Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Setup, repair and restoration of Rickenbacker Instruments

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strummersteve
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Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by strummersteve »

I have an issue with my RIC 430 bridge pickup sounding very thin. I had a similar issue with my 480 a while back and remember that there was a simple bypass that fixed the issue. Can someone either post or send a schematic showing the exact fix. My 430 has replacement hi gains and there is nothing wrong with the pickup itself. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Steve
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jps
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by jps »

If you have the .0047 µF cap in line with the bridge pickup (it will be the smallest of the three caps in the harness, assuming there are three cap in it, the tone caps will the same physical size) just solder a piece of wire across that cap and it will be bypassed, very simple.
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strummersteve
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by strummersteve »

jps wrote:If you have the .0047 µF cap in line with the bridge pickup (it will be the smallest of the three caps in the harness, assuming there are three cap in it, the tone caps will the same physical size) just solder a piece of wire across that cap and it will be bypassed, very simple.
After looking at the attached image below, which cap needs to be bypassed? I will have someone that I trust do the work as I am sight impaired and can no longer do this myself. The picture was taken with the harness flipped over and the treble volume is on the bottom right and the treble tone is on the top right (next to the imput jack). Again all help is greatly appreciated.

Steve
RIC 430 Wiring.jpg
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jps
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by jps »

The small one in the center of your photograph. Just have someone solder a piece of wire across it on the leads at each end of the cap, itself.

There are other mods that have been done to the harness; the tone caps are not original AFAIK, and there is another cap across the bridge volume control to bypass the highs when it is turned down, a common trick to keep the brightness while turning the volume down.
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aceonbass
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by aceonbass »

I don't know if those larger tone caps are original, but I've seen them once before in a 70's 4001. The big Sprague Orange Drop cap should be replaced by a piece of straight wire before bypassing the smaller Sprague cap, since I suspect it could be a bigger part of the problem. You might like the effect that the smaller bass cut cap has on the bridge pickup. If you don't, then you could always bypass it.
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strummersteve
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by strummersteve »

Thanks Jeff & Dane. I have someone in my area ( S. Florida) who takes direction very well. What would happen if i had her bypass the larger orange .0047 µF cap as well?
Steve
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by aceonbass »

The larger orange cap needs to first. Then you can evaluate the smaller orange caps tonal characteristics to see if you like it.
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jps
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by jps »

What Dane said. From looking at it more carefully, the large, orange cap is going from one volume control to the other acting as a bass cut for the bridge pickup on its way to the output jack. Replace that cap with a piece of wire; this ties the outputs of the two volume controls together (the top lugs as shown in the schematic) as they are supposed to be according to the RIC schematic below.

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19501.pdf

Evaluate the sound of the guitar before proceeding to bypass the small capacitor, which you may want to do eventually, but as it is right now the guitar will not sound like it it supposed to.
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strummersteve
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by strummersteve »

Thanks again for the assist. It is greatly appreciated.
Steve
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Re: Rickenbacker 430 .0047 cap bypass

Post by radapaw »

for a 4001, but.... http://i.imgur.com/E7SJ1TK.png
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