What years do the push pull tone knobs start on Rickenbacker 4003

[The Man 53]

I have a 4003 I bought new in 2001. Nothing is in my manual about the push/pull, but I have read on here about the push pull tone knob of modern 4003. Mine doesn't push or pull so it doesn't have it, but what years do? I like the older Ric sound, so next question is how hard is it to put one in? And is is really worth it? Should I cut it some other way? Thanks

[The Man 53]

found out that 2006 was when they started coming standard with the push pull tone.
Also found out that Ric sells the stuff to do it to older ones, fairly inexpensive. What I need to know now is how hard is the mod to do? I haven't seen the wiring in the Ric, but with the Ric o sound I imagine it isn't pretty under the pickgaurd

[SGD Lutherie]

It's very simple. All you are doing is using a push-pull switch to put a .0047µF cap in series with the treble pickup.

Here's Rickenbacker's schematic showing the cap (C3):

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19507.pdf

This doesn't show the push-pull though. The switch will shunt a connection across the cap to bypass it.

[The Man 53]

I can do soldiering and some wiring, but that is something I cannot read by myself. I only have enough knowledge to be dangerous. I need more of a MS paint version of that = cut here, soldier here and herel sorry I am kinda slow.

Thanks for the reply

[SGD Lutherie]

Wire the switch on the push/pull up like this. It goes between the pickup selector and the treble pickup volume pot. If you are replacing the treble pickup tone control with the push/pull, just wire it up as it was.

This way the switch is in bypass mode when down, and "vintage" mode up. If you want to reverse that, wire the jumper across the top two lugs instead of the bottom two.

[The Man 53]

Perfect. More my level of skill there.

[Ferniff]

I'm interested in this too. Which item exactly is it on the Rickenbacker website. I didnt see anything listed as a push/pull pot

[pennex1]

Don't want to hijack the thread but same question.

My parts order from Rickenbacker just arrived and am in the process of updating my 86 to the current 4003 Rickenbacker with the push pull pot.

I am a little lost with the diagram. Not an electric engineer but am decent enough to do some simple soldiering. I am replacing the pickup selector switch, mono jack and finally the push pull pot. I am down to the push pull pot switch. I have a grey wire that goes to the stereo jack and a black wire from the pickup selector switch. Which wire goes to which lug? Where do you soldier the remaining ground wires? Do you use any of the 3 lugs that are on the top of the switch? Also, is that capacitor the right one? It says .047. I was under the impression it is suppose to be .0047?

Here are some pictures of the wires and the bass.

You can see the corrosion buildup on the selector switch.



I soldier the jumper already.


thanks for any help!

[Ric5]

Rickenbacker basses from the 60s to early 80s have the .0047 capacitor. From the mid 80s to 2006 they did not. From 2006 to present they have the capacitor in a push pull circuit.

The .0047 capacitor removes all of the bass and low mids from the bridge pickup. Basically on most basses this capacitor is a tone sucker. The ONLY basses that the capacitor actually sounded good were the 60-s 4001 basses with the old horseshoe and toaster pickups. The old horseshoe pickups were weak and really didn't have much treble bite. With the capacitor the old 4001 basses had a nice bite. But once Rickenbacker started using the high gain pickups the capacitor became obsolete. Rickenbacker basses from 1969 to present sound better without the capacitor.

[The Man 53]

Back to this again. I finally have the cap. I am having a hard time locating the push pull tone pot. I think I could use another brand if I knew which to get. What is the resistance of the factory tone knob? and could I use a fender push pull pot? Let me know or get me a link if you can. Thanks

[The Man 53]

I talked to a guy today and he said any 250 push pull tone knob should work since it is a single coil...hope it is correct

[JackTheRipper]

The current 4003 uses a 330K pot. But my understanding is that RIC used 250k, 330k and 500k pots over the years. I don't know what was used in 2001.

I didn't find just that pot on the RIC website either, but the whole 4 control wiring harness in p/n 00220, $65.

--jack

[JackTheRipper]

Here's a link to a push/pull pot:

+The Rickenbacker Page Parts

Scroll down to Part # "RICpp", the first part in the Electronics section, $15.

--jack

[Ric5]

The push pull circuit is there for when you get tired of your Ric sounding good. Simply pull the knob and your tone will suck.

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by JackTheRipper

The current 4003 uses a 330K pot. But my understanding is that RIC used 250k, 330k and 500k pots over the years. I don't know what was used in 2001.

I didn't find just that pot on the RIC website either, but the whole 4 control wiring harness in p/n 00220, $65.

--jack

A 2001 4003 will have all 250k ohm pots.

[JackTheRipper]

Here's a link to what I think the the push/pull pot from RIC:

Boutique: viewitem

Currently says in stock, $9.50.

And, thanks, but I won't take your "tone sucking" bait. To each his own.

--jack

[The Man 53]

I did it and I just saw that there is 2 different caps. One for the push pull and one for standard tone. I bought the standard tone and now have to redo as I cannot tell any difference when pulling/pushing the tone knob. Hope there is better luck next time.

[JackTheRipper]

I installed a hi-gain bridge p/u (RIC p/n 00003) and a new set of pots (RIC p/n 00220) in my '77 4001 over the weekend. It turned out great, love the difference. I did a back to back test with my '10 4003 and the 4001 is just a bit brighter when using just the bridge p/u. That may be due to the strings though.

Very glad I made this mod.



--jack