Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a 72/73 toaster pickup 4001 with Ernie Ball 105 rounds on it and play over the bridge pickup with the cover removed. I have a lower output on the E string as compared to the other 3 strings. Appears to be more so with the toaster than the bridge pickup. The E string isn't dead. Any idea if something is wrong and/or how I can improve the output?

Also, and unrelated, both pickups have matching magnetic poles. Checked them with a cheap compass. I thought that they were designed to be opposite poles so as to act as a humbucker when both are engaged.
Thanks!

Well, this may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing solution for you considering the vintage of your pickup and bass, but I just had a modern toaster put into my '08 4003FL, and my luthier, Jim Mouradian, ground down the outer screw-tops on the P/U so that the P/U itself can sit higher in the pickguard opening.

An alternative would be to counter-sink indentations in the back of the pickguard to accept the screw-tops.

Either way, you can now raise the whole P/U and have the E side a bit higher. But I doubt you'll be pleased with my suggestions. Sorry; just throwing them out there.

Maybe lower the G side of the toaster to effectively raise the E side, and raise the action on the A string just a hair to compensate?

Other than that, you may need a new winding...

Take off the 4 screws on the pickguard closest to the toaster, lift it a little bit on the e string side, and wedge something under the side of it. You can get the height you want (to see if it works atall) and you can just screw it back in when done.

Davy, as far as i know the weak E thing in the 4001 is really a pain in the @§§ for a lot of Rick owners (me too). I own a 75 with a new toaster on the neck and i'm getting the same problem.

I read here and there a lot of suggestion on how to cure that but no one worked, if you search carefully in this forum and on the official Rick forum you'll find a lot of suggestions, some given by John Hall himself. Maybe some of the suggestions will work for you.

Anyway, the whole E thing improved a little when i installed DR Lo-Rider (the nickel plated version, can't remember the gauge). The output is better balanced between all the strings with bridge pick up, a bit less in the toaster position. Anyway, still the E string still lacks some of the classic Rick frequencies, in particular mode in the first five frets, which makes me think of something like a dead-spot thing ...

DavyR wrote: Also, and unrelated, both pickups have matching magnetic poles. Checked them with a cheap compass. I thought that they were designed to be opposite poles so as to act as a humbucker when both are engaged.
Thanks!

Alas no.... if you search the RIC corporate sight for RWRP you'll find some interesting info...

Some questions on the imbalance:

- Is the problem limited to the open E and the lower frets, or a small range of frets?
- Is the action of your E string a little higher than the other strings? The E may be sitting a little high in the bridge saddle groove if the bass was originally set up for lighter strings.
- Have you had the bass for some time and this problem has just arisen, or have you recently acquired the bass? If the former, then it is definitely a set-up/string issue.

A suggestion I have heard on dealing with the sort of imbalance you are talking about is to lower the pickup a little. It would seem that the relative imbalance fades as the absolute output drops.

Check out joeysbassnotes.com. He addresses that very problem on his site. I had just purchased a new 4003 in May
that had the same problem. His suggestions saved the day. Of course he is talking about new basses, but maybe it will apply
for your 4001 also.

With all of my basses I tend to leave 4 mm between the E string and both pickups. They have a very deep bottom end and a strong E signal. Try that.

Thanks for the replies! I'll try a few things and let you know what I find.

I'm not sure when this happened to the low "E" for its not my main bass. I do seem to remember the lower output last year also. Yes, the lower output does seem to be on the open E and the first 5 frets. The E doesn't sit higher than the other strings.

BTW, any comment on the matching magnetic poles for both pickups?

That's how they all are. RIC does not do RWRP like Fender and never has. You can change it yourself if you like by flipping the magnets and switching the pickup leads.

cassius987 wrote:That's how they all are. RIC does not do RWRP like Fender and never has. You can change it yourself if you like by flipping the magnets and switching the pickup leads.

I Googled this question but found no answer. Maybe you know. There's the 'right hand rule' where, for example, if the current in a coil runs counterclock-wise you'll create a North pole in the direction of the thumb. But, what if the magnet that you then wrap the coil around is a South pole in the direction of the thumb? There's a conflict! Do they work against each other? Is THIS what out-of-phase is? And, how do manufacturers prevent this from happening, i.e., mixing them up in pickups? LOL! Thanks!

When you make a humcanceling pickup pair, the coil is reversed and the polarity is inverted by flipping the magnet over. So I don't think that's ever an issue.

I don't think any two low E's on any of the early 70's basses I have owned have sounded the same!

The open E usually sounds less full ( ) than a Fender, and as mentioned, on certain parts of the board as well.
Go over the set up as carefully as possible, as mentioned above. Try and make sure the string is settled completely in the saddle, and, in the nut. Action needs to be pretty much perfect, and then you might, just might, see a difference. Please be very careful if adjusting the rods!

The p/ups from this era tend to be weak, especially compared to anything modern, so an A/B test is often misleading on the ears!

Good luck!

FWIW, the E string response on my 1976 4001FL is very good, it is higher dB output than the others as is proper. So I'm sure with some trying you can get most any decent condition Ric to perform the same.