Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all!
Here is a Question for Sergio and anyone else who knows a bit about the 70s bass pickups:
I just won this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... :IT&ih=006

Trainspotters may note the rather low resistance reading of the pickup. If my memory serves most bass pickups up until the 4003 highgains were about in the 7-8kohm region and this one looks like it has some shorting going on inside.
Is this 4.04 reading plausable or is pickup due for a trip to Sergio's house
I'm fine if it needs a rewind as I have the treble pickup too and it is dead!

I've noticed that I have seen a disturbing amount of crook or dead 70s pickups. What was the problem? Bad insulation on the wire or sharp corners on the bobbins? (I suspect Sergio may know the answer as well)

One final one: Sergio, are you interested in rewinding some 70s pickups to a standard (or perhaps a tiny bit hotter on the treble pickup) specification?

Opinions or ideas anyone?

emac.

I have band practice very near where that pickup is coming from! Are you too missing a screw?

jps wrote:I have band practice very near where that pickup is coming from! Are you too missing a screw?

Yep! thats the one..

Eden, the neck pup on my late '75 is about 8.05k and the '73 neck high gain Sergio sold me is around 7.37k, so I believe you are right about a partial short.

johnallg wrote:Eden, the neck pup on my late '75 is about 8.05k and the '73 neck high gain Sergio sold me is around 7.37k, so I believe you are right about a partial short.

Yes I'm feeling that 4.04Kohms will make for a rather quiet thin sound....

Is there such a thing as a "partial short"? I truly don't think so.
4.0 K sounds too highly irregular a rating for a stock Rickenbacker bass neck high-gain pickup. I think it rather has been either rewound or partly unwound. For starters, the output lead on it doesn't look stock to me...
Yes, by all means, send those or any high-gains my way. I'll be glad to bring them back from the dead!

Hey Sergio, what if someone tried to raise or lower a pole piece nail and it cut the insulation enough to short out half the windings?

rickcrazy wrote: Yes, by all means, send those or any high-gains my way. I'll be glad to bring them back from the dead!

Rightio! Once I get both pickups together and I've made a new bassplate for the treble pickup, I'll get the correct details of you to send them your way!
Many thanks Sergio and Jeffrey and john for the clues...

emac.

My pleasure, Eden.
Hi John. Well, the coil would still produce a very weak, tinny tone, but you'd get no reading whatsoever therefrom, believe me.

I used to have a '73 4001 that had a bridge pickup that was bad. The pickup worked and made sound but it was weak and thin, and the DCR was about 2.5k. So that leads me to believe that a portion of the coil was shorted out. I believe it is possible Sergio.

Greg

I got the neck pickup today......
You are right Sergio it does look tampered with so I will have two pickups up for a rewind soon. I'll probably send them after Christmas as there is no point sending them at the moment with the postal backlog etc.
This 4001 is becoming a real bitsa bass. It's kind of fun geting a lot of broken parts and bringing them back to life.
emac.