Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Here's a question for Jeff Rath (you are the King of the 5-stringers), I own a 4003/5, my first ever 5 string bass and have really gotten used to playing the 5er. Last night I took my 4004ci to practice and realized how much I miss the sound of it and the feel of the smooth neck. I've seen your Laredo/5, what would it take to change mine over, what with gold hardware & all? The factory bridge would be too wide wouldn't it, since the neck is alot wider on the 4004/5? What are your thoughts...I own my Rics to play them so I'm not terribly concerned about altering this one. Thanks everyone for your input.

Jeff....let me have this one, since I take full responsibility for getting you started on the 5-string kick when I got my Charvel Fusion 5. And since you and I have spent countless work hours discussing the conversion technique...Ahem...
First of all, you need a new nut (obviously), another tuner, and a bridge/tailpiece that is narrower than the Ric. You should be able to find a gold replacement bridge, and another gold tuner. Then you will need to drill a hole for the tuner, and I BELIEVE that Jeff modified his pickups for this...but dont know for sure. I know his now has a toaster in the neck and the regular HB in the bridge. And in my opinion, sounds awesome! Jeff has posted tons of pics of it on this site. This bass really converts well to a 5, the string spacing feels really good, especially if you are used to a 4003s5. Jeff, care to add the details?

Let me get some material and give you a comprehensive explanation with pictures ...

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to all your input. I really do enjoy the close spacing of the strings on the 4003/5, (OK, at first I felt like I was playing with 3 thumbs and an elbow, but I've grown quite used to it) so anything similar in spacing should be cool. I'm watching the Concert for George on PBS, so shame on me for turning my back for 2 minutes!

If I didn't get my 4003S/5 this past September, I would be modding my 4003 to a 5 string right now !!!

Dennis: ... first let's address the bridge issue ... The Ric 4003s5 is pretty much a factory modded 4003 4 string bass ... they reused as many elements as possible ... smart move ... The ric 4003s5 bridge is 2 1/4"



For my 2030 4 to 5 conversion I tried an allparts bridge that had a 2 1/4" spacing ... this worked but several strings were sorta dead with this bridge ...



Then I tried an expensive Kahler adjustable bridge that goes from 2 1/16" to 3" spacing ... this works very well ...



What I used on the 4004L was a bridge off of a Dillion Musicman clone ... it looks and sounds good ... the spacing is 2 3/8" ... this is about the maximum spacing you can do on a 4004 and still use the pickups and neck ... I have seen these bridges on Dillion's, Epiphones, and ebay ...



here's the bridge you need ...

Next ... pickups ...

The stock 4004 pickups will work fine for 4 or 5 strings because they are dual rail ...

OK finally we get to the head of your bass ... you have to add a tuner and change the nut ...



You just barely have room to squeeze a fifth tuner in between the 2 tuners on the treble side ... You can get a Schaller tuner from Mike Parks ... the nut is a Carvin 6 string bass nut that I machined off the slot for the high c string ... I had to shim the nut a little to get it to fit right ...

Now you will have to do a little setup ... bridge adjustment and truss rod adjustment ...

Also I prefer vol, vol, tone controls instead of the factory wiring ...

then with a little work you can have this ...

oooooh!

Yeah, thats a NICE couch!
Seriously though, the bass is a sweet player, and a VERY well done conversion.

Jeff & Steve...thanks again! You've given me a good start here, hopefully I'll have the nuts to head down this road. By the way, you guys work together? I can't imagine having anyone else in my office thinking Rics all day, how do you get any work done???

It's difficult, trust me! Yes Jeff and I do work together. He wanders by a few times a day and we talk about Ricks and parts and amps and such, keeps me motivated and Jeff knows a lot about modifying basses, which I really don't do. I pick 'em up and play them loud! I own one of his 5-string P-bass conversions and it is my only 5-string, very nice. His Rick 4004 is SWEET. If you pick up the drill to make the hole in the headstock, that's the hardest part. Once you do that, it's ON! Good luck!!

Dennis, architects don't "work", we create!