Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Just posting for a friend here.

He has a fairly recent 4003 with vintage tone circuit. The bridge pickup just started distorting heavily for no apparent reason.

The neck pickup is fine. Any ideas of what to check first ? I'm thinking the pickup itself might be at fault. Anyone know what the resistance should be on them ?

Seems unlikely that it failed (possible of course though...) Perhaps a cleaning of the output jacks, or a dirty pot?

The bridge pickup should be about 11.8k, but generally you will either get a number in the Ks, a 0 (which means it is shorted out and you will get no sound) or an OL (which means there is a break in the wire and you will get no sound).

Can you describe the distortion? Is it a crackly/scratchy sound, or more like he is just running it through a fuzz pedal?

If it's crackly/scratchy, that is an electrical connection problem, or a dirty pot. Normally these types of issues are intermittent; they can disappear for bit then come back again.

It's really bizarre that something would just stop working. Normally when that happens to me, it's an electrical connection issue: I unknowingly stressed a cable and the connection cuts out and gives the scratchy/crackly sound. (This is why I love 90-degree cables and hate straight ends, haha.)

Do some process of elimination: try a different amp and a different cable.

Keep us posted! I'm not aware of any way that pickups can cause actual distortion, as this is caused by clipping due to overdriving an amplifier. There's nothing in a passive bass that could clip a signal.

This can happen if the contact leaf for the bridge pickup in the pickup switch is barely making contact with its opposing leaf. The vibration of the contacts while bring played causes the contacts to vibrate together like chattering teeth, causing the distortion.