Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi guys,

Has anyone on here retro-fitted a Vintage Tone Switch to a 4001?

I know some people hard-wire a by-pass of the Capacitor on the Treble Pickup Tone Pot, in fact when I bought the bass the previous owner had by-passed the capacitor (I have since removed the wire), but I would like to re-instate the by-pass function by means of a Vintage Tone Switch in order to unleash the full sound potential of the 4001. The bass did sound quite nice without the Capacitor (I presume this is what the 4003 sounds like in normal mode?) but at least with the Switch it is not a permanent arrangement and you can toggle the circuit in and out as you choose, in order to give the bass a broader tone pallete.

Although these retro-fit Vintage Tone push-pull switches are aimed at people owning older 4003's that did not come supplied with the switch, I presume it is not an issue on the 4001?

The bands I play in cover a variety of music styles and the classic vintage 'Ric sound' isn't entirely suited to all types of music and rather than swap basses mid-set I feel the push-pull switch to bypass the capacitor would be the ideal solution.

Yes, the push-pull switch will work fine in a 4001. The older (Alpha brand) switch is sometimes too tall to fit without removing a bit of wood from some 4001 basses. The new CTS switch will fit just fine:
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/POTENT ... p_666.html

cjj wrote:Yes, the push-pull switch will work fine in a 4001. The older (Alpha brand) switch is sometimes too tall to fit without removing a bit of wood from some 4001 basses. The new CTS switch will fit just fine:
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/POTENT ... p_666.html

I didn't know there were two types of switch, I presume if I buy one I will automatically get the newer 'CTS' switch?

Have you installed the switch on your own Ric?

last year i had gotten the older switch and could not put it in a '74 without removing wood so i nixed the job. also the pot shaft and mounting collar was smaller.

Baker69 wrote:

cjj wrote:Yes, the push-pull switch will work fine in a 4001. The older (Alpha brand) switch is sometimes too tall to fit without removing a bit of wood from some 4001 basses. The new CTS switch will fit just fine:
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/POTENT ... p_666.html

I didn't know there were two types of switch, I presume if I buy one I will automatically get the newer 'CTS' switch?

Have you installed the switch on your own Ric?

If you get it from the RIC Boutique you will get the new one. Some dealers might still have some of the older ones so be sure to specify the new one.

And no, I have not installed one in a 4001, I'm just going on what John Hall (RIC's CEO) said, which is that it will fit most older instruments:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=394000&p=720492&hil ... ch#p720492

I bought a whole new harness and put in a 79 4001 and only needed to Dremel out a little bit of wood. It worked great.

jdogric12 wrote:I bought a whole new harness and put in a 79 4001 and only needed to Dremel out a little bit of wood. It worked great.

So, that was a new harness with the new switch? And you still had to remove wood?

BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS wrote:last year i had gotten the older switch and could not put it in a '74 without removing wood so i nixed the job. also the pot shaft and mounting collar was smaller.

The shaft is the same size. The bushing is smaller.
I tried putting the original switch six lug switch into a V63 the other day and it was too tall, so we ordered the new switch as the owner didn't want to take a router to it.

Thanks for the advice so far guys, I don't really want to be drilling bits of wood out so I'm going to make sure I get the shorter CTS switch.

Yeah - that is what I used. It just dropped right.... the big this is figuring which way you want it wired... traditional in or out????

It has to be the exact opposite of how the 4003 works, i.e. the default (down) position would be the vintage or standard position and pull up for the cap bypass.

FWIW, my C64 is wired cap engaged in the "in" position (stock wiring for a C64), and bypassed in the out position.

Does anyone have a pic illustrating the wiring of one of the newer pots in one of their guitars/basses?

I've just been doing an internet search and can't find any reference to the newer CTS push-pull switches anywhere. Here in the UK the only one's I can find are the older 'Alpha' switches.

Does anyone know where I can get one from in the UK?

Probably have to order it through a RIC dealer. As I understand it, RIC had CTS make these custom for them so you probably won't find them anywhere else...