- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
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Rickenbackers
- Thread starter Ric5
- Start date
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
It looks like somebody tried to turn an early style P-Bass superficially into a Rick 4001.
I really like this! Sort of a best of both worlds. The downside would be that it would be expensive to produce, you would knacker the resale of the donor P bass, and you end up with unfilled pickguard screw holes. It also looks like the pickups are a shade too close together to be in proper Rick locations?
Somebody could take this idea a lot further and produce a bass that has the Rickenbacker tones but delivered in a Fender platform. No need to violate any RIC trademarks either. Copyists these days try and ape the outline of the 4000 family, but don't really shoot for copying the tone. All the risk and very little of the reward; or so I've personally found anyway.
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
I admire your tenacity for taking Rickenbacker basses and making them work for you. I agree that the cover isn't ideal and, from looking at your body of work, they don't appear to work for you either. Rather than falling for the usual adage of "if you can't play a stock Rickenbacker then play a different bass", you actually deal with the various issues head on. Good work!
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Thanks ... a bass is a tool and it has to function for the operator ...
Another famous guy who modded his Ricks ... Dave Meros from Spock's Beard
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Here's one for you ... A p-bass with 4004cii5 pickups in it.
With a slimmer neck and narrower bridge those pickups can work ... This was tricky wood working because the Rickenbacker pickups are controlled by screws on the back side of the bass. but now it has more traditional pickups.
With a slimmer neck and narrower bridge those pickups can work ... This was tricky wood working because the Rickenbacker pickups are controlled by screws on the back side of the bass. but now it has more traditional pickups.
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I've spoken to Dave via Facebook (I cyber door-stepped him) and he is a lovely guy to speak to. He is a member of the Rickenfakers page on there. I contacted him after I saw a video of him using a modified OLP Stingray bass to get impressively Rickenbacker-esque tones, on a live clip of SB playing 'Something Very Strange'. I wanted to know what pickups he was using, but he gave me all sorts of useful info. He also sent me photos of a bass he built himself, with a Rickenbackeroid body paired with a Fender-style neck, and kitted out with his usual four pickup configuration. From memory his not-Ricks were Ed Roman creations, and he had one white and one black bass. He sold one of his Spock's-era Ricks almost as a goof to raise money for an album, from memory, and this is where the modified OLP came to the fore.
All of this is just making me want to buy one of these and keep the stock flats on:
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ya ... VVT works great on the 4004 basses ... but a toggle and stacked pots with 2 vol and 2 tone controls is even better ...
Also you can put in toaster or high gain single coils in that bass ...
If you keep the humbuckers in then use 500k ohm pots in it ... Rickenbacker puts either 250 or 330 pots in ...
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ya that bass has gone through about a dozen different changes ...
It is a fenderbird with a little Rickenbacker vibe and a little Lemmy vibe as well
