Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm going to try and explain this as best I can.

In putting my new 4001 back together I screwed something up w/ the Bridge PU or the toggle switch. I'm going by memory here. But I remember there being two (Maybe three) wires coming out of the Bridge PU. One was soldered to a "harness type thing" that was attached to a screw on the bottom of the PU. Like a ground. And if I remember right, something else was attatched to it as well (maybe another black wire from the PU?). Then ANOTHER black wire from the PU was solderd to a grey wire that came from under the pickguard. Now, this grey wire was split in two I think. One black wire from the PU was soldered to one wire on it, and then there was another wire/split just hangning loose and not soldered to anything. This wire had been "coated" in solder, so I thought that maybe it had come off of that harness thing, so I soldered it to it. It could be that that someone was just being really clean about it and put a nice layer of solder around it to keep it held together. But it seemed like it went to something. So, got the bass put back together... and NOTHING. Bridge PU is dead. Neck PU works good though!

Now, should I not have soldered that 2nd grey split wire to that "ground" under the PU? Or did maybe something come loose at the toggle switch? I wish I had brought it with me to work today so I could take pix. But I don't have an amp here, so why bother? I'm trying to collect info so that when I get home, I can work on it. It's a royal pain messing w/ the PU because I have to take my strings off and on! That can't be good for the strings. Esp Pyramid Flats!

Now for the bridge set up...

My bass seems to play really great. However, the strings are bouncing off the top of the bridge PU. Off of those "divots". I feel that I've got the bridge PU lowered almost as low as it can go. I do think I have more room though. And if I bring the bridge saddles up, I feel the action will be a little too high. I guess the bottom line is.. lower that PU as low as it can go huh?

I just think that it's a weird design because that PU can be raised pretty high... yet there is NO WAY can ever work in that situation because the bridge can't be raised to compensate for it... and if so, the action would be horrid. Just seems silly to me.

I'm basically wanting to know... is it normal for a bridge PU to be lowered to almost as low as it can go?

It seems like the "divots" in my bridge PU, esp at the A and D string, stick up from the PU higher than the E and G. is that normal too? The PU is out of a 4003.

Sorry to ask so many questions. I'm just a few tweaks away from pure buttah!

Jason

if you are going to rewire then you really have to learn how to read the schematic diagram on the Ric web site ... or get a properly wired ric to use as a template ...

also to see if a pickup is dead or not get a ohm meter ... I suspect you have a wiring problem ...

getting the wiring right is a big deal ... if you wire your ric wrong then it won't sound right ...

setting up a bass is an art and a science ... part of it is basic principles and part is taste ...

if you live anywhere near southeast Michigan then bring it by my workshop and I can assist you ...

There should only be two wires coming from your pickup. The "harness type thing" is the ground and surrounds the hot wire to complete the connection and is webbed to keep noise out of the hot wire, it should be soldiered to the webbed portion of the other wire coming out of the cavity (usually there is only one wire that goes directly to the connections inside the cavity). The black wire is the hot wire and should be soldiered to whatever color wire is inside the wire coming from the cavity. The colors don't matter. The ground should attach to the screw under the pickup and a wire coming from inside the pickup, and the black should come from the other wire from the pickup. There is a schematic at the Ric webpage also if that will help you. If you still have problems e-mail me and I'll pull the pickguard off one of mine and help you, I don't remember the exact wiring diagram at the moment

If you have the bridge pickup almost all the way down and your strings are hitting the tops of the pickup your neck may need to be adjusted, you should have about 1-2 business cards of relief at the 12th fret with first and last fretted on the same string. You shouldn't have to have your bridge all the way down, that usually indicates that the neck is not adjusted correctly.

The A and D are always a little higher on Ric pickups, how much higher seems to depend on the year.

Ok. I need to see if my solder joint is broken at the toggle. However, I can tell by what you said Bob that everything IS correct with my setup with ONE contention: And it's that wire that comes from the cavity. Can you tell me more about that wire that comes from the body? Are there TWO wires inside one "sheath" of wire? Because I think that there are. And that is where I got confused. Because a black from the PU is soldered to a wire and taped up. But then there was this other wire from that one MAIN wire from the cavity. I soldered it to the ground! When I'm now wondering if it came out of that "taped" wire and needs resoldered. So that three wires are connected and soldered?

Is that PDF above this diagram you speak of? Because if it is... I can't make heads or tails of it. HA! Sorry. I'm trying draw what I'm seeing. Then I will post a picture.

Finally... that "ground" that comes from the PU has two wires soldered to it right? One wire IS the ground itself, and the other comes from inside the PU correct? Do any wires coming from the cavity get soldered to this ground that screws on to the bottom of the PU?

Thanks!

Jason

wow I just learned something ... the 4004 comes with 500k pots and the 4003/4001 has 250k volume pots and 500k tone pots ... I thought they all came with 250k pots throughout ... I guess I should take my own advice and read the ric schematics more ...

Check this out:

http://www.highgainmedia.com/RIC/Wiring01.jpg

http://www.highgainmedia.com/RIC/Wiring02.jpg

http://www.highgainmedia.com/RIC/Wiring03.jpg

http://www.highgainmedia.com/RIC/Wiring04.jpg

Let me know if you can't read what I wrote.

Jason

Stewart McDonald recommends 500K pots for humbuckers and 250K pots for singlewound pickups.

Oops, meant to say "singlecoil"