Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Just got my first Ric Bass. It's an '08 Jetglo 4003 with what I as told Sergio Silva Pickups. I have a 100watt B100 Acoustic Amp and my other bass is a F Jazz with a Warmoth neck. My F has a almost neglegable of hum, which has singlecoils. I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a F Dual Humbucker Strat with S1 switch to split the hums and single coils, and a F Tele. Both when using the single coils have a neglegable amount of hum. My Ric hums at least 5 times as much. I know single coils hum a little, but his is nuts. I took the bridge, pickguard and bridge pickup off and check everything. Everything is grounded properly. Any suggestions other than get new pups?

08 Ric 4003 wrote:Just got my first Ric Bass. It's an '08 Jetglo 4003 with what I as told Sergio Silva Pickups. I have a 100watt B100 Acoustic Amp and my other bass is a F Jazz with a Warmoth neck. My F has a almost neglegable of hum, which has singlecoils. I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a F Dual Humbucker Strat with S1 switch to split the hums and single coils, and a F Tele. Both when using the single coils have a neglegable amount of hum. My Ric hums at least 5 times as much. I know single coils hum a little, but his is nuts. I took the bridge, pickguard and bridge pickup off and check everything. Everything is grounded properly. Any suggestions other than get new pups?

Do a search here for the RWRP mod. Very easy to do.

I will try swapping the wires on the bridge pup to see if it works.

Thanks

I don't think it is the PUs. I heavily rely on Sérgio, only have his PUs in my 4001:D. It might however be, that due to these "Hipowergains" ) from Sérgio, the also take up more of the noise around (specially these tube lamps wih internal transformers are heavy hummers)
You should try this (made my bass dead quiet ):

My Guitar amp is tube, but my bass amp is solid state and I never play though my guitar amp only to check and see if it buzzes when plugged into it, an does. So how do I stop hipowergains?

08 Ric 4003 wrote:I will try swapping the wires on the bridge pup to see if it works.

Thanks

That will not work. The magnet also has to be flipped from 'face up' to 'face down' as well. (But then the wire exit hole in the mag no longer lines up with the pup. That's how you know it's done correctly.)

I didn't wire the Sergio pups in. It came with his pups in it. The guy I got it from said it didn't hum when he had it, but my other bass thought the same amp with singlecoil is 10 times quieter. The wire and ground comes out of the pup on the bridge side. Would foil help? I have changed pups before and I am not afraid to take my axes apart. Just was some advise or I may just get hums in it.

I also noticed when I stand in different spots in my room the humming gets louder or quieter.

08 Ric 4003 wrote:I also noticed when I stand in different spots in my room the humming gets louder or quieter.

I experience the same phenomenon with my 460 BG and my 370/12RM FG, the latter being the noisier of the two, running them through a Sampson Airline wireless into my current-era Kustom Coupe tube amp. I haven't checked whether I get similar noise from my basses run wirelessly into my Ampeg BA115 solid state amp.

08 Ric 4003 wrote:I also noticed when I stand in different spots in my room the humming gets louder or quieter.

And there you have it. RWRP will fix this.

So to do the RWRP mod I need to just flip the magnet and reverse the wires going to ground and the tone pot? I am an electrician so switching the wires in no problem, and I have changed out pups before, but I have never had to flip over the magnet. Do I need to disassemble the pup to flip the magnet?

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I love my new (to me) '08 Ric 4003. Wanted one for years.

Sergio is a member; you could PM him here; his username is "Rickcrazy."

08 Ric 4003 wrote:So to do the RWRP mod I need to just flip the magnet and reverse the wires going to ground and the tone pot? I am an electrician so switching the wires in no problem, and I have changed out pups before, but I have never had to flip over the magnet. Do I need to disassemble the pup to flip the magnet?

Yeah, you've got it. It's very simple in theory, and even simpler to do with a Ric treble position Hi-Gain than most pickups. Like you said the wiring is the really obvious part. Flipping the magnet requires taking the pickup apart which consists of the bobbin, the magnet, some screws, and the baseplate and surround. Label your wires beforehand! Also label the bottom side of the magnet "SP" (same polarity) before taking it apart so you know what's what.

It's an easy job if you take it slow enough that you don't make any sloppy mistakes. Oh, and it works wonders to combat hum. The only setback is that it won't work if you mess with the volume controls too much (just like a Jazz Bass) or engage the 0.0047 uF cap.

fluorescent lighting or dimmer switches in the house ? these can also drive ricks crazy. some 1/4 " copper foil wrapped around the coil, grounded can help as well.

I have a F Jazz bass and have to keep the both volume knobs at the same setting and it is dead quiet. If I turn one a fraction of a turn it starts to hum, but I like playing though both pups. I guess I will be getting out the soldering iron and tools and markers and gutting a pup. I think I will do it when I change my strings. I can live with it for now. Sergio if you are out there help.