Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Greetings Rickenpeople! I've been reading the forum for a while, and now it's time to jump in. I have some questions about shielding. I shielded my '73 4001 and now it hardly puts out a sound. I read Sergio's post about disconnecting the bridge ground, and John Hall talking about multiple grounds, so this is probably where my problem lies. I just want to be clear on this: disconnecting the bridge ground is not dangerous? (I'd like to hear from Sergio on this one).
I used the black shielding paint instead of foil. (You know how they routed the wire channel on the 70's 4001's...).
My question is this: should I just disconnect the ground wire to the bridge, pull it through and connect to the shielding in the main cavity? I would love to hear from anybody with shielding experience.
Thanks,
Dave

Greetings, David.
Disconnecting the string ground is not dangerous in any way, leaving it connected is!
Your 4001 hardly puts out a sound now? That's odd!
Unproperly shielding a guitar either produces more hum or shorts out the output.
Yes, connecting the bridge ground wire to the shielding paint is fine. Use a very short wood screw and a washer to do this. I trust you have shielded the underside of the pickguard as well.
Let me know how it turns out. Cheers and welcome to the Forum.

I never mess with changing the wiring on a Ric ... other than adding or removing the .0047 capaciter ...

As far as shielding goes ... I use aluminum or copper foil on the back of the pickguard and if you sheild the cavity then you you should ground the two together to envelope the electronics ...

But I never change the ground to the bridge or pots ...

Also look for a short or broken solder ....

I'm groaning again- ground loop city!

Just another reason I love my 4004C and C-II. No cavity shielding, no hum what a deal.

I love my classic Rick's too but noise can be a problem at times.

A noise gate works good and you don't need a soldering iron to use it ... no mods to the bass at all ...

I use a mxr noise gate with my 4003s5 it gets rid of hum ...

the truth is there is a sound that you get with single coils that is different than humbuckers ... a nice warm analog sound that cuts through the mix ...

There are definite tonal differences between SC and Humbucking pick ups. Both have advantages and disadvantages sound wise depending on the music you play which is one reason I have classic and modern Rick basses, but from a purely electrical standpoint I'd give the advantage to the HB's.

My 4004's cut through the mix just fine and in my opinion sound great. I do wish Rickenbacker had put a coil split switch and maybe a phase switch on them though. I think this would add more tonal possibilities to a fine bass.

Someone in the bass community here once stated that 4004 basses had "their own thing going" from a sound stand point. I agree with that assessment, it's definitely a Rick sound, but different.

Hm... Someday I am going to send RIC one of my successfully shielded 4001s in order to make John Hall a believer...

Thanks everybody for the input. I'm going to perform the Sergio surgery this weekend. I didn't know about multiple ground loops until I read Mr. Hall's comment, so, thank you sir for the info! (and sorry for inducing further groaning). Before I attempted the shielding I watched a guitar tech video that went through the steps; except nothing was said about multiple grounds. I learned more at the Rickenbacker forum! Thank you!

I assure you that we know exactly what could be done if we thought it was a significant problem.

However what would need to be done to make it truly a commercial or professional solution that is functional in a very wide range of playing situations would be a fairly expensive upgrade. Specifically, all the foil and conductive paint in the world won't stop the most common source of hum, magnetic fields such as is typically generated by the amplifier's transformer.

I'm not interested in the "band-aid" fix to a problem that is usually solved with some basic care to eliminating sources of electrostatic noise, such as dodgy flourescent lighting or monitors. These will also affect your cords, amps, effects and the like, along with your guitar. (That being said, I often pick up ship's radar during inclement radar since my studio overlooks the ocean: I can't do much about that directly!)

As was stated elsewhere, the 4004 is virtually noise free without any shielding whatsoever which in my mind is a much more elegant engineering solution. It's so quiet, it's spooky- I often think my cord has failed until I hit a note and blow myself out of the room!

2 words ....

NOISE GATE ...

It is a single coil user's best friend

Actually I'd like to see a 4004 with a switch to go single coil, out of phase, and humbucking ...

That would be cool ...

John Hall pretty much said it all regarding the quiet you get with the Rick HBs; if you're pluuged in and haven't hit a note yet, you might think you're unplugged, as literally any other guitar gives some hum or buzz.A buddy and I discovered this to our delight years back when we retrofitted his JL 355 with 3 HBs.To quote Darth Vader, "Impressive, Most impressive..."

I am a major tone freak ... Single coils have a different sound than Humbuckers ... Single coils are more raw and edgy, warmer, nastier, more bite, ... they react to a distortion device differently, they react to preamps, and effects differently .... Humbuckers have a nice clean smooth sound which is cool in their own right ....

The frequency response is different with the 2 different types of pickups ...

You can get a lot of bass, middle and treble out of a modern 5 string bass with active electronics .... But the sound is different ... it is a noticeable difference

Why do people continue to use single coils when they are noisier?

One Word ... TONE

I'd love to try a 4004, but I've never even seen one up close. (Somebody here in Atlanta must have one). I have a 4001CS that is incredibly quiet. I had it in a studio recently and the engineer was surprised at how quiet it was. So was I! My 72's and '73 all have the typical noise but the Squire is just great. I'd be interested to know if other CS owners have the same good furtune...

I should have clarified; the 4001CS is not shielded. It's in original factory condition and it's going to stay that way!