I thought (probably for particular reason) that maple was a hardwood and something like oak was too, but not necessarily walnut. Phil, your comments made me realize I didn't know what the term "hardwood" meant so I surfed a bit to see if I could find a definition. Here is one;
Hardwoods—Dicotyledonous trees, usually broad-leaved and deciduous.
And further there are also;
Hard hardwoods—Hardwood species with an average specific gravity greater than 0.50, such as oaks, hickories, or hard maples.
This info was posted at a .edu site which referenced the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
Another wood products site claimed it's been estimated there are around 90,000 species of tree which fall under the broad term of hardwood.
A little wood trivia on a Wednesday eve.
How many of us are 4004 owners?
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
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keith_mcjunkin
Jeff, my 1993 Cheyenne is just like Keith's, three way toggle, volume and tone, and still maintains volume even with the tone rolled completely off. AFAIK the Laredos were wired exactly the same.
Rob, walnut is definitely a hardwood, and it's on the hard side for an American hardwood, much harder than, say, alder and basswood.
Rob, walnut is definitely a hardwood, and it's on the hard side for an American hardwood, much harder than, say, alder and basswood.
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keith_mcjunkin
My toggle is wired neck, both, bridge, when going from top to bottom positions. There is definitely tone control going on when I move my tone control. The 4004L is a PASSIVE bass, which means you can ONLY roll off the highs the way it is wired. You do NOT "add bass" when rolling off the treble. Full output is in the fully clockwise position on the tone control, which is where I tend to leave mine. If you want to BOOST a frequency, you must get active electronics. Many people also think of "flat" tone being with the knobs on their amps and guitars being in the straight up, or middle, positions like it is on an audiophile amp setup. Not true, not true! Every guitar amp I know of has a "sucked out" midrange when the tone controls are set to middle position. This is because most guitar pickups have a "humped up" midrange output. Hook up a good microphone and try singing through your guitar amp with all controls in the middle, you will notice the midrange suckout in your voice. Also, for those of you who do not own a digital multimeter or VOM, you will cause drastic changes in the output impedance of your guitar when you twiddle with those tone and volume pots. Go get a cheap meter at Radio Shack and prove it to yourself.
As you increase the output impedance, you decrease the ability to drive the input on your amp. Especially noticeable is the ability to drive the capacitance in a long cable run, which causes rolloff of the highs. The formula for the cutoff frequency is the reciprocal of the total quantity of the resistance times the capacitance times two times Pi. It is common to find output impedances of 15K ohms or more in guitar pickups, which any seasoned audiophile knows will NOT allow treble to go any distance through highly capacitive cable. Most guitar cables are low capacitance, which is what you want for a guitar with passive pickups. The problem with that is: Low capacitance cables tend to be much more microphonic than high capacitance cables. Go buy the black Radio Shack low capacitance guitar cable. Plug it into your amp and turn the gain way up. Thump it with your finger. You WILL hear the thump through your speaker, and quite clearly. NOT for somebody like Pete Townshend. Now make yourself a guitar cable out of high capacitance Belden microphone cable and thump it. It will be dead quiet, but your highs will be rolled off, especially if it is a long cable. That is why microphones have lower output impedance in order to drive a quiet cable. WHAT KIND OF CABLE DO YOU USE, AND HOW LONG IS IT? I think that few guitarists take this into consideration. They just buy a cable at the store and expect it to do the job. You will need a quality brand like Monster Cable if you want very low capacitance AND very low microphonics in your guitar cable. That will set you back about $50 for a P-500 bass specific cable. People with active electronics and lower output impedance have a wider cable choice. I have rock specific and bass specific cable from Monster Cable. If you are not getting a tonal change in your sound when playing with that 4004 tone control, you may need a lower capacitance or shorter cable that prevents loss of your highs. I get a definite change in sound when I move mine, but I tend to leave it fully clockwise and get my tone changes with my pickup switch and finger position.
Also, I now use the Eminence B102 speaker that has extremely extended highs. That change made a definite improvement in getting broader tonal range. Horns suck, and that includes piezo horns, in my opinion.
As you increase the output impedance, you decrease the ability to drive the input on your amp. Especially noticeable is the ability to drive the capacitance in a long cable run, which causes rolloff of the highs. The formula for the cutoff frequency is the reciprocal of the total quantity of the resistance times the capacitance times two times Pi. It is common to find output impedances of 15K ohms or more in guitar pickups, which any seasoned audiophile knows will NOT allow treble to go any distance through highly capacitive cable. Most guitar cables are low capacitance, which is what you want for a guitar with passive pickups. The problem with that is: Low capacitance cables tend to be much more microphonic than high capacitance cables. Go buy the black Radio Shack low capacitance guitar cable. Plug it into your amp and turn the gain way up. Thump it with your finger. You WILL hear the thump through your speaker, and quite clearly. NOT for somebody like Pete Townshend. Now make yourself a guitar cable out of high capacitance Belden microphone cable and thump it. It will be dead quiet, but your highs will be rolled off, especially if it is a long cable. That is why microphones have lower output impedance in order to drive a quiet cable. WHAT KIND OF CABLE DO YOU USE, AND HOW LONG IS IT? I think that few guitarists take this into consideration. They just buy a cable at the store and expect it to do the job. You will need a quality brand like Monster Cable if you want very low capacitance AND very low microphonics in your guitar cable. That will set you back about $50 for a P-500 bass specific cable. People with active electronics and lower output impedance have a wider cable choice. I have rock specific and bass specific cable from Monster Cable. If you are not getting a tonal change in your sound when playing with that 4004 tone control, you may need a lower capacitance or shorter cable that prevents loss of your highs. I get a definite change in sound when I move mine, but I tend to leave it fully clockwise and get my tone changes with my pickup switch and finger position.
Also, I now use the Eminence B102 speaker that has extremely extended highs. That change made a definite improvement in getting broader tonal range. Horns suck, and that includes piezo horns, in my opinion.
Jeff, It kind of sounds like someone re-wired it to have two volume pots maybe? My 4004s are as everyone else has said; one volume, one tone and a three way switch, up is neck pu, middle is both, down is the bridge pu.
Once you've been able to get that squared away and have had time to really play your new 4004L I would be very interested to hear your comments on it.
Once you've been able to get that squared away and have had time to really play your new 4004L I would be very interested to hear your comments on it.
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jwr2
Jeff, I leave my tone control full treble most of the time anyway, for the maximum output from my pickups. Having it wired the way you have it might be better. You get to vary each pickup in loudness individually, and you can select between pickups for instant tone control with the switch. Even though I have the standard tone wiring, I use my amp tone controls much more than I do the one on my 4004L. If I ran my bass through a pedal with tone controls, then the one on the bass would be essentially useless and only muck up the sound. I prefer to feed my amp/pedal input all the bandwidth the pickup will give it, and equalize it from there with the amp tone controls. Changing pickups and finger positions or using a pick gives me more tone change than the tone control did anyway. I prefer to use fingers for picking, so my sound is duller than a person that uses a pick. If I use a pick, I might back off the tone control to halfway, but no more. Too much volume gets lost if I back off the treble below halfway.
Turning the selector switch around probably made more sense to the previous owner of your bass as up now gives a higher response and down gives a lower response. I just might spin my switch around 180 degrees as well. Sounds like a good idea.
Turning the selector switch around probably made more sense to the previous owner of your bass as up now gives a higher response and down gives a lower response. I just might spin my switch around 180 degrees as well. Sounds like a good idea.
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jwr2
I usually run with the tone wide open as well ... but sometimes it is nice to be able to back the tone off to 7 to mellow the sound a little ... but if you don't have a tone control this is a problem ... after all I'm not playing a wolfgang ...
one time on my 4001 I accidentally disabled the tone control ... it was a little duller that way ... not as much bite ...
one time on my 4001 I accidentally disabled the tone control ... it was a little duller that way ... not as much bite ...
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blueflamerick
- Advanced Member
- Posts: 1943
- Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2003 1:43 pm
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I ordered mine 2 months ago, so I'm guessing I've got at least 10 months to wait. I'm trying to keep it out of my mind, but between all these 4004 threads and driving by the Rickenbacker factory everyday, it's pretty hard.
By the by, there's an original cheyenne on Ebay now. Too bad the seller is in England. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2529953027&category=4713
By the by, there's an original cheyenne on Ebay now. Too bad the seller is in England. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2529953027&category=4713
Erik, Sorry to hear about your wait time, it must be tough. Is 10 months a real estimate or is that just how it feels at the moment? I'm a little frustrated that the the 4004C-ii 5 string isn't available yet though it was announced at NAMM a year or so ago. But of course that's nothing like having one ordered and having to wait. I can't complain cause I do have my 4004's.
The 4004C on e-bay looks pretty nice, I wonder what it will sell for. If I had the extra cash I would try to find another one I could modify by adding phase and coil split toggles and maybe a 4003 like tone and volume control set up.
The 4004C on e-bay looks pretty nice, I wonder what it will sell for. If I had the extra cash I would try to find another one I could modify by adding phase and coil split toggles and maybe a 4003 like tone and volume control set up.
Robert said, "I'm a little frustrated that the the 4004C-ii 5 string isn't available yet though it was announced at NAMM a year or so ago."
Me too, especially after being told on the phone twice by someone at Rickenbacker that they'd be available by September of last year. The website also stated for months that an 8 string version was being developed, and that is not the case.
Me too, especially after being told on the phone twice by someone at Rickenbacker that they'd be available by September of last year. The website also stated for months that an 8 string version was being developed, and that is not the case.
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jwr2
I ooened up the electronics of my 4004L .. I could see variuos solder marks ... it had been modified ... So I wired it vol, vol, tone, and put a toaster in the neck and a 4003 high gain in the bridge ... and I strung it B E A D ... all of these mods only required a screw driver and a soldering iron ...
It was a really cool bass when I got it ... but now .. it is awesome ... It has that single coil bite and growl ... it has the toaster smoothness ... no stereo jacks, no mute, sleek body, modern bridge .... cool bass ... I will post some pics soon ...
It was a really cool bass when I got it ... but now .. it is awesome ... It has that single coil bite and growl ... it has the toaster smoothness ... no stereo jacks, no mute, sleek body, modern bridge .... cool bass ... I will post some pics soon ...