wt_1189

I was on gig and unable to bid thanks to Iphone Ebay App...

Bye

[Kopfjaeger]

I remember your bass1 i was bidding on it as well, no hard feelings! I hope you get the B string issue fixed. Please keep us posted since I'd like to add a Rickenbacker 5 string to my heard.

Sepp

[ken_j]

Welcome to the RRF Jean-Marie. Nice purchase.

[jiemp]

Oops, sorry for the title I only dream of a /8 ...

[rickenbrother]

Oops, sorry for the title I only dream of a /8 ...

The title has been fixed.

[jiemp]

Hi there,
Hopefully it take more than 5 minutes to fit a little washer on the B pole, because it's impossible to do it without removing the pickup completely.
Thanks to that I noticed that there is far less magnetic field on B and G pole, mostly when the two screws holding together the base, the magnet and the pickup are tighten : the screwdriver doesn't stick to the pole...I made a test without that screw, and it's better.
So I think I need to change the magnet as ther is a big hole just under the B pole as you can see on the pic made from under side of the magnet.
I checked on some Rick's parts websites, but I didn't found one selling only magnets. Any idea ? The lenght is 82mm/3,23in.
thanks

[ken_j]

I don't doubt that that is the problem. I am not sure where to source a new magnet from. You can try here: http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_Pages/flex.html You may want to contact Sergio in the pickup section: viewforum.php?f=33

[Kopfjaeger]

Yikes, that does not look good. I think you need to box the bass up and sell it to me!!

I was going to suggest Sergio as well.

Sepp

[aceonbass]

I'll bet you could take a new adjustable pole 4003 bridge hi-gain, pull the A&D poles and re-drill the bobbin for three additional poles. I know Jeff Rath does this with standard neck high gains to make them 5-pole pickups since it's much cheaper than buying a Toaster.

[jiemp]

Hi there, thanks all for the informations and links. I like the idea to transform a high gain 4 strings pickup to 5 strings, but that's stay quite expensive.
I finally ordered a magnet here : http://www.ricsrus.com/4000-Series.html. It's not on the parts list but he has...
It's a good address for us living in Europe.
I hope I will be able to tell you soon the end of the story ...
Keep on ricking
Jean-Marie

[ken_j]

Sergio is in Lisbon. He has repaired numerous pickups for forum members.