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The Official Rumblekat Club
- Thread starter user362432
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My word, my word. I put the Hipshot SuperTone 3-point bridge earlier today on my Rumblekat, and it brought a tremendous improvement in the sound of my bass. I'm not sure how best to describe it, so I'll just say that it's a stronger, clearer, more well-defined sound. I hadn't thought of my Rumblekat as being "muffled" before, but compared to how it sounds now, I'd go with muffled to describe how it sounded before. It now has bell-like clarity.
Installation was quick and so far seems to have worked well. Per Hipshot's suggestions (and suggestions I've seen here on TB), I added two soft cloth pads on the underside of the bridge, near each of the two bolt holes, to help level it on the surface of the bass. They recommend those felt furniture pads, but since I didn't have any that would've fit, I improvised with pieces of soft cloth.
Similar to Oddly's experience, I had one string (G) that was just barely long enough to work (because the back edge of the Hipshot bridge is about a half-inch farther back than the back of the stock bridge, as mentioned in earlier posts, so it uses up more string length). But it worked.
Here's photos of the stock bridge and the Hipshot, plus a photo that Hipshot sent me showing where the pads are installed on the underside of the bridge. It's early yet -- I've only had this thing on for about nine hours -- but so far I am a happy camper.
Installation was quick and so far seems to have worked well. Per Hipshot's suggestions (and suggestions I've seen here on TB), I added two soft cloth pads on the underside of the bridge, near each of the two bolt holes, to help level it on the surface of the bass. They recommend those felt furniture pads, but since I didn't have any that would've fit, I improvised with pieces of soft cloth.
Similar to Oddly's experience, I had one string (G) that was just barely long enough to work (because the back edge of the Hipshot bridge is about a half-inch farther back than the back of the stock bridge, as mentioned in earlier posts, so it uses up more string length). But it worked.
Here's photos of the stock bridge and the Hipshot, plus a photo that Hipshot sent me showing where the pads are installed on the underside of the bridge. It's early yet -- I've only had this thing on for about nine hours -- but so far I am a happy camper.
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Well sold my Rumblekat to a friend who fell in love with it and ordered a new one. I am going to try different pickups and see how they work. My mods will be: new Tuners, Mod Bar, Emg plug in electronics, Seymour Duncan SM-1 and SM-3 Mini Humbuckers. I am planning as I do the mods post pics what I did and how it worked out..can't wait
Sounds like a great project. Good luck! I will look forward to seeing your progress, particularly the plug-in EMG electronics. Does that mean no soldering?
Will have to solder emg wire ends on pickups, and will solder the splice on bridge ground
Awww, after all the work you did on yours, why not keep it, and tell the other guy buy a new one?
Retired, quarantined lol, I look forward to the work, and it was basically set up the same as my Gretsch.
I just picked up a Rumblekat via Craigslist and am frankly blown away! So much punch and clank available, but with that thick fundamental everywhere on the neck that seems to be a character of short-scales.
The guy I bought it from had put Rotosound flatwounds on there, and the silk was on the saddles and causing some weirdness on the E-string in particular. He included the original roundwound strings (I assume), and I LOVE the tone with them. Anyone know what strings were installed from the factory? These ones have no silks and dark-grey ball-ends.
I’m looking into a Hipshot bridge upgrade and possibly Ultralite tuners as well. Trying to decide how I feel about the gold hardware, leaning towards chrome...
I actually really like the stock pickups- the “bridge” pickup with maybe 25-50% neck rolled in is powerful and aggressive and the opposite setting is thumpy and more upright-y. I love both (the previous owner had the neck pickup adjusted noticeably lower than the bridge which helps this tone versatility).
I’m incredibly impressed overall with this little thing, which always kinda seemed like a “toy” on paper until I had one in my hands. Frankly the tone gives my Rickenbackers a run for there money! This is honeymoon time though, and I won’t be able to try it in a band mix til who knows when?!
The guy I bought it from had put Rotosound flatwounds on there, and the silk was on the saddles and causing some weirdness on the E-string in particular. He included the original roundwound strings (I assume), and I LOVE the tone with them. Anyone know what strings were installed from the factory? These ones have no silks and dark-grey ball-ends.
I’m looking into a Hipshot bridge upgrade and possibly Ultralite tuners as well. Trying to decide how I feel about the gold hardware, leaning towards chrome...
I actually really like the stock pickups- the “bridge” pickup with maybe 25-50% neck rolled in is powerful and aggressive and the opposite setting is thumpy and more upright-y. I love both (the previous owner had the neck pickup adjusted noticeably lower than the bridge which helps this tone versatility).
I’m incredibly impressed overall with this little thing, which always kinda seemed like a “toy” on paper until I had one in my hands. Frankly the tone gives my Rickenbackers a run for there money! This is honeymoon time though, and I won’t be able to try it in a band mix til who knows when?!
Congrats. I hope you continue to enjoy it. On mine, I replaced the bridge and tuners with the Hipshot gold stuff (SuperTone 3-point bridge, and the Ultra-Lite tuners, at least I think that's what they're called). The bridge made a significant difference on mine. The tone is richer and the sustain is longer. It was a nice bass to begin with and I like it even more now.
I have Hipshot bridges on most of my basses and am a big fan. The Supertone appears to essentially be their Type A bridge made for a Gibson mount. I am curious how the direct body contact affects the tone, but I haven’t heard of anyone going back because of a lack of tone (only one person on this thread who went back because the Hipshot wouldn’t give low enough action somehow). The gold hardware is starting to grow on me though- when I first picked it up a few days ago I was certain I’d be removing it and now I’m debating it. The bass is definitely a keeper though, so we’ll worth the extra investment
The Rumblekat Bass is really underated, but strings are an issue with the stock bridge. Strings either are to short or to long. Until you settle on what your going to do with the bridge hard to suggestions, myself leaning towards nickel wound rounds lately, really suggest reading all the posts in this thread first. Tons of info and lessons learned.
I have read through nearly all of it! I’ve yet to find consensus on what the stock strings are anywhere yet, and assuming these are the stock strings I really dig them (and lack of string silk is a plus on the bridge end).
I like flats and have them on half my basses, but I really like the piano tone of rounds on this bass!
@sunbeast , I think you may be the first Rumblekat owner who actually likes the factory strings!
All the reading I did on TB before I got mine, and since, has suggested that the very first thing to do is swap them out...and sadly, I don't think I recall anyone mentioning what they were.
I much prefer flats anyway, but I did play for a couple of hours with the stock strings before swapping, and really didn't like them.
All the reading I did on TB before I got mine, and since, has suggested that the very first thing to do is swap them out...and sadly, I don't think I recall anyone mentioning what they were.
I much prefer flats anyway, but I did play for a couple of hours with the stock strings before swapping, and really didn't like them.
It’s quite possible they weren’t the original strings since I got it second-hand, and also possible that they’ve shipped with different brands of strings over the years too. The guy I bought it from referred to these rounds in the case as the original strings, but hard to say without verification.
I haven’t tried any other rounds on the bass yet, so it’s quite possible I’ll find I like something else even better, it’s just nice to know what I’m working with for comparative reference.
So anyone have the original strings still that can verify that they have dark grey ball ends and no cloth wrapping?
I don't have the original strings and can't remember what they looked like. Sorry about that. Hopefully somebody else here can respond. In my case, I put TI Jazz Flats on it as soon as I brought it home.
Well for my new Rumblekat build decided to try the supertone bridge, my question if anyone knows do the bridge inserts still pull out? and if they do what did you do to address it?
Thanks!
Thanks!
By bridge inserts, do you mean the two bolts that you screw into to the bass? Or are you referring to something else?
The knurled inserts the bridge screws go into to mont the bridge have been known to pull out was wondering if that’s still an issue
