New, to me, 1980 Ric 4001 in Azure

[mysterymachinestudio]

Hi all-

I just grabbed this 1980 AZ 4001 off CL locally and I was curious if I could get a few suggestions. This is my first Ric bass after lusting after one for many, many years. I'm a huge McCartney fan and I run a small studio and I just know this will get used plenty.

It's got a few issues I'm curious if I could get some feedback on.

1) The neck pup got pulled some time ago and the pickguard was replaced with a single pup version. I'd like to track down a replacement neck pickup and replace the guard with something that jives with the Azure blue. Any suggestions on a good place to get the pickup and the guard? Any suggestions for a proper color for the guard? The one on there right now looks a little off to me, but maybe I'm just crazy.

2) The front of the headstock got a good whack at some point and someone did a gloppy job of touch up with the correct color paint. I was curious if it's still possible to get the correct color paint for touch up? It's not a big deal, but it'd be a nice touch.

3) Is the bridge mute worth using. The old foam on this one is dead, but if it's functional, it's something I'd look to get a replacement for.

4) Next, the tuners seems to work backwards, which is to say, I have to turn the keys in the opposite direction to get them to tune up the pitch of the string. Do you guys think when they did the headstock painting they might have installed the tuners backwards or something?

5) Lastly, I'm curious what strings folks like on these. It's a bright sound, so I'm thinking flats might be a nice compliment to mellow things out a bit?

Otherwise, it feels great and it's a beautiful looking instrument. There's something about Ric aesthetics that just get me every time.

Any feedback is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Lee

[antipodean]

Hi Lee,

Congrats on the very nice bass, and a belated welcome. As regards your questions:

1) A pickup can be obtained from the RIC boutique. I'd go for a toaster as it will better match the treble pickup - the new higains are wound way hotter than they were back in '80. You'll need a new harness, which can also be obtained from the RIC boutique. As for pickguards, I'd recommend Pickguardian. Tony will be able to match your specs exactly.

2) The appropriate colour is probably not available over the counter. Azureglo also varied from year to year, so you would need to mix up a formula yourself. This would be beyond me, but you may be up to it.

3) I use the mute sparingly, but I have used it on occasion - it's cool for a lot of retro genres. Replacement pads can be obtained from (you guessed it) the RIC boutique.

4) The old Kluson tuners work in reverse - there is no issue with your bass. It's a bit of a jolt at first but you get used to it pretty quickly. Some old Fenders also have reverse tuners.

5) I've been using Thomastik Infeld Jazz flats and love their retro tone. They are light gauge and low tension, which some find difficult. If you tend to attack the strings with gusto, you may need to look elsewhere - D'addario Chromes may suit as they come in a number of gauges.

I hope you enjoy your fabulous 4001!

[jps]

Welcome, Lee!

I'll answer some of your questions, the finishing questions will no doubt be answered by those more experienced in that area.

Have you pulled off the pickguard, yet, to have a look under the hood? You can buy a new hi-gain pickup from any good RIC dealer (I suggest you call Chris Clayton at Pick Of The Ricks in Lindenwold, NJ), but if it were my bass I would get a new scatterwound toaster pickup from the same source for the neck pickup, they sound great with that bridge hi-gain pickup you have in the bass, which does look original to it.

The white pickguard is the correct color for that bass; you can get a replacement from Pickguardian, Tony makes the best pickguards, period!

The tuning keys are working correctly, they are reverse winding keys, which also are correct for the bass, although you can get replacements that work the normal way if you want.

You can buy a replacement foam pad for the mute, or make one yourself, perhaps from an old neoprene mouse pad. Cut it so that the width is no more than about 1/4" and glue at close as possible to the saddles on the mute assembly to minimize any intonation changes from using the mute (it may want to go slightly sharp as now the witness point for the strings are the mute instead of the bridge saddles themselves. Sometimes it may be necessary to reshape (bend) the mute assembly to ensure the pad matches the radius of the undersides of the strings for even muting of them. While you have the tailpiece off to do this work make sure the ground wire is attached to the underside of the mute assembly; it is soldered to the center of it. The mute is indeed useful, especially when you have flatwound strings on it; Many here are fans of Thomastik-Infeld (TI) Jazz Flats. They are not cheap to buy initially but they last for years so in the long run they are actually pretty inexpensive.

Enjoy the 4001 they are great sounding and playing basses.

[jps]

Echo, echo, echo!!!

[jps]

BTW, Lee, did you used to live in Columbus, Ohio?

[antipodean]

Echo, echo, echo!!!

They do say great minds think alike, Jeff.....

[mysterymachinestudio]

Thanks so much for all of the helpful directions guys. I really appreciate it!

I've got a few follow-up questions:

- Is the benefit of buying a pre-built harness just the simplicity factor or is there something particularly complex about the Rick electronics setup? I'm handy with a soldering iron and have built pedals and used to do some work on tube amps, so if it's not too bad I should be able to sort it out and make it nice and clean.

- From my post-purchase reading I've now learned that the 1980 4001 has the truss-rod that's easy to setup incorrectly and create havoc. The bass seems to feel fine to me, so is it safe to assume all's well and no one's done anything too crazy to it? Can I pop the truss-rod cover and see something visual that would be obvious? There's no lift of the fretboard, so that's not a problem. I'm kind of having that post-purchase anxiety *doh!* moment when you learn things you never expected to learn that raise concerns. Hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

I did get a couple of pics under the guard from the seller. They're here:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/ ... guard1.jpg It's too big to embed evidently.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/ ... 010181.jpg

I'll look into the recommended TI strings. I tend to replace bass strings *never*, so I don't mind investing on the front end:)

Lastly, I paid $950 for the bass. Did I do ok? I'm a bargain shopper and I felt like it wasn't a steal, but not too bad either. Yes? Just curious what the market looks like for these.

Thanks again for all of the information. I really appreciate it.

[johnallg]

Thanks so much for all of the helpful directions guys. I really appreciate it!

I've got a few follow-up questions:

- Is the benefit of buying a pre-built harness just the simplicity factor or is there something particularly complex about the Rick electronics setup? I'm handy with a soldering iron and have built pedals and used to do some work on tube amps, so if it's not too bad I should be able to sort it out and make it nice and clean.

- From my post-purchase reading I've now learned that the 1980 4001 has the truss-rod that's easy to setup incorrectly and create havoc. The bass seems to feel fine to me, so is it safe to assume all's well and no one's done anything too crazy to it? Can I pop the truss-rod cover and see something visual that would be obvious? There's no lift of the fretboard, so that's not a problem. I'm kind of having that post-purchase anxiety *doh!* moment when you learn things you never expected to learn that raise concerns. Hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

I did get a couple of pics under the guard from the seller. They're here:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/ ... guard1.jpg It's too big to embed evidently.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/ ... 010181.jpg

I'll look into the recommended TI strings. I tend to replace bass strings *never*, so I don't mind investing on the front end:)

Lastly, I paid $950 for the bass. Did I do ok? I'm a bargain shopper and I felt like it wasn't a steal, but not too bad either. Yes? Just curious what the market looks like for these.

Thanks again for all of the information. I really appreciate it.

First welcome, and yes, you did really really good on the price.

As for the neck pickup, an alternative to a new toaster would be you could advertise for a 70s higain in the Wanted forum and put in a period correct one, which sound really great.

As for the harness, the new ones at the Boutique have 330k ohm pots for the volume and tone, whereas your bass, as all back then, had 250k for volume and 500k for tone. You already have a 250k and 500k on the pickguard. Here is a current schematic, which is the same as an 1980 4001 except for the pot values I stated:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19524.pdf

Truss rod adjustment is different, but not difficult. This link has videos to show you how by our forum member Joey:

viewtopic.php?f=107&t=406080

[mysterymachinestudio]

Thanks for the feedback.

Here's my plan:

- I've ordered the TI Jazz Flats.
- I've got an email in to Pickguardian.
- I've got a email in to Rick of the Rics about harness availability. I figure I'll just get the whole thing pre-put together, spend a little extra money, but save myself the time that I'd spend on it or perhaps end up needing my luthier to look it over later. One question - Would there be any issues with the 1980 high gain the 330k pots in a newer harness? I was also planning to get the harness setup with the more modern "push-pull" pot setup for the added flexibility since it'll be a studio bass. It'll all help with resale down the line if needed.
- I'm going to go with the toaster for the sake of simplicity and the fact Paul did just fine with it for years. From everything I've read Ric continues to do a good job with their pickup manufacturing, so it should still sound fine. I measured the resistance of the current pickup and it measures @ 8.41. Does this sound about right for a toaster @ 7.4?
- I need to get a couple of extra knobs. I'll if Pick of the Ricks has singles or just sets.
- Once I get all of the parts in and get it all put together I'll get it over to my luthier for a good setup and go through. I leave setups to pros and have never regretted it. I'm good at lots of things, but that's not one of them:)

Thanks so much for all of the help. I very much appreciate it!

[sloop_john_b]

Beautiful bass! Ya did great at $950.

I dig it with the 4000 guard & setup but thats just me.

[teeder]

I measured the resistance of the current pickup and it measures @ 8.41. Does this sound about right for a toaster @ 7.4?

You should be in good shape with that. Also, no problem using the higain with the new pots. You may loose a little of the high-end sparkle though, IIRC.

[8mileshigher]

Welcome aboard the RRF, Lee !
That AzureGlo sure is nice and you got a good deal !

[RickyBubba]

great price baby!

As far as color goes, I would consider going to a good automotive paint shop and have them use their color analyzer gun, and see if they can mix to match. Very good possibility.

If you get a match, you can try it under the pick guard and brush on some and see how you turn out.