Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I recently attempted to shield my 4003 with copper tape, but I only made the noise worse. When I tried to remove the electronics, I couldn't desolder the wires (I think my iron may not be powerful enough). I would like to try it again, this time removing the electronics and testing the resistance at all points. Any tips on removing the electronics, soldering iron wattage recommendations, or shielding the bass?

I just use a 35 watt iron on my basses. You might need to add a tiny bit of more solder to get the connection unsoldered when you are trying to get a wire off of a potentiometer body. Let the iron get fully hot. But you don't need to unsolder much to do this addition.

One thing to remember is you have to have a "box" made out of the copper shielding tape in order to have this work. Line the electronics cavity and let the copper come over the top and lay on the flat of the bass by about 1/8", remove the knobs then the pots and switch and put the tape on the underside of the pickguard also, letting it go far enough to reach the cavity copper. Line the wire rout to the neck cavity and the neck cavity also. Make sure the copper reaches the pickup (use straps of tape to do that) when the pickguard is installed. Line the bridge pup rout, again letting the copper lay on top of the bass, to mate with the pickup surround plate. Solder all joints where copper tape meets copper tape in your cavities and on the pickguard. This should get you quiet for all instances where radiated interference is a source of noise, except for directly in front of the pickups as you need them "open" from the copper "box" to sense the strings.