Anatomy Of A Rickenbacker Bass Part 6

[soundmasterg]

Ted, great article!

One thing I'll add is that the early HB2's came out in 1989 and they later changed the design a bit on the bottom of the pickup. The early ones have a bit of a gap between the epoxy and the circuit board, and if the pickup is out of your instrument, things can get under there and break the coil wires quite easily. I'd say it's maybe 1/8" gap. I found this out the hard way on my RIC 230 guitar and the original bridge pickup is currently non-functional, though I hope to be able to fix it when I get brave enough. The replacement pickup that I put in was one of the monogrammed ones from '94 or so, and the gap is much smaller between the epoxy and the circuit board, and much safer for the wires. Unfortunately this pickup is microphonic.....

There was also an early single coil that looked similar to the HB2 that was in the earlier 2000 series basses and 200 series guitars. I have a disassembled one of these around here somewhere. I can provide pics if you want. They were very quiet pickups by all reports though I've never played one. This one was dead when I got it. These single coil pickups and both the HB1 and HB2 pickups use a samarium cobalt magnet which is quite powerful and gives a lot of highs and lows.

Greg

[ilan]

The sound of the 4002 pickup is very similar to that of a Hi-gain but much clearer and smoother. The focus is the same but does not get lost if a note is bent or the string is hit hard. Of course I have only heard them in conjunction with the 4002 tone circuit which, as you can see above is bit more elaborate than the standard Rickenbacker wire harness. How much of the tone is from the circuit itself I cannot say for sure.

An interesting experiment would be to wire a 4003 (with modern Hi-Gains) like a 4002, and see how much of the difference in tone is attributed to the wiring and what part to the mystery pickups.

[teeder]

Nice photos of Kevin's green higains. HIs '69 read a little shy of 6k IIRC - we measured it at RIO!! last year. Kevin, if you remember the reading please correct if I'm off.

5.9 is what I had in my mind, but I'm not 100% sure.
What I do know is that the capped greenies combined with the toaster is pure Heaven to me!

[rickfan60]

Ted, great article!

One thing I'll add is that the early HB2's came out in 1989 and they later changed the design a bit on the bottom of the pickup. The early ones have a bit of a gap between the epoxy and the circuit board, and if the pickup is out of your instrument, things can get under there and break the coil wires quite easily. I'd say it's maybe 1/8" gap. I found this out the hard way on my RIC 230 guitar and the original bridge pickup is currently non-functional, though I hope to be able to fix it when I get brave enough. The replacement pickup that I put in was one of the monogrammed ones from '94 or so, and the gap is much smaller between the epoxy and the circuit board, and much safer for the wires. Unfortunately this pickup is microphonic.....

There was also an early single coil that looked similar to the HB2 that was in the earlier 2000 series basses and 200 series guitars. I have a disassembled one of these around here somewhere. I can provide pics if you want. They were very quiet pickups by all reports though I've never played one. This one was dead when I got it. These single coil pickups and both the HB1 and HB2 pickups use a samarium cobalt magnet which is quite powerful and gives a lot of highs and lows.

Greg

Thanks for the info Greg. Please post anything else you have. I am hoping this series plus all contributions will stand as a reference.

[rickfan60]

The sound of the 4002 pickup is very similar to that of a Hi-gain but much clearer and smoother. The focus is the same but does not get lost if a note is bent or the string is hit hard. Of course I have only heard them in conjunction with the 4002 tone circuit which, as you can see above is bit more elaborate than the standard Rickenbacker wire harness. How much of the tone is from the circuit itself I cannot say for sure.

An interesting experiment would be to wire a 4003 (with modern Hi-Gains) like a 4002, and see how much of the difference in tone is attributed to the wiring and what part to the mystery pickups.

I have thought about that or making an exact duplicate of the 4002 harness to be installed into another bass. Speaking of that. the 4002 diagram on the the RIC site does not match my circuit. Another 4002 owner sent me a picture of his harness and it does not match mine OR the the RIC diagram. As odd as it seems, there must be more than one version of the 4002 harness.

[cjj]

The sound of the 4002 pickup is very similar to that of a Hi-gain but much clearer and smoother. The focus is the same but does not get lost if a note is bent or the string is hit hard. Of course I have only heard them in conjunction with the 4002 tone circuit which, as you can see above is bit more elaborate than the standard Rickenbacker wire harness. How much of the tone is from the circuit itself I cannot say for sure.

An interesting experiment would be to wire a 4003 (with modern Hi-Gains) like a 4002, and see how much of the difference in tone is attributed to the wiring and what part to the mystery pickups.

I have thought about that or making an exact duplicate of the 4002 harness to be installed into another bass. Speaking of that. the 4002 diagram on the the RIC site does not match my circuit. Another 4002 owner sent me a picture of his harness and it does not match mine OR the the RIC diagram. As odd as it seems, there must be more than one version of the 4002 harness.

It's not a 4003, but I'm in the process of rewiring my 4004Cii with the 4002 circuit on the RIC site. It will also have the ability to run with either or both pickups single coil as well. I don't know if it'll be worth it, I'm mostly just playing around.

It would be interesting to see schematics or pictures of these different 4002 circuits, do you have anything like that?

[cassius987]

FWIW, I wired my Jazz Bass to the 4002 circuit on the RIC site for a time (minus the outputs, minus a tone knob). The sound did change but not very radically. If anything it gave the tone knob a fairly different role prior to what it had before--it now had a handful of extra sounds on it.

[badeggs]

You're not supposed to turn the screws on the old hi-gains? Huh...learn something new everyday!

[rickfan60]

I have not yet found a 4002 that matches the diagram on the RIC site. That was a topic of discussion here a few years ago. Four people sent me closeup photos of their wiring and none of them matched the published cap and resistor values.

[rickfan60]

You're not supposed to turn the screws on the old hi-gains? Huh...learn something new everyday!

People have done it and not damaged the windings but it certainly can happen.

[johnallg]

I have not yet found a 4002 that matches the diagram on the RIC site. That was a topic of discussion here a few years ago. Four people sent me closeup photos of their wiring and none of them matched the published cap and resistor values.

Am I to understand you have drawings of the circuits as they exist in the basses?

[cassius987]

Cap and resistor values would be cool too.

When I play iiipopes 4002 (got to gig with it once), I can instantly dial in a HUGE spectrum of tones (ridiculous for a passive bass, and even by 4001/4003 standards). I think the versatility is due to: 1) the highly resonant construction; 2) the "big-sounding" pickups; 3) the wiring circuit. Any one of these things alone is cool but not very likely to sound like a 4002, IMO.

[rickfan60]

I have not yet found a 4002 that matches the diagram on the RIC site. That was a topic of discussion here a few years ago. Four people sent me closeup photos of their wiring and none of them matched the published cap and resistor values.

Am I to understand you have drawings of the circuits as they exist in the basses?

No, I did not make any drawings. I put out a request for info from 4002 owners when I discovered that mine did not match the RIC drawing.

[rickfan60]

Cap and resistor values would be cool too.

When I play iiipopes 4002 (got to gig with it once), I can instantly dial in a HUGE spectrum of tones (ridiculous for a passive bass, and even by 4001/4003 standards). I think the versatility is due to: 1) the highly resonant construction; 2) the "big-sounding" pickups; 3) the wiring circuit. Any one of these things alone is cool but not very likely to sound like a 4002, IMO.

Any difference in resonance would likely be due to the lack of a deep treble pickup route and possibly the ebony fingerboard. I expect the sound differences to be almost entirely electronic.

[rickenbrother]

Another fine installment, Ted!