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Modding a Ric....

JoshuaTSP

JoshuaTSP

Sep 26, 2008
3,734
41
#1
Has anyone modded their Ric?
What's worth modding?

I did some searching, but it seems like most are against it.

I've seen where they've replaced the pickups, with Barts, SDs, or Bardens.
My concern with that is that none of the replacements have adjustable pole pieces like the stock pickups.

The stock pickups sound good, it's just that they're noisy.
Would shielding help most of this?

Haven't heard too much about the hipshot replacement bridge?
I don't know if that's as necessary?

All that said, I'm replacing the white pickguard with a pearliod one, and adding the treble bezel so far. :)
 
#5
I was seriously thinking about replacing my Ric's bridge with the Hipshot because the stock bridge is a huge PITA. However, Im not crazy about the look of the Hipshot (its not bad...I just like the look of the stock bridge better), and I dont really have to tweak anything very often so I decided against it.

I know alot of Ric purists look down on modding them, but its your bass, do what you want with it. I personally plan on keeping mine for a long time so Im not worried about resale value.
 
#7
jgroh said:
I was seriously thinking about replacing my Ric's bridge with the Hipshot because the stock bridge is a huge PITA.
Click to expand...

Hipshot Ric bridge FTW!!

P1060202.jpg
 
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#8
JoshuaTSP said:
....The stock pickups sound good, it's just that they're noisy.
Would shielding help most of this?

....
Click to expand...

Try this:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/[rickenbacker-4003]-rwrp-bridge-pickup-mod-tutorial-761909/


works like a Jazz bass, cancels hum when both pups are equal volume. I just did my 4003, it works beautifully.

The Hipshot bridge is nice. You may experience saddle wobble if your action is really low, and you may not get it as low as you like, since the baseplate is fairly thick.

I have one on my '77 4001 and it's at the lowest limit of saddle height, but otherwise it works really well.

The side to side saddle adjustment is nice so you can get the strings perfectly lined up over the pickup poles.

As far as mods go, anything totally reversible (Hipshot bridge, treble bezel, pickguard, etc) aren't really mods IMO, just customization. And don't worry about what others may think of them, it's your bass. Do what feels right.
 
#9
jgroh said:
I was seriously thinking about replacing my Ric's bridge with the Hipshot because the stock bridge is a huge PITA. However, Im not crazy about the look of the Hipshot (its not bad...I just like the look of the stock bridge better), and I dont really have to tweak anything very often so I decided against it.
Click to expand...

You're better off IMHO. The Hipshot is a marginal improvement, and doesn't really provide any tonal advantage. I only went to it because the stock Ric bridge developed severe tail lift. The Hipshot has its own quirks, the saddles tend to wobble a bit until you play around with it and get it just so. If your Ric bridge has stabilized and is doing the job, you're good to go.
 
#12
One thing to remember about Rick basses, once the intonation is set, it's solid until you change one of the variables.
It's not like you have to tweak it once or twice a year.

They're very stable, even though the initial setup is a big pain, you're pretty much done unless you like to experiment a lot.
Then a Hipshot is probably a must.
 
#13
The Hipshot bridge is fine but I don't think it's superior to the stock bridge. Just different. They both have their strong and weak points.

Gougedeye said:
Check out JHud's thread, but be prepared to be flamed and flamed again. It seems that many here on TB do not like their Rics modded...
Click to expand...

What JHud did that pissed a lot of people off was he modded a Ric that was in perfectly good shape and had some vintage status. It would have been really simple to hunt down A) a non-vintage Ric and/or B) a slightly beaten-up Ric and mod that instead of taking a minty 4003S forever out of existence, when a lot of Ric players have wanted one that was mint like that for a long time.

Modding a Ric is not wrong but, at least for your wallet's sake, think about the thing you are devaluing first. I've done some serious mods to my 4001FL (comparable to JHud) but no one batted an eye because it was already a wayward soul when I picked it up. Not the same as if I'd bought some pristine example of a 1973 and decided it needed to look just like Lemmy's.
 
#14
maybe the strangest thing about Jhud's is that about a month after he did all those (non-reversible) mods to it, he put it up for sale. unfortunately i've seen that happen many times, which leads me to believe that it didn't end up being his 'dream bass' after all.

and i agree 100% with cassius's statements above.
 
#18
Engine207 said:
I dunno. If it's yours, it should piss nobody off if you light it on fire. I don't think JHud put it for sale because he was unhappy with it. He said he needed a fiver for a project.

If I remember right, he wound up keeping the modded bass.
Click to expand...

it could also be not being able get even close to what he had into it, or if it were left original, might have had something to do with him keeping it.

but i agree, it's your bass, do whatever you want to it. i personally wouldn't put 22" rims on my beemer, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't if you like them.
 
#19
I'm not trying to start anything here, but JHud owes us nothing. If he wants to chop his Ric up into little pieces and burn it to ashes, that's his perogative. We all have the right to express our displeasure at this act, but thats as far as it goes. It's his bass. He should and will do with it as he pleases, and he did. Ironically, he did try to sell it just a few short weeks after the fact. In hindsight, maybe he should have picked another model, but as I recall, the devisive nature of that thread was a little over the top.

As far as Rics being stable, I disagree. I had a Jetglow and was so ready to emulate one of my bass playing inspirations, Geddy Lee, but every time the season changed, the neck would twist, making it unplayable. I sent it back to Rickenbacker several times. As a matter of fact, in the nearly 2 years I owned that bass, Rickenbacker had it in their possession more than me. I took a big loss on that bass. Unfortunately, that soured my desire to own a Ric. I think I got a lemon. That happens, even to the best of them.
 
#20
Gougedeye said:
I'm not trying to start anything here, but JHud owes us nothing. If he wants to chop his Ric up into little pieces and burn it to ashes, that's his perogative. We all have the right to express our displeasure at this act, but thats as far as it goes. It's his bass. He should and will do with it as he pleases, and he did. Ironically, he did try to sell it just a few short weeks after the fact. In hindsight, maybe he should have picked another model, but as I recall, the devisive nature of that thread was a little over the top.
Click to expand...

100% agree that it's his right to do it--but when he posted about it on TalkBass, it became 100% our right to discuss it, negative and positive, and put our opinions out there about what he should've and/or could've done. Nature of the game. Don't post on TB if you don't want to hear people's thoughts about something. It's naive to expect a warm welcome from everyone.

Gougedeye said:
As far as Rics being stable, I disagree. I had a Jetglow and was so ready to emulate one of my bass playing inspirations, Geddy Lee, but every time the season changed, the neck would twist, making it unplayable. I sent it back to Rickenbacker several times. As a matter of fact, in the nearly 2 years I owned that bass, Rickenbacker had it in their possession more than me. I took a big loss on that bass. Unfortunately, that soured my desire to own a Ric. I think I got a lemon. That happens, even to the best of them.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a super lemon-y Ric to me. I've never owned one with a neck that needed adjusting more than once a year. One of mine has not had a neck adjustment in 30 years between myself and the original owner... and it has the straightest neck. It's the 4001FL. Here's a picture.

20110426-1.jpg


The only issue I have with this bass is that for a fretless the action is just a touch higher than I'd like it to be even with the neck so straight. For a fretted bass it would be too low, but I like my fretless basses to have super-low action. My 4003FL has that super low action and that's why it's my main bass.

mnsj02.jpg
 

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