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Let's see your basses...


Kurt L

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Been in a bass mood this weekend - got my 4003 out of layaway yesterday! I know the members here have lots of cool guitars. Now I want to see some basses...

Here's the new (2006) Rickenbacker. Got a decent deal on it but it seriously needed a set-up, which was a very educational process. (Mrs. L met the new bass a few weeks ago.)

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First thing I did was remove the giant cover over the bridge pickup...no big deal but it leaves a gaping hole. Pickguardian makes a less obtrusive cover that doesn't block access to the strings. I'll definitely be ordering one!

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Restrung it with GHS Boomers (Roundwound 40-95) just because I had a set around the house. Definitely wanted roundwounds on this one...

Made a few truss rod tweaks... I saw on the Ric forum that even RIC's CEO recommends setting the neck dead straight. This one had a lot of relief so I dialed that back some, have it set with just a tiny amount of relief now.

Check out the dual truss rods! It's my first time tweaking something like that... I set one using the E-string as a reference and used the G string for the other. Let the middle take care of itself, I guess...

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More fodder for the "Things Kurt didn't know" file... Rick bass bridges just plop into a little channel between the string anchor and the mute assembly. Also pops right out. Kind of awkward to make adjustments with it in place - I ended up taking it in and out a few times while tweaking intonation. It's about 95% there - I need to trim one spring to get a little more travel for the G saddle. The bridge also has a stray rattle on the G. May try a piece of foam under there for fun...

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Here's how it looks now... the setup's not perfect but it's sooooo much better than it was. I got it to the point where playing it is fun and even if I decide to take it to a pro later, it's perfectly usable now.

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Since I already had the workbench set up, I decided to have a go at tweaking my old Peavey bass as well. It's a great instrument, a Unity series Dyna-Bass. Previous owner ripped out all the Peavey electronics and put in an EMG P-andJ set. Just a battery to run them, a volume pot for each pickup and a master tone pot. There are unused holes from some of the Peavey controls so I just cover them with tape from inside.

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I really like this bass. Like the Ric, it's neck-through... but the contoured neck joint is way more comfortable. The whole instrument is comfortable. Has a great ebony board, too.

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I have it strung with flatwounds. Tweaked the truss rod, took the bridge apart to clean and oil all the parts, then reassembled the bridge, set the action, radius and intonation. It's good to go as well.

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So screw the Olympics. I spent 5-6 hours tweaking basses this weekend and I'm playing bass tonight. Badly! (But still having fun.)

Let's see more basses...

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Congrats on the Rick, I like the Peavey Dyna-Bass, too! I've got an old Peavey T-40 which I love, but is a bit heavy. I call it my "Backenwrecker". :lol: I'll try to get photos of it once I get a warm day outdoors.

Edited to add: For your consideration, Hipshot makes a replacement bridge for Rick basses that is a LOT more solid (no affiliation):

http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=215

Rick 4001 and 4003 basses from the early '80's had a extra pair of mounting screws, located behind the string anchoring points, in their bridges. Why they quit doing that is beyond me, because one complaint about these bridges seems to be that the far unanchored end of the bridge tends to 'lift off' of the bass top with string tension.

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1985 or so Guild Pilot fretless.

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1994 Guild Pilot Pro (one of the very last Westerly, RI Pilots made):

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Gretsch 2011 Electromatic hollowbody bass (on consignment):

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2003 G&L ASAT Semihollow fretless (on consignment):

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I have a 1986 G&L Lynx and an Indonesian Squier Jazz fretless w/Bartolinis and Babicz bridge, but no pics available tonite.

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Congrats on getting your Ric home, Kurt. Hear ya on the Ric bass bridges. They aren't very well thought out, but some would argue they are essential to that "4003 sound." I would be one of those people, however...

I've installed the Hipshot Ric Bridge on a few 4003s and there is no contesting (to my ears, anyway) that it is a capital improvement in functionality, intonation and TONE. The signature Ric sound remains the same, only there's MORE of that sound. Solid, easily to intonate/set action, and is a non-invasive modification. You can even set the side-to-side string spacing if you really want to get obsessive, LOL!

Love the Ric bass sound. So many great records have been done with THAT tone. 5RK400C-A.jpg

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Here is my early 1980's Yamaha BBS400. Three piece mahogany body, one piece maple neck. Rosewood board. Don't know what pups are in it, they are original. But the do sound sweet.

It sounds, and plays, like a great P-bass. Very warm sounding, with a sweet vintage touch.

The greatest thing about it... I paid about 70 bucks for it! And it is as sweet to play as a 1400 $ Fender that we have at the rehersal place. That one has more sound options, with an active cirquit option etc. But when that Fender is set to sound vintage, it sounds pretty damn similiar to my 70$ BBS400. Makes me laugh every time.

Michael Anthony and Billy Shean knew what they were doing when they played Yamaha BB basses in the 80's. These are very fine instruments, and a huge bang for the buck. They look cool too.

Yamaha-BB400S-bas.jpg

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Armitage_BC-Rich-Eagle-Bass.jpg

My late '70s USA B.C. Rich Eagle bass... it's been all over.

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A custom one-off five string F-Bass

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A custom one-off six string F-Bass

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I had a Kramer with the metal neck, but it was too heavy and neck heavy, so I had a local luthier copy it in wood.

Armitage_BCR_Beast_Bass.jpg

An import B.C. Rich Beast bass, it was a gift.

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Diggin' it.. forwarding this thread to all my bass friends.. at least those who can read :)

Seriously great examples of basses I did not know existed. Great thread to learn from.

For those hanging out near the bottom of the sea, I found this Kramer Forum on Craig's for $100.. it languished for two weeks in limbo before I mercifully took it home. The seller was absolutely freaked out about meeting someone over the internet. Would not let me come to his house, instead I met him a few blocks away in a grocery store parking lot.. in a near empty lot, he parked four stalls away.. hehehe.. could be why it took so long to sell.. that, and it has the deepest ding I've ever seen on a guitar.

Under the little Sharks sticker is a chasm - a little over a half inch deep taken out in one chunk. He told me the sticker he had on it (one of those sun - moon faces) was covering a nice biff, but I guess the magnitude never really registered. At any rate, one the best deals I've ever had come my way... love the pups in the middle position.. neck is actually on the fat side.. cool yellowing of what was once a white bass.. just an okay player, but sounds great. But, then again, I'm a guitar player, what do I know about bass?

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Here are file photos of my two. The Fender now has a tort guard and surely I can get a better photo of the Cruise than this one from the seller:

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If the weather is any better this weekend I'll try to get some updated pics. The P looks much better (IMO) with the tort guard!

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Great stuff in here!

Love that koa Eagle... those Standards... and got a kick out of the pbass with Gibson minibucker :). I have a couple of old EBs with those.

My favorite and most-used players are a '79 Mockingbird, '76 Thunderbird (with its sidewinder pickups rewired in parallel), '73 Triumph (aka Les Paul Recording), and a '73 Ric 4001.

These pics show 'em, as well as some of the others. I tend to let go of stuff that I'm not playing regularly, and so some of these have moved on - like my old Stingray and '78 Ric (owned those ~25 years!), the Ampeg scroll, EB-0, Guild JS-II w/Darkstars, Ovation Magnum-1...

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Guess I'm kind of an old Roland freak! I enjoy restoring old synths, efx, electro-mechanical stuff (especially tape echos)... so I suppose that this represents my strings and synth worlds colliding!

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These are my coursed-stringers - '95 Ric s8, '80 B12S, and '83-ish Bich:

bucket.com/user/0chromium0/media/forums/hamer/200aa058-dcab-4f5e-afea-cd67f5463242.jpg.html'>200aa058-dcab-4f5e-afea-cd67f5463242.jpg

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