To understand Rickenbacker bass pickups, you have to travel back to the company’s genesis in the early 1930s. Believe it or not, it was the National resonator guitar company that spawned the whole thing. But when tensions in the company resulted in a split, the team of Adolph Rickenbacker and George D. Beauchamp (pronounced Beechum) wanted to continue their pursuit of amplified instrument technology. And in 1930, the company we now know as Rickenbacker was born.

Rickenbacker firsts

From the very beginning, the goal was to invent an electromagnetic pickup device. They knew it would open the floodgates of instrument design. They thought pickups could lead to smaller instruments, maybe even solid bodies. If so, they would all but eliminate the feedback-prone performances that plagued musicians.

The pickup was known as the Horseshoe, and it changed music as we know it. In fact, Rickenbacker’s “Frying Pan” lap steel featured the Horseshoe. And it was the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar ever!

Rickenbacker 4000-series basses

Things took off for the company. Soon, the Horseshoe single-coil pickup was in a wide variety of Rickenbacker instruments, from electric guitars to lap steels. But it was the iconic 4000-series Rickenbacker basses that rose to the top of their line.

The basses, the 4000, 4001, and 4003 models, became so popular that it wasn’t long before they outsold the company’s guitars. They are also among the most revered solid-body electric basses today, going shoulder to shoulder with Precisions, Jazz Basses, and the Music Man Stingray.

The 4000-series basses owe their fame to their unique tonality. Unlike the wooly lows of its contemporaries, RICs offered much more presence and cut. And while the Horseshoe started it all, it just one in a trio of game-changing Rickenbacker single-coils.

Tech Tips

Much like the Precision, Jazz Bass, and Stingray, Rickenbacker instruments share ties with Leo Fender. Early RIC amplifiers (which were also a first for the market) were designed with Doc Kauffman, the man responsible for many of Fender’s first designs.

The Horseshoe

It was the first Rickenbacker pickup – possibly the first pickup ever. One look at its massive, curved magnets, and you know how it got its name. Though initially designed for everything from hollowbody guitars to lap steels, this pickup is the definitive Rickenbacker bass pickup.

The Horseshoe features a typical single-coil-size bobbin, wrapped in coils of copper wire, with four adjustable pole pieces down the middle. But that bobbin resides in the middle of two massive, cobalt-infused steel magnets bent into a U shape. Not only do the magnets encompass the entire bobbin assembly, but the bass’s strings run through the middle of them as well. This completely surrounds the strings with a magnetic field.

Making its bass debut on the single-pickup Rickenbacker 4000, the punchy-sounding Horseshoe became the bedrock of the Rickenbacker bass sound.

High-Gain

For all the Horseshoe offered, it did have one drawback. Because of its location in the bridge position, it didn’t have as much low end as players needed. In response to their request for more bass, Rickenbacker whipped up another iconic single-coil, this time for the neck position. And between 1969 and 1971, they introduced the Rickenbacker High-Gain single-coil pickup.

The pickup was a massive upgrade to the 4000-series basses, offering the fat low-end players demanded while retaining the Horseshoe’s trademark cut and detail. But don’t let the name fool you. The High-Gain pickup was also a guitar pickup and is actually one of the lowest-output bass pickups Rickenbacker offers.

Construction-wise, the High-Gain model is very similar to the Horseshoe. The main difference is that the massive U magnets are gone, replaced with a still large bar magnet that sits under the bobbin. It’s incredibly similar to a P90 single-coil pickup in that way.

Besides the new magnet design, Rickenbacker High-gain pickups also featured a new, smaller housing that looks much more like other pickups on the market.

Though the High-Gain pickup wasn’t as powerful, its tone (in combination with its neck-position placement) perfectly complemented the Horseshoe. Now players (like Rush’s Geddy Lee) could dial in the perfect amount of warm, midrange-focused lows while still cutting right through the mix.

Toaster

Third on the list of iconic Rickenbacker bass pickups is the appropriately named Toaster. Getting its moniker from its toaster-looking pickup cover, this neck single-coil is definitely a departure from the High-Gain model.

If the High-Gain pickup is similar to a P90, then the Toaster is more like a Strat-style single-coil. Its plastic bobbin boasts a copper coil, just like the others. But instead of a bar magnet under the bobbin, the Toaster utilizes magnetic pole pieces down the middle of the coil, inserted under each string.

In keeping with the P90 vs. Strat-style comparison, the Toaster delivers much more detail and top-end than the midrange-focused, P90-like High-Gain pickups. Its bass frequencies are also more clear, removing some of the High-Gain’s “mud.”

Many find the Toasters to be the ultimate Rickenbacker neck pickup (for both guitar and bass). They’re the pickups that adorn both Chris Squire’s and Paul McCartney’s original and signature basses. They’re also in some of Lemmy Kilmister’s early, unmodified RICs. Though we’re pretty sure he was all about the bridge pickup grind anyway.

Want to hear the Rickenbacker Toaster and Horseshoe pickups in action? Take a listen to Squire’s immortal bass intro to Yes’s “Roundabout,” off 1972’s Fragile. It’s both a revolution in bass tone and the instrument itself.

Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker Bass pickups

There’s no question that the Rickenbacker 4000-series basses are legendary. And there’s even less question that the Horseshoe, High-Gain, and Toaster pickups are a big part of that. But the pickups are still an enigma. They’re the tools behind some of the most lauded bass tones, lines, and songs. And yet, many players still have a love/hate relationship with them.

Much of that is due to these pickups’ inherent “problems.” All three are true single-coil pickups and are plagued with nasty 60-cycle hum. They – especially vintage models – are also known to be microphonic. To some, this renders Rickenbacker pickups unusable.

So, with respect to the original designs, we set out to fix them.

The Seymour Duncan, Rickenbacker Bass neck, and bridge pickups pay homage to their ancestors’ punch, warmth, and clarity. But they are Rickenbacker humbucker pickups. They eliminate the extraneous noise, increase their output, and add mass to your bass tone. And thanks to modern materials and manufacturing, these pickups are also much more reliable.

And if you’re really ready to rock, the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop offers the Lemmy Kilmister Signature pickups. These are far from your run-of-the-mill RIC pickups. But Lemmy was far from your run-of-the-mill RIC player.

Tech Tips

Seymour Rickenbacker Bass pickups’ are larger than Rickenbacker’s stock pickups. That’s why we include custom mounting rings with each. Also, due to their design and output differences, we recommend replacing both of your bass’s pickups at the same time.

The Rickenbacker 4000-series basses belong in the pantheon of electric bass guitars. Cliff Burton and Lemmy, Geddy Lee, McCartney, and Squire all carved out their signature tones with them. And though the original pickups are still hotly debated, we love them! And we think you will too.

Let’s talk tone!

If you have any other questions about our Rickenbacker Bass humbucker pickups or Rickenbacker bass pickups in general, don’t hesitate to reach out! And don’t forget to dig into the Seymour Duncan blog! There’s a ton of in-depth information on all of our different designs, how-tos, tone demonstrations, and a lot more.