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NBD - Rickenbacker Imbassenator

jallenbass

jallenbass

Commercial User
May 17, 2005
4,684
3,928
66
Bend, Oregon
#1
I wanted to add the Rickenbacker sound to my stable but had 2 issues:

1. Needed a 5 string
2. Can't really afford a Rickenbacker right now.

So, I took a Squier Affinity Jazz V neck and built my own design of a body around it out of Northern White Ash. It's chambered to reduce weight. Around 9 lbs. I just got it wired up yesterday and right now it's just both pickups (Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder Jazz per Ric5's suggestion) wired straight to the jack. The pickups are in as near to Rickenbacker position as I could and adjusted to a 34" string length. No finish on the body and still some shaping to do. Pictures and sound clip for your amusement.

Those of you who have Rickenbackers let me know how close I am to the sound.
 

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#2
IMO it sounds "rickenbackerishly" enough, however the tone from a Rick is obviously something you will only get from, well, a Rick.

BY the way, nice body design. Also, using an Affinity Jazz Bass V neck was something wise to do, those basses are not expensive at all but the latest batches seem to be built with much higher quality than usual, and the necks are no exception to this, I can attest to that. Enjoy your bass!
 
#3
jallenbass said:
I wanted to add the Rickenbacker sound to my stable but had 2 issues:

1. Needed a 5 string
2. Can't really afford a Rickenbacker right now.

So, I took a Squier Affinity Jazz V neck and built my own design of a body around it out of Northern White Ash. It's chambered to reduce weight. Around 9 lbs. I just got it wired up yesterday and right now it's just both pickups (Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder Jazz per Ric5's suggestion) wired straight to the jack. The pickups are in as near to Rickenbacker position as I could and adjusted to a 34" string length. No finish on the body and still some shaping to do. Pictures and sound clip for your amusement.

Those of you who have Rickenbackers let me know how close I am to the sound.
Click to expand...

I love it ... My kind of bass ...
 
#5
I'll be honest, I don't really know that you're getting that close to the true Rick tone; it's definitely in the general ballpark, but it's still quite Jazz sounding.

That sounded like both pickups up full? I was gonna say, maybe try recording some clips of the individual pickups too; your spacing of them looks to be pretty near to Rick-spec. They might get closer to the vibe on their own.

Also, Ric5 just made a couple good points on the wiring setup that would help for sure.

And if you wanna go full on 4001/3, try adding a stereo output jack so you can run the p'ups a la Ric-o-Sound
 
#11
jallenbass said:
Regarding the wiring - IME I haven't found that changing the wiring affects the voice of the instrument. Do you mean that having the control over each pickup will get it closer to a Rickenbacker?
Click to expand...

The Rickenbacker wiring brightens up an instrument, if you use their schematic, that is compared to the jazz bass wiring of volume, volume, tone and all 250k ohm pots. Also having a seperate tone control for each pickup adds dimensions.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/g...e-bass-wiring-without-selector-switch-630353/

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/g...e-bass-wiring-without-selector-switch-630353/

Invalid Link Removed
 
#13
Here's one of my basses ...

Part Fender, Part Thunderbird, part Rickenbacker and completely Frankenstein.

The neck pickup is Rickenbacker and the pickups are in the Rickenbacker positions, and it has a 4 band audere preamp. To get the old 4001 tone I boost the high mids.

5s%20007.jpg
 
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#19
Doesn't really sound too much like a Ric, it's in the same ballpark, but it sounds very Jazzy with those pickups. A big part of the Ric sound is the underwound ceramic pickups and all maple neck-through body.
 

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