[Bass of the Week] The Rickenderman

See the business listing for this bass builder here

This week’s bass guitar of the week has influences from a Rickenbacker 4005, Fender, and Music Man.

Bass builder Pierre-Gilles writes:

Except some small pieces of walnut here and there, it’s a full-maple instrument. The neck is glued through a twin-chamber body, there’s a fanned fret fingerboard and Labella FW strings (hard to find!), it’s full passive with three Delano pups.

Controls : 

– volume neck with a J/JP/P selector

– volume bridge with a parallel/single/series selector

– tone styler Stellartone Duo 6

Here was one of my problems : considering that the scale is not the same from a string to the other, how to respect the right harmonic position of each pup AND to catch each string ?

• the J is located at 3/4 of the scale : I’ve chosen a bridge unit, so that the string-spacing stays ok in the neck position when tilted a little bit.
• the P is located at 5/6 of the scale : translating a little bit the two coils gives the change.
• the soapbar is located at 9/10 of the scale : rather than asking for an expensive Delano custom pup, I’ve chosen a five string humbucker with blades instead of individuals magnets, so that its large sensing area is able to cover each string, specially the E when the pup is switched in single coil.

What about the tones ? Among the 15 combinations, my favorite ones are :

a) vintage tones :

• J + P (tone on 3) gives a sweet mellow sound very rich in harmonics, I’ve never heard it before on any bass I’ve played.
• P alone (tone on 3) gives a real old Pbass sound, but more aggressive.
• J + soapbar in single mode (tone on 4) : I was surprising not to get something like a Jazz Bass, but in fact it sounds rather like a 4003 !

b) modern tones :

• soapbar alone in parallel mode gives a well-defined tone, but there’s much treble for me, that can be controled thanks to the first position of the tone styler.
• soapbar alone in series mode : nothing else but a massive destruction weapon in every tone positions !

Let’s sum up : Rickenbacker 4005 shape inspiration, Fender main pickups combination, Musicman banana plate and inspired-bridge pup : may I call this bass “my Rickenderman?” 😉

Yes, you certainly may call this the Rickenderman. 🙂 Well done!

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