Nordstrand "Nordenbocker" Vs Rickenbacker "Stock" | The Battle of Neck Pickups

[@christocr]

Nordstrand pickup definitely has more balls and definition. I'm not sure why Rickenbacker can't wind that neck pickup to be more compatible with the bridge pickup. It always seems to be the case that the bridge pickup sounds great and the neck pickup sounds anemic and castrated and muddy. I will say that part of the problem is that you can't raise the neck pickup. The way it is engineered makes it impossible without doing some mods. They fixed that problem with the 4004 model... and then discontinued it!!! I've had several Rick 4003s and some I've changed the neck pickup on, some not. But I've never been happy with the neck pickup's output or sound in stock form. However... here's what I did to the Rick I currently own: I decided to see if the real problem is that you cannot raise the pickup closer to the strings. So I took the pickguard and used a drill press on the backside to countersink four holes (without drilling completely through the pickguard) which allows the four screwheads on the pickup flange that prevent raising the pickup to go up inside those holes. Walla!!! Not only is the output level much closer to the bridge pickup, it also has MUCH more definition. And that is just by being able to raise it that extra 3/16 of an inch or so. That corrected the problem for me. Now both stock pickups sound great. It's actually the bass I get the most compliments on out of the eight that I own. But that Nordenbacker sounds great too.

[@johneland8225]

The hipshot bridge I can understand as I did that too but you should have stuck with the stock PU's.