Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Saw is meeting wood and decisions have to be made in my custom build, so I have the 2004 Laredo and the 1975 4001 out. I've been putting the ruler next to them to answer question that come up from the guy cutting the wood...

The string spacing - it really does not seem all that different - the strings are 7/16" apart on both instruments at the nut. The Laredo has a nominal 2 1/4" spacing at the bridge (3/4" between strings), but is obviously variable...I generally have it set nominal. I get 23/32's between strings at the bridge on the 75 4001. Does that small a difference make such a noticeable impact on feel?

Body wings appear to be 1 1/4" thick on both basses, but the overall height to the top of the fingerboard is higher on the Laredo - 1 3/4" at the 19th fret and 1 5/8" at the 19th fret for the 4001 (that was to the lowest part of the fingerboard, not the radius crown)...

For those that rebuild, tinker, do these measurements sound representative, or is it all wyfiwyg?

edski wrote:Saw is meeting wood and decisions have to be made in my custom build...

What exactly are you custom building?

edski wrote:Does that small a difference make such a noticeable impact on feel?

I don't notice a difference in feel between 4003 and 4004 string spacing; 4001, I couldn't say, but my 1976 definitely has a narrower neck than modern basses. The difference with 4004s is, for me, all in the neck profile which is at 4003 spec now.

jps wrote:

edski wrote:Saw is meeting wood and decisions have to be made in my custom build...

What exactly are you custom building?

A fretless bass...with a maple/purple heart laminate neck, body wings of padouk, and a birds-eye maple fingerboard.

The neck specs are going to be very close to a Laredo, and apparently my 4001. The shape has hints of Rick, J Bass and the Les Godfrey "Drangonetti" design.

Not sure how to get photos on a post here anymore...have some pics of the raw wood, some crude drawings, and have seen that the 5 ply maple/PH sandwich has been cut and glued.

A Fenrickrey Hippie Sandwich fretless bass! Cool. Use the Upload attachment button that shows up below the text box when you make a post to add photos. They have to be no larger than 1280x1280 pixels and 500Kb or less in size.

This is going to be the front face of the body...

And lets see if this body sketch makes it...

Cool; to me, the rendering looks more like it's parents were an Alembic and a Ritter with a dash of David King thrown in.

High praise. Thanks, Jeff!

The control layout looks familiar, to me. In my case it was VVT with a selector switch for the .0047µF cap. I still have the pickguard with the controls on it if anyone is interested (a friend of mine has the bass with it's original harness and pickguard).

Actually the selectors pictured would have been pan-volume-tone with a series parallel switch.

I'm still waffling, but leaning to an Audere 2 band pre amp and just have 2 concentric pots...one of the myriad decisions being made in the next couple weeks before the next burst of building (which should leave something that resembles a guitar) which might be a month or so.

Preamp selection is more difficult these days as there are many excellent options that were not available years ago. But, with the exception of my Rick Turner bass all my basses are passive (aggressive ); I got away from active electronics when I had my first ZON bass; after tinkering with it I found it sounded better without the Bartolini electronics in the signal path. My amps take care of those things better overall than a small battery powered preamp in the instrument, IMHO. The only active bass I might consider again is Alembic of which I used to have a couple.

I don't have an active, and have liked it when I have played one. Going to have the control cavity made bigger than needed to 1) have some future flexibility, and 2) cut some weight.

I want the woods to be the main focal point, so I don't want a lot of controls, so my recent good experience with a couple Sting Ray's is influencing me, as well as the simplicity. I could achieve the VVT and series/parallel with a push-pull concentric, but that's getting on the exotic side of controls. KISS principle is at work here.

Oh yeah, my amp stinks and is likely to stay that way. I can use the help with the sound from the little 9V battery!

KISS, eh? When I ordered my subsequent two other ZON basses I asked Joe to only put in a single volume control in them, both basses were single pickup models; I was considering no controls at all, originally, but I guess those volume controls on the basses came on handy once in a while. A couple years ago I sent the fretted one to Joe who added a second pickup and prototype buffer preamp from Bartolini it it, but eventually sold that one too. I guess I am not an active bass guy.

The Rick Turner has a preamp only due to the piezo pickup in it so it does need to be buffered, and Rick does make some great sounding pickups/preamps (along with Seymour Duncan with their D-Tar products).

Another preamp to consider is something by John East, he does make some excellent stuff.