The Last Bass Outpost

To me, fretboard material is the single most important variable in a bass's sound. More than the old ash vs. alder debate. For many years I was big on 70's maple board P's, but now I prefer rosewood boards for the tone. I still like the feel of the lacquered fretboard, but with the rosewood board I can get the sound I hear in my head when I think classic Fender P.

George Harisson had a Rosewood Telecaster; not walnut.

Absolutely right. I had a blond moment there.

There's been a slightly battered jetglo 4000 up recently too.  I don't think it sold yet:

The overly-optimistic $2,200 BIN price and the 97.2% feedback didn't help selling it... and either the TRC or the pickguard aren't original. But a 4000 does looks killer in Jetglo.

And Dave, a 4000 reissue could be great, especially if they make it with an active circuit with bass boost (4000A?)

I also like the ES125-T and the ES125-TD behind it:

Wow! Drop dead gorgeous. I love the Gibson-ish color theme.

With Arnquist's mod the bridge posts make direct contact with the body to transfer string vibrations, like in any other bass I know. With a stock Ric unit, the bridge posts touch the cast tailpiece, which has a clearance from the body. The tailpiece absorbs some of the string's energy. That's why some Ric owners stack washers on the three anchoring bolts between the tailpiece underside and the body, directly under the bridge chassis, so that there's metal-to-metal contact all the way from the bridge saddle down to the body. This very simple trick gives slightly longer sustain and better E string respose (it's also supposed to stop tail lift). The Arnquist mod is a more elegant and professional way of doing this, and has the added bonus of supporting the bridge chassis so that it doesn't tilt back and affect intonation. It's still a floating bridge, held in place by string tension only, and if you remove the strings, it falls off.

Here's a brilliant new (to me) Mark Arnquist bridge mod. He has kindly agreed to share the pics here.

Arnquist's description:

"As the saddle chassis tilts away from the neck ... by drilling the former screw alignment points all the way though the base.. this makes the base a holder for the screws.

Changing those screws out from 3/4" to one inch hex screws  gives you all the adjustment you need.
The hex screws under the bridge in the cavity are used for the saddle chassis feet to sit in.

After the re-assembly of the bridge ..it appears as stock, the chassis remains upright and has plenty of up and down height variation.

By having a good anchor and being held upright you also get better sustain."

1. Post holes drilled through:



2. Bridge feet sit inside hex screws:



3. Feet anchors installed under bridge base:



4. Saddle chassis feet indents drilled out:



5.



6. bridge feet extend through base now:



7. Base becomes support for chassis:



8. Modded bridge re-assembled:

I am even thinking about getting a Gretsch 6072 and put toaster's in it. Both basses are maple. And what I see the neck pickup could be more or less at the same position as on a 4005.

I wouldn't do that, Bert. If the reissue pickups are anything like the vintage SuperTron's (My Gretsch is a '64), they are great pickups. Thick, fat tone, very powerful (almost too much). I wouldn't change that pickup, it's perfect for the bass.



By the way, Bert, I love the superimposed images... You can clearly see why the 4005's top horn is extended. The Gretsch, with its symmetrical horns and long scale neck, is a neck-diver, unless you do something about it. So I relocated the strap button to the heel and now it balances very well (with a wide strap).

Wouldn't it be cool if RIC did a limited run of MMT replicas? Basically a custom paint job on non-S c64's. How about 70 basses for McCartney's 70th birthday, in 2012? Maybe get him to sign them... with a spray can