Rickenbacker 4003 Neck Pickup Replacement?

[Seizurema]

I have a 4003 and I hate it's boring, bland and unnaturally quiet neck pickup.

What do you guys think are some cool possibilities that could fit in there ?

I normally just use the bridge pickup and enjoy it for its thwacky, punchy, growly midsy chunk sound. Having something pretty heavy/roaring (and not nearly inaudible) and hopefully contrasting in the neck slot would be helpful.

I also play lots of chordal classically shoegazey stuff so I don't think a straight up mudbucker or something would be good there.

Ideas ?

[Mudfuzz]

I have a 4003 and I hate it's boring, bland and unnaturally quiet neck pickup.

What do you guys think are some cool possibilities that could fit in there ?

I normally just use the bridge pickup and enjoy it for its thwacky, punchy, growly midsy chunk sound. Having something pretty heavy/roaring (and not nearly inaudible) and hopefully contrasting in the neck slot would be helpful.

I also play lots of chordal classically shoegazey stuff so I don't think a straight up mudbucker or something would be good there.

Ideas ?

personally I like the neck pickup but.. why not a Ric bucker like what Lemmy uses in his sig, it should pop right in. Actually I do think about doing this with my 4003 to see it if it would work a little better with the BEAD tuning I have it in, plus I have two 4001s so It's not Ilike I couldn't get the "normal" neck pickup sound anyway
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/PICKUP ... p_506.html


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY_iJw_M3lA[/youtube]

[Achtane]

The HB1 is boring to me
It pairs great with a mudbucker, but on its own...bleh. It's not very distinctive, at least not through my setup. Pretty much just "a pickup".
I'm eventually gonna pair a '51 P style neck pickup with the normal Ric bridge one, but I dunno what it'd sound like with both on.

[Mudfuzz]

I thought you liked it…
well it is a big rout in those basses actually.. as long as the pickup is not really tall you could put something else in without altering anything but the guard I guess...

[Achtane]

I realized that it's not really my thing after the honeymoon period was over.
I almost feel guilty about not liking it.
twss

[tuffteef]

also not a fan of the rick neck pickup its a tad on the weak side sounds okay with some boost

i was thinking of maybe the tv jones route

[whiskey_face]

lace makes bass pickups. . .

im wanting to try a set so bad

[Achtane]

I realized that it's not really my thing after the honeymoon period was over.
I almost feel guilty about not liking it.
twss

So I was looking up info about the HB1, preparing to sell it, and came across a forum post about low volume with this pickup.
Turns out the official Rickenbacker wiring label is wrong, and with the wires in humbucking mode they're supposed to read 14kohms, but if you use their guide you'll have it set up in single coil mode and it'll read 7k. Mine reads 7k.
So I'll correct my post.
As a single coil, the HB1 sounds like crap.
I'll install it in humbucking mode soon and see if it still sucks then.
Even if it blows on bass I might end up using it in a VI-ish side project where huge low end isn't quite as high a priority...

[bigchiefbc]

I realized that it's not really my thing after the honeymoon period was over.
I almost feel guilty about not liking it.
twss

So I was looking up info about the HB1, preparing to sell it, and came across a forum post about low volume with this pickup.
Turns out the official Rickenbacker wiring label is wrong, and with the wires in humbucking mode they're supposed to read 14kohms, but if you use their guide you'll have it set up in single coil mode and it'll read 7k. Mine reads 7k.
So I'll correct my post.
As a single coil, the HB1 sounds like crap.
I'll install it in humbucking mode soon and see if it still sucks then.
Even if it blows on bass I might end up using it in a VI-ish side project where huge low end isn't quite as high a priority...

Ooh, please let me know how this goes, because I've often though about swapping the neck on my 4001 to an HB1, to add some more beef.

[Achtane]

I realized that it's not really my thing after the honeymoon period was over.
I almost feel guilty about not liking it.
twss

So I was looking up info about the HB1, preparing to sell it, and came across a forum post about low volume with this pickup.
Turns out the official Rickenbacker wiring label is wrong, and with the wires in humbucking mode they're supposed to read 14kohms, but if you use their guide you'll have it set up in single coil mode and it'll read 7k. Mine reads 7k.
So I'll correct my post.
As a single coil, the HB1 sounds like crap.
I'll install it in humbucking mode soon and see if it still sucks then.
Even if it blows on bass I might end up using it in a VI-ish side project where huge low end isn't quite as high a priority...

Ooh, please let me know how this goes, because I've often though about swapping the neck on my 4001 to an HB1, to add some more beef.

It turns out that one of the coils was dead from the beginning, and the warranty on this pickup is already gone. Plus, by design, it isn't meant to be opened and have parts replaced...so I heat-gunned the pickup just enough to peel the rubber covering the lead connections away and saw that both of the little copper leads coming from one coil were loose. I devised a genius wiring scheme and it almost worked, but when I went to resolder one of the leads, it snapped back where the two coils meet. So that's that, oh well. I'd rather have no pickup than the way it sounded as a single coil. Supposedly, when working, it sounds like a fatter, warmer version of the hi-gain, so take that as you will
There's so much special resin and shit holding the pickup together that to me it isn't worth the effort required to remove it for the possibility of having a working HB1. It's like the inside of a Klon.

The pickup wire is surprisingly fragile...I wasn't even pulling it or anything, it was just being gently pushed to one side when it broke.