Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey! I have three questions about my 4001 bass. The first two are more out of curiosity than practical need-to-know.
1. My bass is a mid-70's (say 1976) 4001 with an Autumnglo Satin finish. When was this finish offered and how common is it?

2. I literally just noticed, this evening, that it has double binding on it. Was this a dicision that was more than likely made by the worker applying the binding? Was this fairly usual?

3. When I put the pickup selector on the treble pickup, I notice that it is about half as loud as the bass pickup. Is this normal? If not, what should be done if I want to fix it?

The sound of the bass is great, so it's not that I want to go messing around with the pickups, but I would like to know. If you can answer any of these questions, or point me towards a post that already addresses them, I would be grateful!
Thanks,
Randal

pop the guard off,you will notice three capacitors inside the wiring harness.Two are the same (these are connected to the tone controls)the other runs between the bridge volume pot and one of the lugs on the switch (closest to the guard ).This is the .0047mfd cap.
As a test ,unsolder it and install a piece of wire in it's place.

Now try out the pickup and both together.THAT will 'fix' the problem.

You would have to ask the factory about when the satin finished walnut/autumn glo was stopped .But I think it began in 1975 .The first guitars with satin anything were the 430 guitars.Then the basses and 360's got it.

Thanks a lot, Mark! This forum is a wealth of knowledge. I really appreciate how helpful everyone is.

I will be sure and try this out with my pickups. Also, I will contact the company about some of my other questions. If they don't, I wonder if they've ever considered staffing a historian to research company and customers' inquiries into instrument histories. For a fee, this could be a great service.

Thanks again,
Randal

Well you will have to ask them that question as I am NOT affilliated with them at all.

Tell Tommy and Henry Hello


And if you don't get the answers to your questions from them ,come on back .

Just ask away.