Soloshchenko Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) Just picked this fella up today. Since I sold my CMI Rickenfaker about a year ago I kind of regretted it and have been lurking around here looking for a fairly cheap Rickenfaker to replace it. When this one came upon ebay (Jon identified it as a Gherson Italian copy as opposed to a Jap one in about 60 seconds I think ) and the seller lived 30 mins away I knew I had to have it. I was especially chuffed it was natural rather than sunburst and had a twin truss rod thru neck which I haven't seen much of in the murky underground world of fakers. Then it got pulled from ebay (which seems to be happening more and more these days) and I was gutted as it seemed to tick all the boxes. Then when the owner, Meatbingo, posted on the Rickenfaker thread I quickly PMed him and now here she sits in my conservatory! Meatbingo is a great bloke to deal with and the bass is exactly as he specified on his original ebay ad. Like my old CMI the condition is really excellent given the bass' age. Having put some strings on and messed about with it the neck is really straight and playability is good. The tone is lovely from the neck PU if a touch on the quiet side. Opened her up and took a few picks as well. Weirdly, those are bits of wood inside the pickup! So, planned mods should be straightforward: [b]Bridge Pickup:[/b] may use a nice old Jazz one I've got knocking about. [b]Neck Pickup[/b]: I'm in 2 minds whether to change this (I don't really like the look) or maybe even send to Wizard for them to mess about with. PM me if you are interested in buying this one. [b]Hipshot bridge[/b]: Not sure if this will fit. I know they fit Jap fakers but this bridge looks different to my eyes. [b]Bridge pickup surround.[/b]: I'm really taken by the pickguardian ones but realise I won't be able to use them with a Jazz PU. If that's the way I go it will have to be a finger slicing old school metal one. [b]TRC[/b]: Anyone got any white ones knocking about, PM me and I'll take em off your hands! Looking inside I don't think the electronics need much more than a few re solders. The orginal wiring is all very neatly done. Cheers for looking, any comments welcome. Edited July 26, 2011 by Soloshchenko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 On order: Kent Armstrong Toaster to replace the neck PU (Andy at Wizard said he couldn't do anything with the pick up dueto it being "too shallow", fair enough) Rickenbacker TRC New white scratchplate to accomodate pickup Metal surround for bridge pickup (the biggest rip of of all IMO!) Should be rocking by next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Got most of the parts. Still waiting on the bloody bridge surround. This is going to be a lovely looking thing. BTW while the Kent Armstrong is meant to be a brilliant pickup and the sound samples I've heard are great, it definitely picks up some minus points for me for being a bit too big for the standard scratchplate. It doesn't take long to adjust the scratchplate but what the hell is the point marketing a Rick replacement pickup that doesn't fit standard Rick dimensions? Daft. Some update picks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Looking very nice, im properly jealous now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Very cool apart from the Rick trc - just looks stupid on an obvious copy. A Hipshot would need suitable holes drilled, as would any replacement bridge, but wouldn't be a problem apart from that. What do you intend doing with the old 'un if you get a Hippy? I could've made you a mirrored perspex surround to fit a J pup for a few quid. Admittedly you'd probably still be waiting for that too! Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Well I suppose it's each it his own regarding the TRC, I wasn't particularly bothered whether it said Rickenbacker or not, just needed a TRC and saw this one available so snapped it up. Personally speaking I think it looks fine, I'd never try to pass off the bass as a real one anyway so it's purely aesthetic to cover the truss rods. As regards the pickup surround I might still be interested in that Jon, I'll see how the new one feels and if I don't get on with it I'll sell it and get one off you. I do prefer the look of the originals but if it gets in the way it's going off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 [quote name='Soloshchenko' post='1178402' date='Mar 27 2011, 03:52 PM']Well I suppose it's each it his own regarding the TRC, I wasn't particularly bothered whether it said Rickenbacker or not, just needed a TRC and saw this one available so snapped it up. Personally speaking I think it looks fine, I'd never try to pass off the bass as a real one anyway so it's purely aesthetic to cover the truss rods. As regards the pickup surround I might still be interested in that Jon, I'll see how the new one feels and if I don't get on with it I'll sell it and get one off you. I do prefer the look of the originals but if it gets in the way it's going off![/quote] The good thing about a perspex surround is that you lose the big hole where your thumb should go - and all that lovely sharp metal too. Less of a problem if you're still going to use a J pup but there will still be big gaps. How would you fit a J pup - just screw it into the wood like on a Jazz? Btw I have been known to make the odd Rickenfaker trc as well. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 [quote name='Bassassin' post='1180451' date='Mar 29 2011, 09:18 AM']The good thing about a perspex surround is that you lose the big hole where your thumb should go - and all that lovely sharp metal too. Less of a problem if you're still going to use a J pup but there will still be big gaps. How would you fit a J pup - just screw it into the wood like on a Jazz? Btw I have been known to make the odd Rickenfaker trc as well. J.[/quote] I don't fancy drilling into the body. One useful thing I did salvage from that bizarre modded Hondo with the precision pickup (body and neck now owned by Ash on here) was a black plastic pickup mount which I'll screw the J pickup to. It has loads of random drill holes in but will serve a purpose! Should make it more adjustable too. At the minute I'm gonna stick with the surround which has now arrived mainly due to me starting to use a pick a lot more. One of the reasons I sold the CMI was I played finger style and kept cutting my finger on the surround. Now I play with a pick it was clearly time to re join the murky world of Rickenfakery! I've also decided the original bridge is staying on. Had some strings on and it's fine, the saddles are all very stable and I like the look. Unless someone wants to sell me a Hipshot bridge VERY cheap, I may as well keep it orginal for the foreseeable future. All the parts are here! Just need me some new scratchplate screws and some little ones for the TRC and I'm ready to roll. Can't wait to get this all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Looking forward to seeing it! Good plan with the pup mount - my Matsumoku copy had a J pup mounted like this when I got it, & I subsequently used the same mounting plate to attach a little mini 'bucker sized pup to my Frankenbugger faker. Thinking about it, the pup route's probably too deep to screw to the actual wood anyway. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 (edited) Nice day in the sun. Made a fair bit of progress. Edited April 10, 2011 by Soloshchenko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 I'm a bit confused by the KA Toaster wiring. The original PU had one bare metal wire going to the volume and a red wire to the switch. This KA one has a bare wire (which I assume goes the Volume) a red one (Which I assume goes to the switch) and a white one (Which I don't know where it goes!) Any help would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Here's the KA wiring schematic thing: [url="http://www.kentarmstrong.com/schematics/KA_Wiring_Instructions.pdf"]http://www.kentarmstrong.com/schematics/KA...nstructions.pdf[/url] It says red & the bare wires are earth & the white is the signal - I'd guess on yours the red & bare go to the volume (probably stuck on the pot casing) and the white to the switch. Looking great, by the way. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 [quote name='Bassassin' post='1193998' date='Apr 9 2011, 07:22 PM']Here's the KA wiring schematic thing: [url="http://www.kentarmstrong.com/schematics/KA_Wiring_Instructions.pdf"]http://www.kentarmstrong.com/schematics/KA...nstructions.pdf[/url] It says red & the bare wires are earth & the white is the signal - I'd guess on yours the red & bare go to the volume (probably stuck on the pot casing) and the white to the switch. Looking great, by the way. J.[/quote] Cheers Jon. I'll try this and see if it works on a trial and error basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 On my KA toaster, the bare wire was the casing ground, and the red and white were the two ends of the coil. I mention this as mine was out of phase with my other pickup when wired as per the diagram, and I had to switch the red and white around to get the phase right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 [quote name='Beer of the Bass' post='1194165' date='Apr 9 2011, 11:37 PM']On my KA toaster, the bare wire was the casing ground, and the red and white were the two ends of the coil. I mention this as mine was out of phase with my other pickup when wired as per the diagram, and I had to switch the red and white around to get the phase right.[/quote] cheers. What did you attach the red and white to on yours then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 [quote name='Soloshchenko' post='1194236' date='Apr 10 2011, 02:17 AM']cheers. What did you attach the red and white to on yours then?[/quote] First I connected the bare and red wires together and connected them to earth via the pot casing and used the white as the signal lead (i.e. going to the switch on your bass). This was out of phase with my other pickup, so what worked for me was bare & white going to earth (pot casing) and the red as the signal lead. You'll hear it if the pickups are out of phase, as the two pickup sound will be thin and very quiet. So some trial and error may be necessary to get the red and white wires the right way round, but the bare wire will always be earthed to the pot casing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 [quote name='Beer of the Bass' post='1194395' date='Apr 10 2011, 10:59 AM']First I connected the bare and red wires together and connected them to earth via the pot casing and used the white as the signal lead (i.e. going to the switch on your bass). This was out of phase with my other pickup, so what worked for me was bare & white going to earth (pot casing) and the red as the signal lead. You'll hear it if the pickups are out of phase, as the two pickup sound will be thin and very quiet. So some trial and error may be necessary to get the red and white wires the right way round, but the bare wire will always be earthed to the pot casing.[/quote] Thanks very much for that mate. You may have saved me an hour of pissing about there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatbingo Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Coming along nicely! Any updates? I'm as keen to see this finished as I'm sure you are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted July 26, 2011 Author Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) Well, due to work this went on the back burner for a few months but it's now a new nut and a bit of soldering away from being complete. Here's some pics of it finally assembled: Edited July 29, 2011 by Soloshchenko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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