Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Bob,

Sorry 'bout that I misread the topic title. It was built in October though.

Alright that's good Nolan, because I had heard that they officially stopped the cap in September of 84. And your 68 was mono Jeff with the cap I think that pretty much does it for me.

I always thought that none of the 4003 basses ever had bass cut capaciters and that all of the 60's, 70's and 80-84 4001 basses had the bass cut capaciter ...

No, I have a late 81 4003 and it came with the cap. I think JH said somewhere he eliminated it when he took over in 84. I wish we had a way to get at the archives. But I think you're right about the rest, that's what I'm trying to find out.

Bob, I'm pretty sure they are original. I'll get out the green one some time this week to look closer. They both are the same turquoise colour.

Thanks Andrew I appreciate it, I know what a PIA it is to pull them apart.

I have a '77 4001S & '81 4001S/FL. Both have the cap. I actually prefer the cap.

Actually Bob, it's already unstrung like it has been for years. Just need to whip the guard off. I was going to restring it this week, just so I can remmeber what it feels like to play and if the action is as high as I remember...

I don't even loosen the strings anymore I've gotten to where I just pull the screws and pull up on the strings and the pickguard comes right out without a scratch. I just did it today to look at my variable cap control for somebody who wants to try it. Sounds great on basses with RW strings, that's the one I have it on.

Tho' some of mine don't fit the thread criteria here goes.
'80 4003LH stereo, with cap
'84 4001SLH mono, no cap
'91 4001CSLH mono, no cap

my '83 4003 alsohad the cap in it, as did my 81 4001

How does the c64s sound with the horseshoes removed?

So, here's another question.
Most pictures I see of McCartney show his toggle in the down position.
Do you really think that great tone he had was the rear pu with a capacitor in it, or was his bass wired in reverse ... down was the toaster?

Back to the original question.
My '86 4003S and '93 4001V63 have (had) no caps.

He used the horseshoe pickup alot. I've done the same thing to achieve his sound. Also keep in mind that they also used reverb on the bass recordings as well. Read the Beatles Gear book and you'll see what I'm talking about. I was asking the same questions you were, then I started to read the book from the point Paul received the Rick bass, and then applied that knowledge to my own recordings. If leave your bass alone and don't tear the pick up out, or tear the shoes off, you'll realize the difference in tone when paul is using both pickups and when he's not. He also fiddled with his tone knobs a lot. In the Sgt. Pepper's and MMT stuff, you can see that his tone is hardly ever full on. I don't think he started getting on his bass until Wings. Get yourself a copy of Wings Across America, or even the Rock Show DVD and you'll see that he's playing full on and just behind the horseshoe/high gain trebble pickup, and not over it.

Nolan do you have a capped Horseshoe? I think we all have a lot of experience here and we've debated this one a real lot and still don't see how he got so much bottom out of a capped horseshoe, several members here have them, and bottom they don't have. But a lot of us have noticed that in photos. I wonder if sometimes during photos he just picked up the bass and didn't even look at it when he was getting shot. I used to get bottom out of a capped bridge high gain but that was through an SVT and I had to EQ the hell out of it, they didn't have active tone comtrols like that back then. especially in the studios. I have often though he used it occasionally like on "Octopuses Garden" which has a middy tone to it.
The V63's uncapped horsshoes have a lot of bottom by themselves, so do new bridge highgains.