qdHazen
Junior Member
- Messages
- 81
When it comes to Rickenbacker basses, I'm in the "love 'em" camp. That being said, I know that they're weirdly engineered, prohibitively expensive, and they don't make a short-scale version for people like me who have smaller-than-average hands. So, with necessity being the mother of invention, I've created this 30" Rickenbacker/J-Bass hybrid which combines the visual cues of a Fender Jazz (specifically the Geddy Lee USA model) with the materials, electronics, and pickup placement of a Rick 4003.
The body is a Warmoth solid all-maple SS J-Bass without any pickup routs as Warmoth does not rout for the pickups I used. The Warmoth neck is maple-on-maple with white pearloid blocks and white binding which, as previously stated, takes its cues from the Geddy Lee USA.
The pickups are a Seymour Duncan SRB-1n and SRB1b placed in the relative positions where they would be located on a full-scale Rick with some modifications to the bridge pickup's mounting plate and base to allow it to accommodate the J-Bass control plate. It boasts the same wiring setup as a Rickenbacker 4003, but it includes push-pull switches to allow for series/parallel voicing for each pickup and to put them both in series with each other. The "vintage cap" bypass switch is also retained in the bridge tone push-pull.
Hipshot's KickAss 4 is the high mass bridge for this instrument and one of their Xtender detuners is also installed.
Overall, I've got a unique bass that rocks and, I feel, gets me 80-90% of the way to the Rick sounds I adore.
EDIT: I've created a collection of sound samples utilizing a large amount of the tonal capabilities that the Ricky-J has to offer so you, the listener can decide whether or not I've succeeded in creating a short scale J-Bass that sounds like a Rickenbacker. Yes, I know my technique sucks. Don't @ me.
The body is a Warmoth solid all-maple SS J-Bass without any pickup routs as Warmoth does not rout for the pickups I used. The Warmoth neck is maple-on-maple with white pearloid blocks and white binding which, as previously stated, takes its cues from the Geddy Lee USA.
The pickups are a Seymour Duncan SRB-1n and SRB1b placed in the relative positions where they would be located on a full-scale Rick with some modifications to the bridge pickup's mounting plate and base to allow it to accommodate the J-Bass control plate. It boasts the same wiring setup as a Rickenbacker 4003, but it includes push-pull switches to allow for series/parallel voicing for each pickup and to put them both in series with each other. The "vintage cap" bypass switch is also retained in the bridge tone push-pull.
Hipshot's KickAss 4 is the high mass bridge for this instrument and one of their Xtender detuners is also installed.
Overall, I've got a unique bass that rocks and, I feel, gets me 80-90% of the way to the Rick sounds I adore.
EDIT: I've created a collection of sound samples utilizing a large amount of the tonal capabilities that the Ricky-J has to offer so you, the listener can decide whether or not I've succeeded in creating a short scale J-Bass that sounds like a Rickenbacker. Yes, I know my technique sucks. Don't @ me.