Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Len-I'm using the light set,which works great for tension,feel,etc,and also no need to file the nut slots,which i imagine would have to be done with the heavier set.
Unless someone added it,you're not going to find any shielding in that cavity. The hb's are usually dead quiet without any need for that. I do notice an rf noise on the basses that have coil taps,when i go to SC mode,but even that is considerably less than the noise from my old 4000's higain pickup.
The shallowness of the neck depth,combined with the wider fretboard,is what makes these older 4004's so perfect for me.

I too, am surprised there would any noise from the HB-1 equipped bass. Mine are/were amazingly dead quiet. If the old flourescent lights are the source, maybe it's time to update that?

We practice in a very old bar that's vacant,nothing but flourescents....and dodgy oldddd wiring. Nothing we can do about it,we're not playing classical acoustic music,so noise just becomes part of the band's sound.
(Some might say all of it )

woodyng wrote:We practice in a very old bar that's vacant,nothing but flourescents....and dodgy oldddd wiring.

We rehearse in a very nice, spacious, finished basement space, but the lighting is 60's vintage fluorescent tubes. See us on YouTube: New Blue Rubies.

4' or 8' tubes?

woodyng wrote:Len-I'm using the light set,which works great for tension,feel,etc,and also no need to file the nut slots,which i imagine would have to be done with the heavier set.
Unless someone added it,you're not going to find any shielding in that cavity. The hb's are usually dead quiet without any need for that. I do notice an rf noise on the basses that have coil taps,when i go to SC mode,but even that is considerably less than the noise from my old 4000's higain pickup. ...

I installed a set of La Bella 750C Copper White Nylon Tape strings (light) on the 4004Ci. So far I like 'em a lot.

The tape winding is *amazingly* smooth - they almost feel lubricated. They're way smoother than the old black nylon tape strings I played long ago. There is no friction noise when doing slides.

They also sound nothing like the old black nylon tape wound strings. These are brighter - still not anything close to the Rotosound round wounds that were on there - but bright enough.

And our drummer likes the way they look.

Thanks for the recommendation, Woody!


The fluorescent tubes in the ceiling of our practice space are the U-shaped ones, two to a light fixture. They put out an amazing amount of RF hum noise.

I'm thinking that the way the noise is getting into the bass is not through the pickups, but rather through the jack and control wiring.

The reason I think so is because the Alembic Spoiler is pretty much silent, while Precision Basses, Jazz Basses (with both pickups turned up full), the Precision Bass with the Lace pickups, and the 4004Ci all pick up the noise. The closer I move a bass to the fixture, the louder the hum.

I'll play with shielding a bit and see if I can improve the situation.

I hate hum and buzz!

Then I'll install the nicely made VVT harness that Dane made for me, and see how that sounds.

LenMinNJ wrote:These are brighter - still not anything close to the Rotosound round wounds that were on there - but bright enough.

La Bella also makes the "gold" which have a little bit different characteristic - probably aimed at the AEB crowd, and the "White," which is what I use on my party 5-string bass to get a tone that approaches conventional rounds, but doesn't have the twank or clank.

LenMinNJ wrote: I installed a set of La Bella 750C Copper White Nylon Tape strings (light) on the 4004Ci. So far I like 'em a lot.
The tape winding is *amazingly* smooth - they almost feel lubricated. They're way smoother than the old black nylon tape strings I played long ago. There is no friction noise when doing slides.
They also sound nothing like the old black nylon tape wound strings. These are brighter - still not anything close to the Rotosound round wounds that were on there - but bright enough.
And our drummer likes the way they look.
Thanks for the recommendation, Woody!
Then I'll install the nicely made VVT harness that Dane made for me, and see how that sounds.

You're Welcome,Glad you like them!
Also,i predict that after you've installed Dane's harness,you're going to notice the Labellas are considerably bright,almost RW-sounding strings.....while still retaining a flatwound thumpiness. Very cool strings.

jps wrote:I too, am surprised there would any noise from the HB-1 equipped bass. Mine are/were amazingly dead quiet. If the old flourescent lights are the source, maybe it's time to update that?

When I opened up the back panel to have a look at the controls, I found one obvious problem: the ground wire from the bridge was sitting there, floating around, not soldered to any ground. It must have been that way since the factory.

I replaced the controls with the VVT harness that Dane sent me. I like it a lot. And the sound has changed quite a bit for the better. Thanks, Dane!

I still may paint the control cavity with conductive paint. While the pickups are humbuckers and have shielded leads, most of the wiring in the control cavity is completely unshielded.

LenMinNJ wrote:I still may paint the control cavity with conductive paint. While the pickups are humbuckers and have shielded leads, most of the wiring in the control cavity is completely unshielded.

You could do that for the insurance it may provide, but all my 4004s have been dead quiet regardless of the venues (dive bars to large festivals) with their control cavity unshielded.

Maybe I'm sensitive about it, but in the finished basement where we rehearse, my bass picks up lots of noise.

I replaced my old not-great cable between the bass and the amp with a cable made from Mogami 2524 (excellent shielding) and Neutrik plugs, and that helped. But still, as I turn the bass around, the hum comes and goes, like with single coil pickups..

Since both pickups in the 4004Ci are humbuckers, and the cable from the pickups to the controls are shielded, with their shields grounded properly, the only place for the RF interference to creep in would be the control cavity.

I had the same problem with my 60th Anniversary Precision Bass. I thought that perhaps the Fender pickups weren't doing their humbucking properly, so I replaced them with a Lace pickup. No improvement!

I'll keep chasing this problem down.

Your basement must be on Mt. Wilson!

I gotta get me one those; wait, I just did, a vey nice Translucent Red 2014 4004-CII

Should be here late next week, and pictures will follow.

thx1955 wrote:I gotta get me one those; wait, I just did, a vey nice Translucent Red 2014 4004-CII

Should be here late next week, and pictures will follow.

At least, it is "sort of" FG!

Congrats, on the Cii, Jim.

thx1955 wrote:I gotta get me one those; wait, I just did, a vey nice Translucent Red 2014 4004-CII

Should be here late next week, and pictures will follow.

That's great,i love the trans red color,looking forward to seeing your pics!