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This week’s Bass of the Week was built by Mike Rumpza who successfully attempted to combine the best of a Rickenbacker with an Explorer shape.
Mike writes:
The heart of a Rickenbacker, the panache of an Explorer: I have made a few of my own electric guitars, starting back in my high school days, which is a bit odd seeing that I am a bass player.
I purchased my first Rickenbacker 4001 in 1975 and have always loved its feel and tone, and never thought that I could top it, especially considering that my guitar making results were a bit mixed. But I got the bug and decided to give it a try.
My aim was to make a bass that had the feel and sound of the Ric, but corrected a few of its flaws (the muddy low end, and intonation adjustment issues).
I have always liked the look of John Entwistle’s Explorer bass and thus was born the “Rixplorer” I obtained the custom-built through-body neck from Doug Darling of Soulmate guitars; I did the rest of the work myself, with some wood working help from my dad.
I carefully measured the dimensions of the Rickenbacker neck and Doug did a great job of producing a slim, narrow standard scale neck using maple with wenge accent strips and a pau ferro fingerboard.
The body is made of limba, also known as “korina”, which is the wood Gibson used on their explorers.
I finished it with a slight amber/yellow tinted lacquer to replicate the look of an aged finish.
The hardware and electronics are Rickenbacker replacement parts.
I used the Hipshot Ric replacement bridge and added a wenge block shaped to mimic the Ric bridge’s mute compartment which I use as a wrist rest.
The pickups are Bartolini Ric replacements.
The electronics are Rickenbacker parts (passive).
To keep the Explorer design of 3 knobs I limited it to one volume and 2 tone controls, and added a toggle switch to optionally bypass the Rickenbacker-like “extra” capacitor on the treble pickup.
I also include a drop-D tuning peg for some extra bottom.
The tone is absolutely fantastic. Rich and full for the entire range with the best sustain I have ever experienced (I actually have to be careful to not let notes ring too long).
I have yet to bring this instrument into a new situation and not be greeted with a comment like “that is the best bass sound I have ever heard!”
Fantastic melding of the two styles, Mike. Well done!
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Any chance we could get a sound sample? Sick looks, though. Wish I knew a damn thing about wood work!
very nice!
Lovely bit of work and a novel idea.
very nice bass I have a Rickenbacker 1986 midnite shadow edition and I find the sound so so and I absolutely find the string spacing too tight for my taste definitely an instrument best played with a pick.
Very nice, by far one of my favorite Basses of the Week to date. I have built one explorer styled bass already and have been thinking of putting something together with Rickenbacker parts.
This is probably the best custom bass I’ve come across. Bartolini Pickups on this bass I bet sound wonderful. I had a 4003 for short time and couldn’t get used to the pickup cover. Lakland is also a pioneer in messing two classic basses to make the 44-02 and 55-02 bases. There is market for cross over concepts like this.
Wow that is amazing! I was hoping to click on the pic and see a price since i thought this was a production bass. Wonderful for you to have this, stinks for me!
Great job… I’m a long-time Rick player as well. I have a 74 4001 that I bought new and have had a set of Bartolini’s in it since 79. They add that little extra solid bottom with all the Rick punch and treble. No neck like em. It’s an incredible bass to play. Good job on the new one.