Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Mark, I need your advice, I'll try to be as short as possible. I have "dug up" my old '73 4001, it was in storage for MANY years, it's the transition model 4001, ie, check'd binding, toaster neck pu etc. Main problem: With the 3 way toggle switch in the center position, the volume decreases, the neck pu, by itself sounds great, nice "warm" tone, ( toggle position UP ), bridge pu is typical RIC tone, & sustains forever, ( toggle position Downward ), this leads me to believe the problem is in the internal wiring. Since I do not have a wiring diagram I decided to open up the control cavity of my "working 4001", after checking each joint, ( point to point ) approx. 3 hrs spent doing this, and btw I discovered they were wired identically & the .047 caps in the '73 were of the old style, large blue 400 volt DC type, (just thought you would remember the old days), I only had a volt/ohm meter to check the various points for continuity and values, ALL readings taken between both basses were so close that after the 3 + hrs, & my eyes failing badly, I almost gave up, incidently, I did unsolder all pu's & checked them also. In my final "bout" I checked the 4 "junction" posts coming off the toggle switch, top 2, left & right had the pu's connected plus the caps going to I believe the volume pots, not sure, may have been the tone pots ? But both were wired identically, so I just assumed it was correct since I was using the "working" bass as my reference, one more "go" at it and I discovered when I measured "across" the 2 "levers" with the "make/break" contacts, the "working" bass read "dead short" with the toggle switch in the center position, I took the meter & checked the '73 in the same position and came up with approx. 10 K ohms ? The rest I leave up to the MD for "diaignosis" in other words, HELP ! Thanks for your time, I hope in your reply I don't see the word "send".

The electrical phasing of the pickups is backwards.

One of the leads on one of the coils must be rewired to correct this.
The bridge pickup is easier to do than the neck /toaster .

You must take it out to do this .
There is a wire that is solder to the middle of the coil (this is fed thru the magnet) and then there is a wire that comes off the side of the coil (this is now probably the 'Hot' wire)unsolder these wires from the grey lead .

switch the placement of these on the lead and re-assemble .That's it!

Thank you Mark, your reply is greatly appreciated !