Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have some nicks that I want to touch up, my Rick is a mid 70's white (fading to cream) 4001. Any suggestions on the type of paint I shoud use? I also want to replace the strings, I am using Fender flatwounds right now, and am thinking of moving to another type of flatwound. Any suggestions? I am also thinking of replacing the bridge pickup with something that has more tone. Has anyone donw a direct replacement with a Seymour Duncan or Bartolini, again any suggestions?

I don't know nothing about no flat wound strings ... don't ever use 'em ...

Pickups ... I have a set of the seymour duncan humbucker pickups for a Ric .... don't like them at all ... It will reduce the resale of your ric if you put them in ... if you want humbuckers then put in 4004 pickups ... but what I would recommend is put a 4003 bridge pickup in your 4001 and take out the .0047 capaciter that will give it the modern sound ... plus this mod is totally reversable it will look stock ...

This will make it louder, fuller, thicker, more mid punch, and more aggressive, and it will maintain the treble bite ... it will kick *** .... then you can also put a toaster in the neck ... this makes for a great combo of nasty and sweet tone ..

The main reason the sd humbuckers change the sound so much is because they tell you to take out the capaciter ... so the simplest mod would be to take out the .0047 capaciter which would make your bridge pickup one dimensional ...

This may be all you need to get better tone ..

Potsy: The Fonz says try these. I consider that you will like the tone and they will be easy on your 4001 neck.

Michael: How about Pyramid strings? As the Fonz would say, 'They're cool-a-mundo!'
'Replacing the bridge p.u. with something that has more tone.' How do you mean? More treble? More bass? More OUTPUT? I for one don't trust totally enclosed pickups with no visible polepieces, which happens to be the case with the two brands you mention. You can't finely adjust string-to-string volume on those.
And I certainly wouldn't remove the treble-pass capacitor from your 4001 if I were you, unless you want to dramatically alter its tone.

There are 2 things that made many players hate the old 4001's from the '70s ... the difficult to adjust truss rod ... and that capaciter ... with that capaciter in it makes that pickup one dimensional ... no bass at all ... if you solo a pickup with the capaciter on it ... it will sound terrible .... not like a bass at all ... if you put in the modern 4003 bridge pickup without the capaciter then you can solo that pickup and it is a great sound ...

The capaciter is an anachronism ... it comes from an era where the pickups weren't as hot and the amps and cabinets didn't have the treble bite ... todays amp can reproduce pretty much any frequency ... also they have a balanced line out to a several thousand watt pa which can reproduce frequencies that we can't even hear ...

If you are playing a 1960's bass through a 1960's amp then go ahead and use a capaciter ... otherwise it will take away more than it adds ...

Thanks for the input, but what about the paint?

Fonzarelli, Pinky say "How ya doin!"

BTW, have you tried those strings yourself, and on what type of Rick?

Michael, I'm not sure if Rick used the same dupont paint as fender/gibson but this site has nitro spray cans of original color guitar/auto paints...including olympic white and a neck amber to tint/age it with...check it out at: http://www.reranch.com/

You don't even need to replace the pickup in the old 4001s to get the bass of the 4003s, you just pull the cap, or better still, add either a push-pull pot or a rotary switch in place of one of the current controls, allowing both modern and vintage sounds without altering the guitar irreversably. It works great this way.

Potsy: I am happy with Pyramid strings on my Model 4003. My next set will be the Thomastik-Infelds. John Hall has commented favourably on the Thomastiks and the plus is the lower level of tension.

Leave The Finish Be! Your bass is simply turning into a RELIC!

Besides, the finish is like 32 coats of conversion varnish and sealers and coat after coat of clear. Read thru the "Rickenbacker Luthier" archives for posts on how the finish is applied. Then you'll know why your only two options are: Arnquist refin, and LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE.

Garry

I usually don't try to touch up paint my ric basses ...

Some Ric owners who have black or dark blue will sometimes use a felt tip marker to touch up chips and nicks ...

I did touch up a mapleglo once ... I'm not sure which looked worse the chip or the fix ...

The problem with white fading to cream is how do you match a color like that? and will it fade the same?

Take the best care you can and when it gets too beat up refinish it professionally ...

Quite often people refinish old Rics to mapleglo ... yes a lot of those old mapleglo's used to be fireglo, jetglo, or some other color ...

I'd like to refinish my 4003s5 white/cream to mapleglo ... it is not beat up enough yet ..

How would you go from a high tension string (Pyramids) to the low tension Thomastik-Infelds? I mean do you take off the Pyramids then loosen the truss rods and install the Thomastik-Infelds, or would you remove the Pyramids and install the Thomastik-Infelds and then loosen the truss rods?

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

Recently I saw a 4001 with some sort of switch added, that I assume is used to bypass the capaciter. Has anyone else seen one of these?

I am in the process of making new electronics for my '73 4001. I had a new pickguard made so I can leave the original intact; I think I am going to wire it up like a Jazz Bass, VVT with a switch to go from bidge pickup with or without the cap in line. Any comments or suggestions?