The Rickenmodder Club

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by cassius987

Did I post this yet? My 4001FL is going to be a 3-pickup beast soon.

Whoa ! Dude! that is awesome!

[smemm]

I just dropped a set of Barts into my 2007 jetglo 4003, pictures coming forthwith...

[Ric5]

New pics of my Favorite Rickenbacker

[J Hud]

5, that is killer! Love a maple board havin' Ric.

Have any audio? Curious as to how the J-pup affects the sound.

[Aceonbass]

Three of my basses have already made this thread and I'm not even an official Rickenmodder! The 4008 with Squire's signature on it is mine. It actually started life as a 1997 4003 with triangle markers and body binding. The midnight blue 4004L with 5 strings and a couple modded 4003 parts is also mine. The trans red 4004 that looks like a 4001V63 was mine, but I sold it in April. Just to illustrate the prevailing attitude that modding a Rick decreases it's value, I only got $1000.00 for it on Ebay. Had a milion hits and watchers and compliments from other Rick people though...LOL I have a 4004Cii that's been converted to a fretless 5 string right now on Ebay.

[cassius987]

Woohoo! Finally finished my 4001FL project. Clips forthcoming--this thing is an official BEAST!

[nattiep]

Oh man, I need to do that to my 4001 so bad.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by cassius987

Woohoo! Finally finished my 4001FL project. Clips forthcoming--this thing is an official BEAST!

Wow!!!!! I can't wait to hear it!

[BrickBatMansion]

Originally Posted by cassius987

Woohoo! Finally finished my 4001FL project. Clips forthcoming--this thing is an official BEAST!

Very, VERY, nice.

[spiritbass]

Well, my next mod isn't very sexy. Apparently Mr. Hall doesn't believe in shielding pickup cavities!? I do. Put on the first coat of shielding paint tonight...

[cassius987]

Shielding the pickup cavities is totally useless with most Ric pickups, except for the stock bridge Hi-Gain which could benefit from a little. All the others are so well-shielded from the get-go there's almost no point. The control harness cavity is a different story.

To filter the frequencies that most plague the bass guitar you are going to need lots of coats of that paint, or multiple layers of copper tape.

[johnk_10]

one coat of the paint that i use is easily enough to shield any bass. (IMO, one layer of copper tape is enough too).
most ric pickups have shielded lead wires so it's redundant to shield the pickup cavities or wire routes, and it's not necessary at all.

[spiritbass]

Yup, I noted that the leads from the pickups are shielded. The ground is good from the bridge and it still picks up more hum than my other basses. That's why it got dis-assembled for inspection. Yup, the control cavity is probably where shielding is needed most. It will be getting shielding paint. The back of the pickguard will be getting taped. I don't like hum.

[12bass]

A lot of the hum comes from the single coil pickups; shielding won't eliminate that. However, it is possible to flip the magnet and wires on one of the pickups and make the pair RWRP. I've done this on my (shielded) 4001, and it gets rid of most of the residual hum when both pickups are on.

[cassius987]

Originally Posted by 12bass

A lot of the hum comes from the single coil pickups; shielding won't eliminate that. However, it is possible to flip the magnet and wires on one of the pickups and make the pair RWRP. I've done this on my (shielded) 4001, and it gets rid of most of the residual hum when both pickups are on.

+1

[spiritbass]

Thanks for all of the input gentlemen. Any magnet flipping and lead reversal will be a last resort for me. I have a well shielded dual-Dark Star (RWRP pair) equipped jazz bass which is dead silent compared to the Ric. I can solo the (single-coil) neck pickup and it's still dead silent in comparison. Got a coat applied in the Ric's control cavity now. I'm still of the opinion that Mr. Hall is valuing traditional methods over what works better.

[quincy_j_clomo]

no pictures yet, but my 4001 is about to be fretless, with an oil finish on the fingerboard. also, i'm gonna put a series/parallel switch and the 4003-style push/pull tone control. i'm debating whether or not to start playing around with some different pickups.

so.... pending membership?

[cassius987]

Originally Posted by spiritbass

I'm still of the opinion that Mr. Hall is valuing traditional methods over what works better.

It's really not for us to say what he values because we don't know. He's made a scant few comments on this subject, but not enough to really figure out where he stands. Either way, a shielding job is easy enough to do, and the pickups and lead wires (except the treble Hi-Gain) are already very well-shielded, so most of us can just focus on the control cavity and that part of the pickguard.

I have definitely found multiple coats or layers = better shielding, and this makes sense because the frequencies you are trying to filter are low Hz. They have a pretty sizable wavelength so it's going to take more to stop them than high frequency noise which is the normal industrial reason to build a Faraday cage. I should know, I have had to do it at my job a couple of times for a hydrogen peroxide-sensing electrode that can pick up RF.

[incubus2432]

My 4004LK has a few reversible mods. The stock ABM bridge was swapped for a Hipshot and the electronics were modded so the toggle is a simple kill switch and dual concentric pots were added enabling volume for each pickup and a single tone. The mods improved an already fantastic bass.




Here are a few pics of the LK stock (the pics of it modded don't do it justice IMO).






My "Blackened" Laredo received a painted fretboard and the hardware was swapped from chrome to black. My tribute to the Rickenbacker Blackstar.







The Laredo is currently in the shop for a 5 string conversion with a slightly wider neck, ACG electronics, Nordstrand pickups and some other shenanigans.

[cassius987]

Nice Laredo!