Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anyone know what I need to do to install the HB1 in the bridge position?

Two nuts and bolts, a screwdriver and soldering iron. Holes are already in the baseplate, just for this purpose.

OK sounds easy enough. Thanks John. Looks like I'll order a couple more HB1s from ya. I really like these pickups.

I tried that on my 4001 and had a little bit of a hot vs. not so hot pickup issue. there were "sweet" spots with the volume blend. but it did sound really really good!

Cassius987 of the forum has done this. You might send him a PM for his views.

I was going to put HB's in both positions.

You can ream the mounting holes so that a 4-40 bolt will pass through and tighten it down with a nut on the other side (either position), the rest is the same as with any other pickup unless you want to get fancy and do single coil or parallel wiring or something switchable.

I did this on my bass that Marty Willson-Piper used in the last years of the Church and still uses with the newer bands he's playing with. (One of these days I need to get it back, as it's a wonderful sounding instrument- which is why he still has it!)

johnhall wrote:I did this on my bass that Marty Willson-Piper used in the last years of the Church and still uses with the newer bands he's playing with. (One of these days I need to get it back, as it's a wonderful sounding instrument- which is why he still has it!)

Yessir! That's a good one.

When mixing HB1's with single coil pickups, you'll also need to reverse the red and blue wires on the HB1 harness, otherwise it'll be out of phase with the single coil pickup. Also, while an HB1 will work just fine with the original harness, you can optimize it by changing out the bridge pickup's tone cap to something in the .022uF range, and it's volume pot to a 500K to increase it's brightness.

I'm thinking an HB1 in the neck and higain in the bridge would sound nice.

loverickbass wrote:I'm thinking an HB1 in the neck and higain in the bridge would sound nice.

I'd argue this is the best of the three possible setups. You just can't replace that snarl of a bridge positioned higain. A humbucker in the neck position is a nice addition thump.

Better than routing the neck rout for a mudbucker.

I recently read that the HB1's in the rear position are nearly maxed out for string coverage (not wide enough). Is that true?

I've thought about trying one teamed up with a toaster.

teeder wrote:I recently read that the HB1's in the rear position are nearly maxed out for string coverage (not wide enough). Is that true?

That is NOT true. HB1's actually have a wider string coverage than any other RIC pickup. The HB1 coverage issue was in the now discontinued 4004Cii5 bass.

Good to know. Thanks, Dane!