Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Played Gil's (GibsonLP) all-original '67 FG 4005 today. The bridge pickup sounded, as expected, very thin and weak. A .0047mF cap on a pickup so close to the bridge is lethal.

I suggested shunting it; you know I'm on a mission from God to bypass all evil bass-cut caps.

Wow! HELLO bridge pickup! Where have you been hiding in the last 47 years?!

The bass sounds soooo much better now both in the bridge position (previously totally useless) and with both pickups on.

A-men and pass the wire and solder!!! Another save!!! way to go Ilan!!!

The before/after difference on cutting this cap on vintage Rickenbackers is staggering. I highly reccommend it for anybody that plays their guitar and cares about the tone.

I have always known that since my old 4005WB had the cap bypassed already when I bought it in 1973.

Maybe that's why I am the only one on this board who loved the sound of them................

collin wrote:The before/after difference on cutting this cap on vintage Rickenbackers is staggering. I highly reccommend it for anybody that plays their guitar and cares about the tone.

I find it's subjective. It depends on the instrument. (The push/pull switch is a great option. I have it on at least a couple of mine, including my 4005.) Sometimes the cap makes sense, sometimes it doesn't.

jps wrote:I have always known that since my old 4005WB had the cap bypassed already when I bought it in 1973. Maybe that's why I am the only one on this board who loved the sound of them................

I love the sound of mine! whatchootalkinbout

kennyhowes wrote:I love the sound of mine! whatchootalkinbout

Okay, you're one of the exceptions.

IIRC, most folks talked about how the 4005 didn't sound like a real Rick. (Almost like it was a Fender, or something. )

Mine has TI flats, so it's kind of Höfner-ish or maybe like those big Gretsch basses, a little.

It's like a great big Rick guitar that goes thump and gonnnnk. As opposed to clannnng.

I've always bypassed them on my basses and liked the tone.

Never clip, just bypass... I did the push/pull on my 4001.... a little more effort but the best of both worlds!

kennyhowes wrote:Mine has TI flats, so it's kind of Höfner-ish or maybe like those big Gretsch basses, a little.

I must say, Kenny, that it didn't sound like the '65 Höfner or the '64 Gretsch you see in this pic... And all 3 have TI Jazz Flats.

I bet that the 4.7 nF cap made the already very nasal-sounding bridge position sound nearly dead. Good call... I'd love to hear sound clips.

However the way the cap changes phase is pretty cool in its own right. Some day I'd like to find a bigger value that still made a big enough difference in frequency and phase to be interesting, like 10 nF for starters. This would be for a 4003 of course.

Only use I get from the 4.7nF is when playing both PUs together, making them blend instead of fighting each other (what cassius987 has been talking about for years ). Bridge PU solo with 4.7nF inline has no use - to me (but I’m no musician though).
I tried 10nF inline cap. Noticeably less effect than 4.7nF. In my ears it cuts only the very lowest bass. Both pickup together it gives a richer and more powerful sound than with the 4.7nF.

In the end I ripping out the push-pull, and moved the (10nF) inline cap from in front of the volume pot (signal goes through cap before meeting pot) to after the volume pot (signal goes through cap after leaving pot). In this position the cap will not thin down the bridge pickup at all (plugged into a high impedance input of an amp, as someone explained long time ago), so it doesn't matter if it's there or not playing bridge PU solo. But it still have the same effect of shifting the signal (or whatever it does) in the way that makes the pickups blend nicely. Both PUs together, the effect is full power of the bridge PU blended nicely with the neck PU to a fuller and more powerful sound than any other style of wiring I’ve tried.

I've played a couple bypassed 4001's, and I prefer the cap on the bridge PU. With a good enough amp the bridge PU carries the day, and with the cap in place sound sufficiently different from the neck PU to allow a lot of sounds. The bypassed 4001's seemed neutered a bit in as much as the 2 pup's sounded so similar.

A classic case of YMMV...but maybe the bridge pu on a 4005 is so much closer to the bridge as a 4001/3?

You could have used a push-pull on the 5th knob and at least kept the option of the capacitor.

edski wrote:but maybe the bridge pu on a 4005 is so much closer to the bridge as a 4001/3?

It's even closer to the bridge than a Jazz bridge pickup, check out the pics.