Help for a dead 4004 humbucker?

heinpete · Post by **heinpete** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:09 am

I have such a dead PU, with one blue wire off he base-plate (which reads "Rickenbacker"on it). However none of the other 3 contacts give some impedance. The base plate earth is soldered to some inner iron piece. The black plastic cover can not be removed, looks like completely glues to the coils, hence no access to the coil wires. How should I proceed? Any hint is highly appreciated. Maybe this topic was raised earlier?

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:00 am

These pickups are potted. There is no repair AFAIK.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:06 am

Here is part of an email letter I found in my archives from RIC cust. service concerning a pickup that was misbuilt with the magnets reversed.
"...Sorry, they aren't repairable but this can easily be solved by..."

Note the earlier version of the HBs were not potted. I don't know when the change was made. Possibly Sérgio knows.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:36 am

I took one of them apart ... it took a hammer and chisel ... those things are glued together with epoxy ...

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:25 am

Did I hear someone call my name? I thought so. Seriously, let me go and check a ruined Rick humbucker I keep for times like this.

I'll be right back.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:36 am

Okay. Peter, there's still a chance - however small - that your humbucker can be brought back to life. I'm assuming it to be identical to mine, i.e. on its bottom there are four terminals numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, to which four conductors are (were) soldered. Try and solder the blue wire back to its terminal and see what happens. If nothing happens, it can not be repaired.

markbass99 · Post by **markbass99** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:45 pm

If you can't get that pickup working Pete you could **** PIMP THAT RIDE! ****

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:50 pm

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19521-HB1%20Wiring.pdf

RIC Humbucker wiring diagram.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:36 pm

somebody should try 4003 4 pole high gains on a 4004 ... I did it on a 5 string but the poles were too narrow ...

bobcat · Post by **bobcat** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:39 pm

I still want a soundclip of that toaster'd 4004!

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:13 pm

"I still want a soundclip of that toaster'd 4004!"

I'll second that request!

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:52 pm

I've played that bass. It does sound great with toasters.

markbass99 · Post by **markbass99** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:21 pm

I thought about putting a high gain in the bridge position so it would be like a 4001 but decided against it because it sounds so damn good the way it is. If I knew how to do sound clips I would do it but I just learned how to do pictures so maybe in the near future. The chromes that are seen in the headstock picture have been changed out for S.I.T silencers, I wanted to experiment and I really like them. They're pressure wound so they don't grab your fingers as bad as ground wounds do, but you still get the smoothness of flats with the zing of rounds.

jps · Post by **jps** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:29 pm

"I still want a soundclip of that toaster'd 4004!"

Funny you should ask. I have only one clip, one that is a very rough demo of a tune I had put on the back burner. It is the bass in question with TI Jazz Flats played fingerstyle running through the preamp section of my Ampeg PB250 with the EQ flat and the Ultra Lo engaged. Besides the bass there is guitar and Alesis drum machine on it.

bobcat · Post by **bobcat** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:55 pm

POST!!!!

Are the toasters in it the 12K reissues or the newer, 7.4K ones, or whatever they are these days?