Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a 2018 Rickenbacker 4003S. Recently changed the bridge to Hipshot and added a Treble Bezel. Now my bridge pickup only makes sound if I touch the chrome. What might have I broken in the process and what do I do to fix it? I tried moving the ground wire that goes around the pickup screw in a few different positions, but that didn't seem to help.

The volume on the bridge pickup was always much lower than the neck pickup before this mod. Is this normal? It was a used bass so I'm not sure if the previous owner modded anything.

Thank you.

thevince wrote:I have a 2018 Rickenbacker 4003S. Recently changed the bridge to Hipshot and added a Treble Bezel. Now my bridge pickup only makes sound if I touch the chrome. What might have I broken in the process and what do I do to fix it? I tried moving the ground wire that goes around the pickup screw in a few different positions, but that didn't seem to help.

The volume on the bridge pickup was always much lower than the neck pickup before this mod. Is this normal? It was a used bass so I'm not sure if the previous owner modded anything.

Thank you.

Did the pickup work fine before you made the changes?

Other than low volume, the pickup worked fine before. I modded it with the bezel first. This is when the pickup seemed to stop working. I didn't notice touching the chrome brought the sound back until after I added the Hipshot bridge, so that may be unrelated. Thank you

Did you reconnect the bridge ground wire?

The ground wire hook that goes around the screw? Yes. I tried it between the spring and lower screw hole. Also tried it between the spring and treble bezel. And between the treble bezel and chrome. None seemed to work.

I did not solder the ground wire to the Hipshot. I basically exposed the wire a bit and wedged it between the bridge and the body. Thank you

It's a bit unusual for the bridge pickup to be quieter than the neck pickup. Usually it's the other way around. So there may already have been an issue.

Hi Vince and welcome.

Electrically, the fact that the bridge pup only produces any output when you are touching the chromework makes no sense at all. By touching the chromework, you're not completing a circuit for the pup - and even if somehow you were doing so, you'd also be completing that same circuit by merely touching the strings (unless you use coated strings with a non-conductive surface). The behaviour you describe is very baffling.

I can only imagine that in the act of fitting the bezel you may have dislodged a bridge pup wire from where it's soldered to the rest of the circuitry. The fact that the pup sounded weak before you made any changes suggests that maybe there was a dry joint in there somewhere. Have you lifted the pickguard and taken a look 'under the hood' to see if anything has come adrift? That's the next thing I'd do.


P.S. - I'm a big fan, BTW. Love your work with Yazoo and Erasure.

As others have mentioned, something may (probably is) be adrift with the wiring, either in the control cavity or at the pickup, itself. Can you pull things apart carefully and make some photos to post here.

Thank you everyone for helping!

I took pictures of the pickup before I put everything back together. I can also get a picture under the pickgaurd if it helps. Is there a missing ground wire?

(PS: I'm not the famous Vince Clarke, just a Rickenbacker player with bridge pickup issues. )

Vince.....The ground wire/shield in your pickup lead has broken. You need to remove some of the grey insulation (half an inch or so) then solder it to the eylet screwed to the back of the pickup. When you're done, glue the wire by it's shielding to the baseplate near that eyelet. This will act as a strain relief.

What Dane said. Your photos show that the braided shield/ground from the grey lead wire is broken off from the pickup.

thevince wrote:(PS: I'm not the famous Vince Clarke, just a Rickenbacker player with bridge pickup issues. )

You should have played up on this.

I had the same problem with my 2016 4003s. The wiring on the bridge pickup is very fragile.

Too fragile in my opinion.

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll try it this week.

I'm having trouble finding a picture of what this is supposed to look like. Does anyone have a reference image to share? Thank you.

thevince wrote:Thank you for the suggestions. I'll try it this week.

I'm having trouble finding a picture of what this is supposed to look like. Does anyone have a reference image to share? Thank you.

The closest I can find that may give you an idea what it should be like is this John Fay photo from years ago; it is slightly different than yours, but the basic concept is the same.

Thank you everyone for the helpful information. I was able to fix the ground wire issue today. The bass sounds better than it did when I got it! No more low volume on the pickup.

There's still some short in the wiring that can cause sound to drop, but I was able to put everything back together without that happening. Also when I touched some of the wiring, the pickup screeched. Luckily, also not a lasting issue.

For now, I'll consider this a success and record some Yazoo covers.