Rick bottom drops out.

[Houston]

This is difficult to explain; occasionally, the "fatness" just drops out of my 4001. I still have bottom, it just seems to be squelched. Each pickup seems to do what it normally does by itself, but with both pickups on (which is how I almost always play), the "guts" of my sound will sometimes go away, leaving it thin-sounding. And no amount of unplugging, knob-twiddling, etc. will bring it back.

My Jazz bass doesn't have this problem, and it isn't limited to my rig; I've had the same thing happen on other rigs. I've changed cords, taken my tuner out of the chain, etc., but nothing helps. When she's in the mood, she comes on strong. When she's not, she doesn't.

I should mention that this generally happens after I've been playing awhile (an hour, maybe). ANd some nights it doesn't happen at all.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Joey

[Basshole]

Short in one of the pickups. Heat makes the windings expand, and it shorts. It's a wild guess...but here's how to check:

Put an ohm meter on the bass normally, and again when it goes to the zoo. Compare readings.

You also might wanna open the bass, and re-heat all the solder joints, in case there's a "cold" one.

[Espidog]

It might be worth posting this query in the "Rickenbacker Basses" section on www.forum.rickresource.com

Re. the solder joints: better still to go round them with a solder pump, suck out all the old stuff and refresh them with new solder.

[Houston]

Thanks, espidog. I didn't even know that existed!
I'll give that a shot as well.

[Houston]

Thanks for the advice.

I re-solered everything I could find (especially the jack) and the problem seems to be gone.