Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi guys, I'm just about to give my Ric a new lease of life' and would like a little advise please from all you Ric experts here ? Ok' to cut a long story short, I recently got me a 1975 4001 FG, and she's a beaut! only thing is the previous owner decided (some years ago) to change the original neck pickup for a Dimarzio Model one? Now Im not knocking the sound of the guitar, it sounds great as is , but looks hideous! but this did reflect in the price. Anyway I now have all the necessary parts to start afresh and put her back to her former glory! New Pickup, New pickguard, New CTS pots, Cloth wire, everything that is' barring the tone caps. Now my question is what caps would you recommend?? I have these on my shortlist'(see pics) would these be a good edition?? They are two NOS Mullard mustard caps or Two NOS K40Y-9 paper in oil? Im personally favoring the mullards due to actual size? the POI caps are around an inch in length and was wondering about room for them?? btw' I'm also not going to bother installing the .0047 cap that's on the output of the bridge pup.






Any advise, would be much appreciated, Cheers.

I prefer paper in oil. But when it comes to caps, anyone preference maybe someone else disdain.

Just try both and pick the one you prefer.

It is a 3 minutes job... 7 if you account for the soldering iron warm up time...

A '75 could've originally had Sprague Orange Drops in it. YMMV...

I vote for the lower pictured caps. Size does matter. Besides, with the two cap brands you are talking about, and the signal levels involved, you will not notice a difference. Now if you used a ceramic disc......

Thanks for the replies guys, Johnalig........ceramic discs!!

My vote goes for the Mullards too, if they don't sound good you can always sell them to a boutique amp guy , from memory I think all mid 70's had Cornell Dubilier caps, yellow with a black ring.

I've read up on the Mullards and they seem to get good reviews? Even though they are as you say more suited to amps

A string bounce wrote:Thanks for the replies guys, Johnalig........ceramic discs!!

Yeah, GREAT sound quality! NOT!!!!!

A string bounce wrote:Hi guys, I'm just about to give my Ric a new lease of life' and would like a little advise please from all you Ric experts here ? Ok' to cut a long story short, I recently got me a 1975 4001 FG, and she's a beaut! only thing is the previous owner decided (some years ago) to change the original neck pickup for a Dimarzio Model one? Now Im not knocking the sound of the guitar, it sounds great as is , but looks hideous! but this did reflect in the price. Anyway I now have all the necessary parts to start afresh and put her back to her former glory! New Pickup, New pickguard, New CTS pots, Cloth wire, everything that is' barring the tone caps. Now my question is what caps would you recommend?? I have these on my shortlist'(see pics) would these be a good edition?? They are two NOS Mullard mustard caps or Two NOS K40Y-9 paper in oil? Im personally favoring the mullards due to actual size? the POI caps are around an inch in length and was wondering about room for them?? btw' I'm also not going to bother installing the .0047 cap that's on the output of the bridge pup.






Any advise, would be much appreciated, Cheers.

I would strongly suggest leaving out the .0047mfd bass cut cap on the treble pickup. Some people like it but all it does is make the treble pickup sound thin and lifeless.

rickfan60 wrote:

A string bounce wrote:Hi guys, I'm just about to give my Ric a new lease of life' and would like a little advise please from all you Ric experts here ? Ok' to cut a long story short, I recently got me a 1975 4001 FG, and she's a beaut! only thing is the previous owner decided (some years ago) to change the original neck pickup for a Dimarzio Model one? Now Im not knocking the sound of the guitar, it sounds great as is , but looks hideous! but this did reflect in the price. Anyway I now have all the necessary parts to start afresh and put her back to her former glory! New Pickup, New pickguard, New CTS pots, Cloth wire, everything that is' barring the tone caps. Now my question is what caps would you recommend?? I have these on my shortlist'(see pics) would these be a good edition?? They are two NOS Mullard mustard caps or Two NOS K40Y-9 paper in oil? Im personally favoring the mullards due to actual size? the POI caps are around an inch in length and was wondering about room for them?? btw' I'm also not going to bother installing the .0047 cap that's on the output of the bridge pup.






Any advise, would be much appreciated, Cheers.

I would strongly suggest leaving out the .0047mfd bass cut cap on the treble pickup. Some people like it but all it does is make the treble pickup sound thin and lifeless.

I've been reading up quite a bit over the weekend with regards to the .0047 cap.......and a lot of posts suggest removing it, will take away the 'clank' when run in stereo???

No, not at all. Removing it expands the low end response. The overall tone of the bass remains intact, It just easier to get the bass to rumble. RIC officially removed the .0047 cap in about 1984. It reappeared around 2005 -06 with the pull pot. The normal mode for those basses is for the cap to be shunted. Pulling the knob out engages it. When I pulled the cap on my 1980 4001 it came to life. The cap is very limiting and unnecessary. Most Rickenbacker bass hardware was borrowed from Rickenbacker guitars and the wire harness is no exception. While perhaps appropriate for a guitar, it chokes the life out of a bass. Oddly, it does not seem to affect older basses with horse shoe pickups the same way. My '63 has plenty of bottom with the cap. That does not make sense to me but it is true for some reason.

Thanks for the info Ted, you have made up my mind!

A string bounce wrote:Thanks for the info Ted, you have made up my mind!

You won't regret it. It will make you love your bass all the more.

rickfan60 wrote:No, not at all. Removing it expands the low end response. The overall tone of the bass remains intact, It just easier to get the bass to rumble. RIC officially removed the .0047 cap in about 1984. It reappeared around 2005 -06 with the pull pot. The normal mode for those basses is for the cap to be shunted. Pulling the knob out engages it. When I pulled the cap on my 1980 4001 it came to life. The cap is very limiting and unnecessary. Most Rickenbacker bass hardware was borrowed from Rickenbacker guitars and the wire harness is no exception. While perhaps appropriate for a guitar, it chokes the life out of a bass. Oddly, it does not seem to affect older basses with horse shoe pickups the same way. My '63 has plenty of bottom with the cap. That does not make sense to me but it is true for some reason.

Ted, is that cap shorted? That would explain it.