And suddenly my Ric is broken, help me please!!

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:07 am

Today I made pictures of my Ric 4001 '77. I put the pickup cover over my bridge pickup as the way I always do and is written in the PDF file which is available from the rickenbacker site.

Now suddenly the bridgepickup doesn't do anything anymore. No matter in which output my jack is in.
The neckpickup works fine when I put the jack in the normal output
But it doesn't work when you put the jack in the ric-o-sound output. It only works when you put the jack half in the ric-o-sound output.

I already checked the inside and everything looked ok. (cables and stuff).

Could someone help me? Any advice?
I'm desperate!

Please accept my apologies for my horrible English..

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:13 am

Have you checked the wires under the pickup? Make sure you didn't disconnect a wire from the pickup. You might have to you resolder the wire. Also check the connections to the switch and the pots.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:47 am

When trouble shooting a problem, always undo the last change first. You may have grounded a live wire with the screws, or as Joey said, caused a wire to disconnect

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:48 am

As far as I can see no wires are disconnected. Is there anyhow a chance when I resolder them, that the problem will be solved?

Here is a unclear picture of the outputs, for what it's worth
http://www.basgitaarles.nl/jack.jpg

fran4001 · Post by **fran4001** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:22 am

My guess is a problem at the bottom of the pickup. Unstring her, pull the treble pickup, plug into a live amp. Tap gently on the polepieces with a metal object while wiggling the wires. Might get something intermittent there. Unless you pulled on the wires pretty hard during your mod, you shouldn't have disrupted anything in the control cavity. Good luck!

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:31 am

Don't worry about your English - mine stinks as well.
If you plug a mono jack into the Rick-O-Sound socket, you will only get the treble pickup, so, nothing odd there.
As for the treble pickup proper having gone silent, the cause therefor is anyone's guess. You say you re-placed the handrest on your bass. Maybe a wire somewhere got disconnected or broken in the process. Check it out and let us know.
Sorry, but I just noticed that you have provided a picture of the jacksockets on your Rick. Let me check it out and I'll get back to you.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:35 am

Sergio, your english grammar and spelling are better than most of the native english speakers here.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:36 am

Uh-oh! Sorry, Philip, but your photo is much too large to be of any help.
I'd follow Fran's advice, or use an ohm meter on the pickup to check if it's working.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:42 am

Hi Ted. Well, thank you. However, I maintain that my command over the English language is rather limited. Maybe the fact that I always make sure that my sentences and phrases are not too elaborated helps make my shortcomings in that department less obvious... Thanks anyway. How's the work on Paul Boyer's 4001 coming along?

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:57 am

Very nicely, thank you!

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:31 pm

I made a picture of the bridge pickup. Maybe you guys see something odd. Its almost midnight here, so i'll try some advices tomorrow. Thanks!

http://www.basgitaarles.nl/be1.jpg
http://www.basgitaarles.nl/be2.jpg

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:40 pm

Nothing looks funky to me on that pickup. Maybe there is a short somewhere? Bare leads touching somewhere under the p.u. mount plate or in the selector switch area?

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:17 pm

maybe a cold solder joint ...

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:25 pm

Is that the name of a band, a funny cigarette, or a bar?

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 1:14 am

Solved the problem!

One of the wires from the bridge pickup wasn't ok.. It wasn't broken, just damaged I think, anyway problem fixed. Thanks Sérgio and the rest of people here!