Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Jeff are you on line now as well?
Happy New Year.
That rare SHADOW we were talking about ended up at $950 with Buy-It-Now.
Quite a nice deal, isn't it?

Actually, I have a MIM fretless Jazz. The bridge saddle adjustment screws require something to prevent them from creeping (clear nail-polish, slightly hammered threads). The bass has a horrendous dead spot on the G-string (about a C) that a FatFinger only partially cures.

Besides that, it sounds good, and is pretty versatile. It's a sunburst, and immediately after purchase I replaced the 1-ply white pickguard with a 3-ply tortoise-shell.

For the price, I guess it was alright.

BTW: Sorry for the thread-creep, Pete!

Hey, I was only kidding. American-made J-Basses are okay. Currently the only J-Bass I have in my collection is a late seventies rosewood-neck, natural finish J-Bass. It's a monster - very heavy and with a killer tone - and I really like it. But on the other hand I own five Rick basses. I guess that pretty much sums it up.
Paul, I will post a detailed description of the shielding procedure in a couple of days. Please hold on that bit longer. Thanks.

Thank you in advance, you da man, Sergio.
Please take your time, no hurry.
Lots of people will thank you for your efforts.

Okay, let's do it.
You don't need to unsolder anything on your bass to shield the whole thing.
Unscrew pickguard, treble p.u. assembly and jackplate from body. Then, remove wiring harness and bass pickup from pickguard and output sockets from jackplate. Proceed to cover with pieces of aluminum foil (preferably not too thin) the underside of the pickguard and the whole body routing, including the inside of the output socket holes. I use discrete pieces of foil for each surface to be shielded, i.e. underside of pickguard, wall of control cavity, bottom of control cavity, bottom of bass pickup routing, and inside of jacksocket holes. Each one of said pieces is provided with an extension which is to be 'sandwiched' between the body and the pickguard, thus becoming connected to ground. For the jacksocket holes, said extension is to be sandwiched between side of body and jackplate.
I'll get back to you shortly.

It would be nice if Ric would at least offer a formed copper shielding kit as an option. That is, if they would be inclined to listen to their customers.

I'm back.
Brad, you may have a point there.
To complete the shielding procedure, cover the inside of the treble p.u. cavity (bottom & walls)with a single piece of foil, which is to be connected to ground by means of a wire extended from a ground point in the wiring harness. Needless to say, the treble p.u. mounting ring and the handrest are to be disconnected from ground, just like the bridge is, of course.
As for shielding the pickups, the bass p.u. can do without it (but its casing & securing plate are to remain connected to ground, of course!). The treble p.u. may or may not require shielding.
I hope this is of some help to you.

Ground it in multiple places and you'll only increase the noise level in many circumstances. Shielding is a black art and done without any experience is far worse than none at all.

Copper shielding, of course, only applies to electrostatic noise such as that from flourescent lights, dimmers, CRT's, or transmitters. 60 cycle hum is usually magnetically induced from proximity to things like your amp's transformer and copper won't help you here at all.

Mr. Hall, thank you for reading my posts on the subject of shielding. It really is a privilege to hear from you again in the Rickenbacker Forum.

I agree one hundred per cent with what you say, no argument there, still I wish to emphasize that I've successfully shielded in the above manner all my 4001 basses and my 4080 twin-neck because I always disconnect the string ground on my guitars in order to eliminate shock hazard.
Thanks again for dropping in on the Forum.

Thank you Sergio. Will do the shielding to my 4003 next week.
Thank you as well to Mr. Hall for chiming in. Would you come here more often? Please do.

Then again, if it's Quiet you want on a Rick bass, go for a model with their Humbuckers. Very Quiet PUs.If you are a "purist" who only likes the horseshoe/ toaster combination, then you may not like the HBs, and you'll just have to live with the noise single coils have.

Thanks Mr.Hall, like Paul said, please come here more often.

Sergio, have you ever replaced the 4003 bass pu with a humbucker & left a hi-gain or a horsehoe in the treble position? I was wondering about the noise in that combination.

I was wondering if it would balance to volume between the treble & bass pu.

I usually put copper or aluminum foil on the back of my Ric pickguards ... it usually doesn't make much difference ... but it can't hurt ... One thing that does help is moving away from my bass head ... which is a shame because I like to be near it and get the full effect of the cool sounds that come out ...

Has Rickenbacker ever thought about reversing the winding on one of the pickups like the jazz bass does for hum canceling?

Maybe somebody can take a stock neck ric pickup and rewind it so it hum cancels when both volumes are turned up ... this will change the tone qualities of the bass ...

I experimented with multi-pickup fender style basses ... a humbucker in the neck, a pbass pickup in the mid and a jazz at the bridge ... adding a humbucker into the mix quiets the hum but it doesn't eliminate it unless the hum canceling is soloed.

Paul, you're welcome.
Don, no humbuckers for me, please. At least not on a Rick bass.
Eddier, no, I've never replaced the 4001/4003 neck pickup with a humbucker, but I've often replaced it (and the treble p.u.) with pickups of my own, which are fully shielded and have ajustable polepieces. I don't know about the performance of Rick humbuckers, but I believe a humbucker in the neck position will tend to sound louder than a high-gain in the bridge position. I still say shielding is the operative word, though!
Jeff, no need to rewind a stock neck pickup - just reverse the connections and turn the magnet over. Instant humbucking mode!