Metal bridge pickup cover 4001.

[henry5]

Yeah, I kind of like it better than the real ones, it's a bit more sleek. While I love the look of a ric with the pickup cover on, they are kinda chunky.

The early ones were thin and looked better, IMO. Plus, the way they were mounted, they did not ride up and down with the pickup when its height was adjusted, so it did not interfere, potentially, with the strings if the pickup was set low.

I bought one of the earlier ones for one of my ‘72s, but I actually prefer that the later ones move up and down with the pickup because of how they’re mounted. I like the cover to be very close to the strings, and whatever I did I couldn’t get that one in the right place, so I sold it on.

[bassduke49]

As I recall, the cover can move up and down with the pickup, or it can stand still – it all depends on how it is installed. If you put the springs on top of the "ears" of the cover, the cover will go up and down with the pickup - potentially hitting the strings if you lower the pickup too far. If you place the springs below the "ears," the cover will stay pressed up against the underside of the pickup surround; lowering or raising the pickup will have no affect on the height of the cover. If you want even more height, you can install the cover ON TOP of the surround – don't laugh, I've seen it several times.

[ram]

Paul, that is what I recall as well!=.

[squirebass]

Sheesh, I can't BELIEVE I'm having to answer this post again, for the umpteenth time!

The original bridge pickup for Rickenbacker basses was the horseshoe that we all know and love, but they tended to degauss and cause a lot of problems so Rickenbacker switched to an understring design, with a metal and then a plastic cover that sorta mimic'ed the horsey. When I first started following Rickenbacker basses in the early '70s I saw quite a number of these basses and owned a late '73 that had the metal pickup cover on it. I always assumed that the metal cover predated the plastic, because I noticed that not long after the metal pickup cover disappeared the raised letter trussrod cover made its first appearance(no more backpainted plexi covers that tended to scratch off when they weren't fastened to headstock). But, in recent years I had conversations with Jeff(RRF Consultant) and a couple of others who also got Rick basses in '73 timeframe and got PLASTIC covers on their bridge pickup. So maybe it was just orders to the Houston or Texas area, as I lived in Houston at the time. But I did see several examples at Musicville in Houston(where I bought my first bass amp) and at Parker Music in Houston, which was one of the biggest music retailers in the Houston area at the time. This would have been about 12-15 new Rick 4001 basses and ALL of them had the thinner metal pu cover. Mine looked a lot like what are pictured in this thread, my guess is that it is real.

Of course, in those days, when I was still a teenager, the accepted logic was that one took off the pickup cover(metal or plastic) and played without it.

Here's the link to the conversation I had with Mark Arnquist and John Hall about it on this forum many moons ago: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7339&p=8975&hilit=+ ... over#p8975

[jdogric12]

you can install the cover ON TOP of the surround – don't laugh, I've seen it several times.

I've seen it a lot too. I'm definitely still going to keep laughing at that though!

[jps]

you can install the cover ON TOP of the surround – don't laugh, I've seen it several times.

I've seen it a lot too. I'm definitely still going to keep laughing at that though!

Ditto. That just looks so weird, and it also makes the top of the cover way high up off the strings.

[squirebass]

+1 See that a lot myself, although not as much lately, it seems....