Ric PU placement (last one? maybe?)

[cdlynch]

In every thread I've seen about this, Ric owners say the bridge PU is under the 36th fret harmonic. I went to a store that had a 4003 with the horseshoe removed and plinked harmonics around the bridge PU, and found the location to be halfway BETWEEN harmonics. I didn't take notes, and promptly forgot the exact location. When I went back to that store (and 3 others) there were no 4003s to be found.

Maybe there was something weird about the one I messed with?

Some of the 36th fret people say the exact location isn't a big deal, and +/- 1/2" is fine, but not for absolutists like me, and others looking to mod non-Rics in potentially silly ways.

Maybe we can make this definitive if the people who answer this poll:

1. are actual 4001/4003 owners
2. have removed their bridge PU cover
3. are very detail oriented, love science, and love helping those less fortunate

Thank you for your enthusiastic participation! XD

 

[iiipopes]

I used to have a 4001 before I sold it to get my 4002 (that's right: "2," not "1" or "3") in the early '90's. The neck pickup was in the "24th" fret position (what we also call the "1/2 inch" position, because the edge of the pickup rout is 1/2 inch from the edge of the pickguard) and the bridge or treble pickup was in the "36th" fret position.

By next harmonic, do you mean the flat 7th? (high f on the g string, high c on the d string, etc.) Here's the deal: remember your compensation of having to adjust the saddles farther back than the nominal scale length in order to intonate the string properly due to string stretch, as we do on all instruments, all makes, all models. With the saddles pulled back, depending on the make/model/gauge of string and the action of the instrument and technique of the player, the saddles could be far enough back that the flat-7th harmonic could sound closer to the polepiece of the pickup than the triple octave "36th fret" position. And remember that each octave going up the neck is half of the distance of the preceding octave, because scale is logarithmic, not linear.

A Rickenbacker 4001/2/3 has a nominal scale length of 33 1/4 inches. So, measuring from the fretboard side of the nut, the 12th fret is at 16 5/8 from the nut; the "24th fret" is another 8 5/16 added on, or 24 15/16 from the nut, and the "36th fret" is another 4 5/32 added on, or 29 3/32 from the nut, with this last one give or take a 1/32 for manufacturing tolerances on the body and mounting of the hardware. Your bass should measure out this way to the center of the pole pieces on the bridge or treble pickup, or the center of the bridge pickup cover.

Hope this helps.

 

[cdlynch]

Thanks for all that detail! The intended purpose of this thread is for people hoping to build, or modify existing basses with Ric-ish attributes, so I focus on harmonics based location as a universal measurement for any scale length.

Also, I've noticed that at least some of the 1's and 3's I've seen, the bridge pickup seems to be mounted at an angle with the bass side closer to the bridge. I assumed that was on purpose to line up better to saddle adjustments. If that's the case it's easy enough to compensate, but I'm trying to work this stuff out before I grab a router.