Found my tone!

[coolhandjjl]

Finally found my tone. Did the RWRP mod on my 4003, now my guitar is dead quiet with one caveat: It is sensitive to keeping my hand over and touching the bridge cover (that I have always left on 'cause I think it looks cooler that way.) When I lift my hand totally off, I get a buzz, but still quieter than pre-mod. I already rest my hand on the bridge cover when I play, so no big deal.

I also put on some DR nickle Lo-Riders. I get a nice growly tone, piano-like string sounding, especially the E string. I'll save my humbuckers and 500k pots for my next Ric.

[cassius987]

It's normal to have that problem on any bass without shielding... a Jazz Bass is just as likely to do it as a Ric, in fact a guy who wrote a review of a Marcus Miller Jazz Bass on another forum recently had the same problem. RWRP/humbucking is only part of the solution. The way to take care of this is thorough shielding (of any unshielded pickups and of the control cavity) or... touching the strings/hardware, which you do 99% of the time anyways. So shield only if you're really nuts about it, otherwise I'd just say live with it and be happy.

[coolhandjjl]

Doesn't really bother me. In fact, now that you mention it, it was probably like that all along, but I could never hear it due to the original pickup wiring hum itself.