Is Paul McCartney's Rickenbacker bass wired backwards?

[IHeartRics]

I know Paul prefers 15 inch bass speakers in his bass cabinets. Perhaps he's using the bridge pick up because it was too muddy sounding with his neck pick up and those 15 inch speakers? In all the old pictures I've seen of him with The Beatles, it looks like he's using his bridge pick up.

Good point. Everybody is focusing on the bass controls, but there is an amplifier and speaker cabinet in the equation, and how the controls were set up on it.

[MusicScholar]

I know Paul prefers 15 inch bass speakers in his bass cabinets. Perhaps he's using the bridge pick up because it was too muddy sounding with his neck pick up and those 15 inch speakers? In all the old pictures I've seen of him with The Beatles, it looks like he's using his bridge pick up.

Good point. Everybody is focusing on the bass controls, but there is an amplifier and speaker cabinet in the equation, and how the controls were set up on it.

That is what I was thinking. When you consider that Pauls bass was one of the first left handed models produced it really makes sense that the controls would be reversed just like the headstock on his bass.

[aceonbass]

A right handed neck blank can be flipped over to make it left handed, but as I said earlier, you can't do that with the early wiring harnesses becuase of the caps that were used with their very rigid leads, as well as other factors. The wiring harness was built for his bass, just as current LH wiring harnesses are different than the RH ones. It was not reversed or flipped upside down. This is what an original harness would have looked like in '64. It is not reveresable.

[antipodean]

Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible to get the Macca tone through the capped treble pickup by using flats and playing through the "Normal" channel of a Bassman or Vox AC-50. A little twiddling with the eq (bass up, treble down) helps quite a bit, as does a light touch on one's picking hand. In addition, as we all know, Macca sent the bass back to Rickenbacker when the treble pickup died in the early '70s. This suggests he was using it to at least some extent (and not solely relying on the toaster). As a result, I'm not convinced that the harness was "flipped", and that's before taking Dane's points into account.....

[Seans]

That is what I was thinking. When you consider that Pauls bass was one of the first left handed models produced it really makes sense that the controls would be reversed just like the headstock on his bass.

The person soldering up the plates is asked, '' can you wire this one from the other side, we need one for a left handed bass ''. Chances are they would just wire it up the same as a RH version, leaving the tone controls on the side and the Toaster down.

( Also, I can't see either, that someone at the bench, surrounded by parts, would even think to try and modify a RH harness).

[aceonbass]

I've made a LOT of wiring harnesses for RICs, and that's not how it's done. You do them on a jig that simulates the layout of the guard. When you do a LH guard you can use a left handed jig, or you can to what I do, just flip the RH jig over. I'd still wire it with the tones on the top, the volumes on the bottom, the neck pickup to the top terminals on the switch, and the bridge pickup to the bottom terminals of the switch. Although reversed, I'd still wire off the pot lugs the same, and this would make the volume and tone controls work backwards, but the selector switch would function the same.

[teeder]

Makes perfect sense, but how do we explain the Toaster tone and a lot of pictures with the switch down? I know I can't get a true McCartney tone with my '67 RM / 4001S with a capped HS soloed, NOS Rick flats, compressor and a 15"speaker. Isn't there a chance that it was just wired to the switch wrong?

Good point. Everybody is focusing on the bass controls, but there is an amplifier and speaker cabinet in the equation, and how the controls were set up on it.

Keep in mind that early on after Paul was using the Rick they started running it straight to the board.

[aceonbass]

Tone is dependent on so many factors besides which pickup you use. Until Paul gives us a look under the hood, we'll never know for sure. It's all speculation, but is it really that important in the scheme of things?

[MusicScholar]

Tone is dependent on so many factors besides which pickup you use. Until Paul gives us a look under the hood, we'll never know for sure. It's all speculation, but is it really that important in the scheme of things?

I don't think it really matters in the end. What matters is he got a bass sound he was happy with in the overall production of the songs. I have never seen another Rock Band that has been so analyzed. There are dozens of books on the exact time and place of recordings as well as the instruments used for those recordings. Ironically when you watch interviews with The Beatles alot of times they can't even remember what albums the songs are on.

[teeder]

but is it really that important in the scheme of things?

No, but it's more fun talking about it than cleaning the pine needles out of the carpet like I was just doing.

[johnallg]

but is it really that important in the scheme of things?

No, but it's more fun talking about it than cleaning the pine needles out of the carpet like I was just doing.

DId anybody go to YouTube and watch Wings in the studio playing Juniors Farm? Paul plays the Rick and it has a more trebly sound to it. Where were the switch and pots on that? He plays through an Acoustic amp in the vid.

[Lefty4003S8]

but is it really that important in the scheme of things?

No, but it's more fun talking about it than cleaning the pine needles out of the carpet like I was just doing.

Rim Shot!!!!!









Do not drink from the toilet when taking Lyrica

[wints]

I've played a handful of RM 1999's with original shoes, and McCartney's tone from this period is all toaster on all of them. Nothing sounds anything like a solo horseshoe, which even when first made, didn't have that tone that comes to define a 60's 4001S/RM1999 with flats.
I'm pretty well convinced that down on Macca's bass is toaster, and that's all you hear on recordings from this period.

[cjj]

Oh come on, everyone knows that the switch position doesn't matter 'cause it was all done with a synth bass track...

[MusicScholar]

but is it really that important in the scheme of things?

No, but it's more fun talking about it than cleaning the pine needles out of the carpet like I was just doing.

DId anybody go to YouTube and watch Wings in the studio playing Juniors Farm? Paul plays the Rick and it has a more trebly sound to it. Where were the switch and pots on that? He plays through an Acoustic amp in the vid.

I've noticed in pictures of WINGS he usually has his switch in the middle position.