Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I took off the bridge pickup cover on my 4003.. I was expecting a hefty piece of metal? what went wrong..whats it made of.. is that real chromed metal ? or.. an impersonator
of the lowest degree.... was it always that way ?

Hey Antony,

I believe the older models were chrome plated metal. I ordered a replacement (not that I use it) and it was chrome plated plastic.

The old ones were made of metal, chrome-plated like Dan describes. That is what came on my '73 4001. Since then(I'm not sure exactly when) they changed over to a chromed plastic material

A metal handrest on a '73 4001? A non-Rick replacement part, no doubt. I believe that ever since the horseshoe p.u. was discontinued in the late sixties the handrest over the treble pickup has been made out of plastic.

The handrests were made out of metal for a short time, Sergio. My '73 has one, and I am the original owner. I believe they made them that way from the time the horseshoe was replaced with the under string unit, until about '74 or so...

Herbsman, your pickup cover is real chrome, but it's chromed plastic, not chromed metal. It's always been that way on the 4003. Nothing is wrong with it, and I certainly wouldn't want a hefty piece of metal there.

The pickup cover is another anachronism ... like the mute and the stereo jack ... it is a throughback to look like the old horseshoe pickup ... which was the very first electric guitar pickup designed and implemented.

This was chromed steel that was part of the magnet and magnetic field for the pickup and strings ...

The plastic pickup cover does provide some level of hum rejection as well. It's copper plated beneath the chrome as I recall and acts as a shield to some degree.

The cover on my '72 4001 is plastic by the way.

Robert,
the cover on your '72 may be plastic now, but it isn't original. Back then they were putting metal covers on the bridge pickup...

Actually it is entirely original according to the original owner who would have no reason to be less than truthful about it as he is a long time friend. I also had another '72 Mapleglo 4001 which I purchased new (my first RIC) and it too had a plastic cover. I thought it was metal until it was damaged and some of the plating came off, I was amazed to find it was plastic.

I have heard that '72 was something of a transition year for the 4001, maybe this is another example?

Well, never say never, but I remember trying new models of these in the store in the '72-74 time period, and I clearly remember when they starting arriving at my music store with plastic pickup covers. I noticed it right off, becuase the plastic ones look thicker than the metal ones did, and I can usually tell which type a bass has from the picture (assuming the picture is any good). Also, if you search the archives of this site, John Hall replied to one of my posts in which he confirmed that metal was used after the horseshoe was replaced, and then the plastic came along later. Mr. Hall, would you care to elaborate?

Other than the horseshoe I've never seen a metal one to my knowledge, but then I've never had the pleasure of handling a 4001 older than the ones I've owned.
I remember feeling somehow cheated when I discovered the cover was plastic on my first RIC bass. Funny how a 17 year old mind works....

I know what you are saying Robert! And I have tried to figure out what the cutoff was for the binding and inlays too. I have seen basses just a little older or a little younger than mine with checker binding(mine has white binding), and I even saw an early '72 (at least it had a '72 jackplate) with the narrow inlays! It just looks like they made them with what they had back then, and the process of replacing binding and inlays didn't occur on one particular deadline date. But my research continues...

I have never seen a metal cover on a Ric bass, except for the 'horseshoe' of course.

They are easier to find WITHOUT the Rick bass at guitar shows, luthiers, and vintage parts dealers. I guess that says something about how many people removed them!