• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

4001 Mashup

Thanks for all the support and encouragement!

Did I miss something or did you say your were buying the pickups and electronics or are you winding your own?

Good question. I'll keep my eyes open for used pickups, but it seems the used ones are even more expensive that the new ones. I may wind the neck pickup and see about buying a horseshoe pickup. Unless I can find specs somewhere for the horseshoe, I would look into trying to build that too. I'd still have to see about buying some kind of bridge pickup bezel frame. I'll certainly wire up my own harness, and make my own pick guard, unless I find a really good price for a used one.

You should make this one a 12er.;)

That would be pretty cool, but I don't know that I'm ready for a 12 string build just yet. Maybe next build :)

FYI, there is a hipshot ric 4001 bridge for sale in the TB accessories classifieds.

I saw that, but unfortunately, I'm a little short on funds. I plan on doing some woodworking over the next several weeks while I pay down my credit card. Hopefully another one will show up. I actually like the Hipshot bridge better than the Ric one.

It's like the old one about the old guy and the 20 year old hammer. Changed the handle five times and the head twice.

I also have some builds planned out around specific pieces I have floating around my tool box.

Subbed.

That's pretty close :P

So, doing some more thinking about this build, I'd like to do a maple fret board, with 21 frets. The 20 fret board on the standard Ric always irked me. They're having a sale on walnut at the wood store, and I was planning on picking up a small piece for a neck stringer and headstock wings. If I can find a nice enough pice, at the right price, I may just do the body wings in walnut as well. I'm not too concerned about the tuning machines. Something will come up.

The first substantial purchase may have to be some neck tools - fret saw, maybe that fret mitre box at StewMac, fret wire, and some fretting files. And a radius block. That will add up quick, and it may not be a another month or two before I can make that happen. I should have some saw dust this weekend though, next weekend at the latest.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deep Cat
As someone who has cut a few erratic fret slots, (okay all of my fret slots are erratic) I can say that unless you have some serious handsaw skills you definitely will want a miter box. I'm looking hard at the one from lmii for my next build. There is a hilarious tutorial video and a saw is included in the price.

http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-services/fretting/manual-slotting-system
 
  • Like
Reactions: carsbybigd
As someone who has cut a few erratic fret slots, (okay all of my fret slots are erratic) I can say that unless you have some serious handsaw skills you definitely will want a miter box. I'm looking hard at the one from lmii for my next build. There is a hilarious tutorial video and a saw is included in the price.

http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-services/fretting/manual-slotting-system

Thanks for the link! It's between this one, and the StewMac version. I'm tending toward the StewMac version as it's made of aluminum, where the LMII is polyethylene. Likely wouldn't be a problem, except it gets pretty hot in my workshop during the summer, and I'm a little afraid of plastic things melting in there.
 
LMI will pre slot a fretboard to any scale and number of frets you want for $9.

http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-...ustom-fret-slotting-service/flypagechildnoimg

If I ever get around to building necks that's the way I'd go vs. spending a lot of money on a 'one trick pony' tool that would take a long time to pay for itself. The other alternative for me would be laying the slots out by hand and free handing them. Couldn't be much more difficult than a 12er nut.
 
LMI will pre slot a fretboard to any scale and number of frets you want for $9.

http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-...ustom-fret-slotting-service/flypagechildnoimg

If I ever get around to building necks that's the way I'd go vs. spending a lot of money on a 'one trick pony' tool that would take a long time to pay for itself. The other alternative for me would be laying the slots out by hand and free handing them. Couldn't be much more difficult than a 12er nut.

That's definitely an option. The miter box and fret saw come close to $200.00. I'll have to think about whether I'll be doing any more necks going forward.
 
Maple
Are you going to use your modified headstock design? I actually like that better than the original. The straight line pull is probably better for tuning stability too. Maybe you can license the design back to Ric for a fee........ Ok, maybe not!

Any other mods in mind? I'm starting to think about changing mine to a 24 fret layout, not sure what that does to the geometry of fingerboard and bridge location yet.
 

Latest posts