Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sorry - a search only led to more uncertainty, with use of both values in several threads allegedly about the same item. So, the cap used in the 4001 bridge pickups: was it 0.047 or 0.0047 mfd? Pick of the Ricks seems to offer both:

http://www.pickofthericks.com/categorie ... lectrical/

I'm assuming that I need one of these to go with a new push/pull pot.

Thanks!

The capacitor in series with the bridge pickup is .0047. The tone control caps are .047.

The schematic is available on the RIC web site.

Thanks Bill - it was your idea of using the push/pull pot w/ the RI horseshoe that'll be going into my '72 4001. But I guess I'm still not certain; which capacitor do I need to use with the push/pull pot? THe confusion arises because the push/pull pot is a tone control, but I think you mean for me to use the 0.0047???

FretlessOnly wrote:I guess I'm still not certain; which capacitor do I need to use with the push/pull pot?

Both!

The "push-pull" part is the switch that bypasses the .0047 cap. Pull it up for one setting, push it down for the other (I forget which is which). The "pot" part is a tone control, just like before, so that uses the .047 cap. You can probably reuse the one that's currently in your bass (if you don't mind unsoldering it from the original pot).

Fantastic - thanks Bill. I'll buy both caps and the push/pull pot from Pick of the RIcks (short money) and have Jim Mouradian do the whole shebang. I don't want to mess with the original tone pot to the extent possible. Thanks for the help.

John, here is a drawing on the RRF FTP site that shows the wiring and values.

Thanks John!

songdog wrote:

FretlessOnly wrote:I guess I'm still not certain; which capacitor do I need to use with the push/pull pot?

Both!

The "push-pull" part is the switch that bypasses the .0047 cap. Pull it up for one setting, push it down for the other (I forget which is which). The "pot" part is a tone control, just like before, so that uses the .047 cap. You can probably reuse the one that's currently in your bass (if you don't mind unsoldering it from the original pot).

You can wire it either way. On my RIC guitars, I have it so "down" has the capacitor inline as the "default," with "up" bypassing the cap. On other guitars I've added it to, to keep the "stock" functioning, the inline cap is engaged on the pull.

OTOH, on my 4002, I liked the tone of the neck pickup so well with the cap bypassed, that on that instrument "down" is bypassing the cap and "up" has it inline. I also like "down" as "bypass" on 6XX series guitars.

John, to reverse the function and make down have the cap in-line and up bypass, move the red wire coming from the selector switch from the top two terminals to the bottom two terminals. The red wire from the pot would still go to the center terminals.

Ya da man John! I still have a print out of your diagram stashed away in my fireglo 4003 case after printing it out many years ago (probably when I was on the corporate forum, but hadn't yet joined this one). I did a trick on that one where I tweaked the value a bit of "the cap" to get a similar cutoff to my 1982 4001S.