Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Just about to install a Hipshot bridge on my Rickenbacker 3000 but found the bridge cavity deeper than expected - no mods as far as I can see. So I'm concerned the bridge won't be stable enough if the 2 front screws don't have enough purchase into the wood.

From what I can see online it looks deeper than the 4000 series.

Has anyone installed a Hipshot onto a 3000 series bass?

sarlscharisma wrote:Just about to install a Hipshot bridge on my Rickenbacker 3000 but found the bridge cavity deeper than expected - no mods as far as I can see. So I'm concerned the bridge won't be stable enough if the 2 front screws don't have enough purchase into the wood.

From what I can see online it looks deeper than the 4000 series.

Has anyone installed a Hipshot onto a 3000 series bass?

Same bridge as any 4001/2/3/8, etc, bass. so I would expect the route under the tailpiece to be the same. Yours may have been altered. Pics?

Here’s a picture of the cavity

You could go to a hardware store and see if they have the same screws but longer.
I think I have heard of someone fashioning a wood block to fill the cavity and then screwing on the bridge.
I would use longer screws if I could find them. As long as the bridge covers the route of the original.
What kind of mounting screws does the Hipshot come with?
Have been thinking of a Hipshot for my 4003.

You could also search for installation instructions on YouTube to see what others have done to handle the issue.

That route looks no different than that of other 400 series basses I have had over the years. Your new bridge will mount just fine.

The front two screws are mostly for locating/positioning, the back screws will do most of the work, anyway.

Thanks for the reassurance!

So, I've installed the Hipshot. Tried the soldering but could not get it to adhere to the Aluminium, so did the common resolution of sitting ground between bridge and body.

The sound is different to what it was on the old bridge, not in a good way, but it might be down to old strings.

It fixed my intonation on D and G so really pleased with that! Apart from sound only issue no - I couldn't get the E string to intone perfectly so need a shorter screw.

Is it a 3001 standard scale or a 3000 short scale? In your initial post you say it's a 3000, but in the thread title you say it's a 3000-series (which could be either a 3000 or a 3001).

The reason for asking is that I've run into such intonation issues on short-scale 320-series guitars that I have bought used; a previous owner had used a standard string set instead of a short scale set, so intonation was difficult if not impossible.

Its a 3000. I use medium gauge as short scale I tried didn't sit in the nut slot well - the taper was getting too thinning before it hit the nut.

My only experience with the Hipshot bridge is a brass one (it was the first one they made). It worked and sounded great on my '04 4003FL (the only bass I had used it on), to allow me to set the saddles where they needed to be to properly intonate the bass (I needed to pull the saddles flatter than the stock bridge would allow for). Yes, I needed Jason to send me some shorter screws; just contact Hipshot and they will send you some.

For the grounding a couple things to try:

Sandpaper where you want to attach the wire on the bridge to rough it up.

Flux can certainly help.

A good powerful iron is required, much like soldering on the backs of pots.

Also you could certainly fill the void from the damper, but it can be challenging to get a tight fit.
Good luck,
Dirk

I've reached out to Hipshot so hopefully they're ok to ship to UK.

I've done some tweaks and got the sound back to what I want so all good.

One short screw away from greatness!

You could easily shorten the screw. Make sure you have a nut that fits so that after you cut the screw you back the nut off to chase the threads at the end (where you cut).

Beautiful.
Been thinking about this for my 4003.
I say just do the olde wood face/bridge sandwich for the bridge ground wire. Fan out the wires a bit if it is a stranded wire.