Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a great and marvelous 1975 burgundy rickenbacker 4001 stereo, but I also have a problem: Once, 4 or 5 years ago a guy in a guitar repair shop told me he knew how to improve my 1975 4001 sound, I thought he was talking just about loudness and I said Ok, but he said, once the work was done, that the fix would make my 4001 sound more "contemporary" (whatever he meant by that). The fact is that I wasn't really glad with the result, but as he told me that if I didn't like it I only had to take off a wire he welded, I didn't really care about it. He never mentioned a word about a capacitor. Right now, after a long period without playing my Ric very often (I've been messing around with my Hofner 500/1 V63) I'm playing it again and want to go back to the original ric sound and I don't know what to do to get back to the original circuit because this guy (from now on "the clever") seemed to use the same color of wire the circuit had. So please, if anybody else could post a photo of the circuit or give me some hint I'd be grateful all my life.

P.S.: I have the circuit diagram that I downloaded from RIC's web, but I've been really a mess all my life trying to "decode" things like this.

Another Sergio! Welcome to the Forum. It sounds like "the clever" bypassed the cap on the treble pick up which for most gives it a more fuller sound. Most people like this better than the the original. It consists of soldering a wire across the cap. To reverse you simply remove the wire.
I said most..not all....

This visual may help Sergio...
http://www.vintagebass.com/thedudepit/showthread.php?t=1386&page=2 It is the top pic with the white wire over the orange cap.

You have a fellow namesake in Lisbon who frequents here. He is a pick up guru. I am sure he will be glad to see you here and to assist you should you need any future help.

Damn Andrew...I have been looking for that link for the last 10 minutes! Check it out Sergio, very helpful. And the other Sergio Andrew was talking about is quite a guy too. Welcome!

Hey, Javier. How is it going?
Hi, Sergio. Welcome aboard.

Here is a pic of the bypass wire (fat white wire soldered to either side of orange capacitor) I added to my 4001V63:



You just have to cut one side of the wire to restore the original sound. Just make sure to insulate the end of it if you don't remove it altogether.

Hi Andrew, Hi Javier, Hi Sergio, Hi Jeffrey. Thank you all, you've been really fast with your solution. I'm playing it while writing you. you should listen to this right now, what a sound, I really missed it a lot. Thanks again

For sure it's been a great welcome. Thank you all again

"And all she wants to do is dance"!

I think Sérgio would probably be VERY happy to help you get that cap back into the circuit, haha!

I think I am going to do some cap surgery to bypass the capacitor in my bass when my kid goes to bed...

Bob: damn right, hehehe. Javier: Uh-oh!

I'll be bypassing the cap in my fretless this weekend. Both the 72 and a 73 I picked up the other week have been bypassed and they sound awesome in power and tone compared to the capped basses.
But, each to their own, as ever....

Took mine out of my 1974 a week or so ago & words can't describe the difference...

It's like having a new bass!

My '75 4001 is a whole 'nother bass now that the cap has been removed. Much more full and bassey sounding.

Ok, I know I may sound kinda martian when I say I like this particular sound, but I think a Rick is a Rick, for a deeper sound I can play my hofner or try another one (being sincere, I didn't take off the whole wire, I just cutted off an extreme, just in case)