Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi. Newb to Rickenbackers. I like the look of the chrome treble pikcup cover, but does it do anything tone-wise?

No it doesn't....to some of us here all it does is get in the way of the 'sweet spot"

A few, including John Hall, say yes. I say no.

However, what would make a difference is the fact that without the cover, there is suddenly a new place for you to pick or pluck. Some liken to calling it the "sweet spot". (Edit: Obviously Steve is one of these folks )

I like the cover - I rest on it when picking, and it doesn't interfere with where I pluck.

Yeah I take them off the second I get them home. I gave away a bunch of them here several years ago as matter of fact. I know the newstyle horseshoe pickups don't sound quite as full and are noisier without the covers. I play right near or over the bridge pickup so i couldn't tell you if the sound is different without the plastic covers. i think their is a metallic component to them so it's possible and JH ought to know.

I haven't seen a difference in tone whether the pickup cover is installed or not. The pickup cover does help shield the bridge pickup from noise.
For me, the "sweet spot" is plucking right over the neck pickup.

Sweet. Well if anyone wants to "give one away", haha, let me know. I think I may want to get one. Like you said, it's nice to have something to rest your hand on. And I play near the neck pickup more, anyway. Usually between the two. At least on my other basses I did...

I find two sweet spots: above the neck pickup and right behind the bridge pickup cover, using the cover as a thumb rest.

I have never removed the cover and never intend to. It does shield the pickup if you ask me--whenever I have noise from the bass I can silence it by touching either the strings, the bridge, or the pickup cover.

Plus it just looks neato.

Joshua, if that quiets the hum, you need to make sure the wire from the back of the mute pad metal to the body of the tone pot in the control cavity is intact. Ohm from the jackplate to the tailpiece - it should read very near zero ohms. Also from the jackplate to the bridge pup surround, also zero ohms. If neither is, then check the grounds - make sure the black wire with eyelet is on one of the height adjustment screws on the bridge pup and right against the body of the surround held there by the spring.

johnallg wrote:Joshua, if that quiets the hum, you need to make sure the wire from the back of the mute pad metal to the body of the tone pot in the control cavity is intact. Ohm from the jackplate to the tailpiece - it should read very near zero ohms. Also from the jackplate to the bridge pup surround, also zero ohms. If neither is, then check the grounds - make sure the black wire with eyelet is on one of the height adjustment screws on the bridge pup and right against the body of the surround held there by the spring.

Thanks for the good advice... I'll do all of these things and let you know if something is fishy. The black wire with the eyelet is definitely in the right spot but I haven't checked out the other things you mentioned before.

sloop_john_b wrote:A few, including John Hall, say yes. I say no.

Sorry, but you've mischaracterized my comments. I've said it leads to increased electrostatic noise, since you're removing the shield, and never said anything about it altering the tone.

I used my multimeter on the bass last night but I don't think I was using it 100% correctly. Once I finally got readings, I couldn't keep them stable for very long, although when they did stabilize they were always really close to zero. I had set it to measure 200 Ohms; I also tried 2K Ohms. Does it matter if I use the red or the black tester in a particular place?

I'm a total amateur so I apologize for the dumbness of this post.

The 200 range was okay, and when reading resistance, it doesn't matter were red or black probes go, they would be interchangeable. You are only trying to prove a connection, i.e. a zero or very near zero reading.

Resistance, is futile...

jnbass wrote:Resistance, is futile...

8.jpg

In this case, yeah!