Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ooh, thanks for posting that! I really want a burgundy bass... Maybe some day....

Nice one, Steve! I love Burgundy!

Very nice, Steve. Are the higains the current ones? If so, how did it change the voice of the 4001 from the 70s higains?

My old 79 4001 looked just like that too...

bassduke49 wrote:VERY pretty Burg!!!

+1 - I love it when the wood grain can be seen like that!

Nice lefty and MG, as well!

johnallg wrote:Are the higains the current ones? If so, how did it change the voice of the 4001 from the 70s higains?

johnallg,

The originals on the '78 were giving less output over time, so I had new ones put in a couple years ago.

The voice did change a little. The new neck pickup sounds more like a toaster to me; more of the trebly stuff comes through now. I like soloing it better than the original. The new bridge pickup puts out less bass, I think, but otherwise seems the same as the original.

A net improvement. I might put the old ones back in some day just to test.


bluewhale

To see if the old pickups are physically compromised measure the wire from them, shield to center wire, and they should read 8.0K ohms give or take a little. If they read much less, then that would explain the lowered output. I would think the magnets would hold over the years, my '75 has.

johnallg wrote:To see if the old pickups are physically compromised measure the wire from them, shield to center wire, and they should read 8.0K ohms give or take a little. If they read much less, then that would explain the lowered output. I would think the magnets would hold over the years, my '75 has.

johnallg,

I don't know when I'll be able to do this, but could you please outline the procedure for measuring the wire? What equipment is used?


Thank you,
bluewhale

My '72 JG.

bluewhale wrote:

johnallg wrote:To see if the old pickups are physically compromised measure the wire from them, shield to center wire, and they should read 8.0K ohms give or take a little. If they read much less, then that would explain the lowered output. I would think the magnets would hold over the years, my '75 has.

johnallg,

I don't know when I'll be able to do this, but could you please outline the procedure for measuring the wire? What equipment is used?


Thank you,
bluewhale

You need an ohmmeter that either autoranges or is in the 10k/20k range. Then insert a guitar cable into the standard jack, have all pots up "full", throw the switch to the up position (closest to strings) and measure from the body of the free cable end to the little tip. You should get somewhere around 8k ohms (8000 ohms). Then throw the switch to the down position (away from the strings) and you should also get about 8k ohms.

I hope this is clear.

Bill, that '72 is a beaut!

johnallg wrote:Bill, that '72 is a beaut!

+1000!

Yes...very nice, Bill!

Why did you chop his head off though?

That is one baaa-dass bass, Bill! Are my eyes deceiving me, or does it have standard binding?

Mark, it has checker binding. The enlargement and the pixels on your screen are kinda hiding the pattern. Bill's blocked-out portraits are the best of the hundreds of photos I've received for the bass book.