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My Rickenbacker Modification Project

J Hud

J Hud

Feb 18, 2006
896
6
DFW
www.myspace.com
#1
I recently acquired a 1989 Rickenbacker 4003s via a trade w/ a fellow TB’er. I have always loved the look and feel of the 4001/4003 Rics, but I personally have never been a fan of the infamous Ric “sound”. I’ve had a mental plan for modifying a Ric in mind for years but have never gotten around to making it happen. I’ve had several opportunities by way of 3 different 4003’, a 4001 C64 & a late 70’s 4001 but was always too busy with other things to pull the trigger on this project. But, when I received this 4003s I decided to go ahead and commit to the project.

I started at the beginning of July and am now days away from having it completed. I’m pretty satisfied with my work and the progress to-date and thought I’d share the details.

Here are assorted pics of the project in various stages.

Here's the bass in it's original form and as I received it.

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#4
Might not look like much, but it's pretty awesome. This is the new bridge-position pickup surround. Modeled after a circa 64 4001, it has the larger footprint and taper at one end that aligns with the bridge.

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18ga sheet steel, deburred w/ n...o sharp edges and powder-coated semi gloss black to match the current hardware components I'll be keeping.

The cut-out is designed to accommodate a Bartolini MMK Stingray-style humbucker. It is for a more flush mounted application and eliminates the current pc & pup completely.
 
#5
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Wanted to move the neck pup back some so that there was more space for slapping and such..

The control layout is Vol/Blend/Tre/Mid/Bass. There are 3 mini toggles. These are 1) active/passive 2)Mid Freq Selection & 3) MM pup series & parallel...
 
#6
Here's the body in its original state -

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Here you can see the burns on the wall of the bridge position pup cavity. Pretty minor actually and it will have no cosmetic effect on the finished product. Actually, since I'll be lining each cavity w/ copper foil, it won't be visible at a...ll.

Routers are cool

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#7
The existing bridge pup route left only about 3/8" worth of wood. I needed to build up that cavity to get the new pup high enough and to allow enough material to drive the pup mounting screws into without going through the back. I used a 1/4" pc of oak and cut it to fit inside the cavity. Glued it in place. I notched a cutout to create a cavity to nest the pre-amp into.

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#9
I needed to add some depth to my new neck position pup cavity to allow adequate space to house the new pup since it is about .5" taller than the stock Ric pup.

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Here's a filler pc I cut out of .5" oak to fill in the old neck pup route and create a build-up for the new one.

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#10
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Here it is with the box in place. The Ric body is pretty thin and standard battery boxes would have required a route that would have been too deep. This is a flat mount cavity box. The battery goes in on its side so the route only needed to be 3/4" deep. Perfect fit!

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#12
The new pickguard!

The one on the right is the original with the original pup and wiring harness installed. The one on the left is the one I designed and had Frank @ pickguardian.com create. It is clear plexi that is hand painted an antique white on the back. This is keeping with the Rickenbacker style pickguards of the 1960's. I moved the neck pup back to minimize the inherit "boominess" of the original placement. In addition, I altered the internal radius to match that of the new bridge pup surround. The control layout now supports the Aguilar Pre-amp w/ 3 mini toggle switches.

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#17
Evidently the only way I like MapleGlo is sans binding, IE: an 'S' or 'V' model.
Nice bass.

I'm curious as to the inspiration for pup placement.
4002, Jazz bass, or something else?
Obviously they'll be HBs of some sort, though not sure if youu know that Bartolini makes drop in pups that require no wider routing.

late edit: I now see you're using Barts.
 
#19
ok im going to put this as politely as i can

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
 

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