Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am trying to come up with the easiest method to make HB-1s work in a machine bolt mounting method like we encounter with the bass pickup versions of the Hi-Gain and Toaster. In the past I think Dane suggested cutting threads but I really have no idea how to do this and am scared I'll muck things up. I had thought of replacing the exterior mounting shell but the mounting shell on the HB-1s is a little more integrated due to the 4-conductor setup.

So my idea now is to just find a machine bolt that will clear the hole in the pickup surround (meant to accommodate a wood screw) and glue a matching nut on the bottom side of the pickup to thread it into. Does this sound totally insane or feasible? Anyone tried it?

cassius987 wrote:So my idea now is to just find a machine bolt that will clear the hole in the pickup surround (meant to accommodate a wood screw) and glue a matching nut on the bottom side of the pickup to thread it into. Does this sound totally insane or feasible? Anyone tried it?

That has been suggested several times in the past, and seems very feasible/reasonable to me.

Not sure if i follow,but Dane did change out the wood screws for machined inserts/ bolts when he did the custom work on my Laredo. When i swapped the gold and chrome hardware on my cii and laredo,i ended up having to keep the "opposite" colors for the pickup screws. ( i think it looks kind of cool.) errr,my point being,it has been done....

How did Dane do that exactly, Woody?

I am going to take an HB-1 to ACE this weekend and try to come up with a good machine bolt. I think this may be the simplest way to tackle this problem.

What kind of glue to use on the chrome though? Can't be too adhesive, in case I muck it up, or too weak of a bond as the bolt is sure to put some stress on the joint.

Normally, it's just done with a tap. But you can certain put a nut behind it. Use superglue, just being sure to keep it out of the threads. If you muck it up, a drop of acetone dissolves it (and unsticks your fingers).

cassius987 wrote:How did Dane do that exactly, Woody?
.

Well,that is a good question.....
Dane.....?

I don't think Dane posts here anymore...

johnhall wrote:Normally, it's just done with a tap. But you can certain put a nut behind it. Use superglue, just being sure to keep it out of the threads. If you muck it up, a drop of acetone dissolves it (and unsticks your fingers).

I would be all for using a tap if it were simple enough, but that seems like a great means of permanently ruining the pickup surround if I do it the wrong way. Still, while at ACE, I'll see if I can find something. (Maybe this is how Dane did it, Woody. Sounds like his kind of thing.)

Thanks for the advice on the glue though. Seems pretty doable...

I took my '08 pair of HB-1s and did the nut-gluing trick on 'em with 4-40 nuts. It's precision work but I figured out the easy way to do it and know it would be properly aligned was to start with the bolt threaded in, then lightly glue the nut's edges; then take the bolt out to avoid gluing it in place for good and cover any spots that were missed in the first pass. When you get it right the bolt threads perfectly and there is no visible strain on the glue joint at all.

Now the minor annoyance is that the pickup is a sukosh wider on either side, so I'll have to rout a little bit out of the edge of each pickup cavity to get a good fit. But it all goes under the pickguard so no worries.