NBD! '77 Rick

[bassteve]

Just got my hands a 1977 Jetglo Rickenbacker 4001
I have to replace the tuners and clean up some a little rust on the metal because it seems like everything on it is original and worn down. Very little wear on it for being a 1977 just a couple chips in the binding on the body and the fret wire is worn down. But let me tell you aside from the tuners sticking and slipping when I play, this thing is a HUGE improvement over my my 2002 P-bass

 

[Engine207]

No photos, no Ric bass...

 

[bassteve]

fine, i guess seeing is believing

 

[electracoyote]

Big congrats! A classic bass in a vintage year.

 

[Engine207]

Beautiful! Congrats on getting my Ric's ('80 JG 4001) older brother!

Complete with the official "neck pickup bass-side adjusting screw" pickguard crack. As for those tuners, I had the krappy Klusons on mine too. I replaced them with [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]:

 

[Tonegasm]

Sexcellent! Sweet Ric!

 

[Ric5]

You can get replacement tuners from a Ric dealer or from Hipshot.

Also you might consider bypassing the .0047 capacitor on that bass.

 

[bassteve]

I've heard about that capacitor bypass mod alot. What difference does it make from how it is now?

 

[lug]

I've heard about that capacitor bypass mod alot. What difference does it make from how it is now?

The cap rolls off some bass output of the bridge pup. bypassing it will basically add some beef to your sound. Consider a push pull volume or tone knob to switch the cap in or out. This way you don't have alter the bass and you can have both sounds available.

 

[kcole4001]

You can try the bypass with a short strand of solid core wire (not multiple twisted strands).
Just tightly twist the bared ends of the wire around each cap lead and plug her in.
It's the extra cap in the bridge pickup tone pot circuit, not the cap that's in place on both tone pots.
It's easy to see the difference between the two.

You'll instantly hear the difference.
If you like what you hear, just add solder to each end of the wire.

You can get away with just leaving it twisted in place, I've done this with one of mine back in 2005 and it's still working just fine.

 

[Engine207]

The cap rolls off some bass output of the bridge pup. bypassing it will basically add some beef to your sound. Consider a push pull volume or tone knob to switch the cap in or out. This way you don't have alter the bass and you can have both sounds available.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but my bypass mod dramatically diminished my treble output, making my bass sound beefier. Am I all messed up?

 

[lug]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but my bypass mod dramatically diminished my treble output, making my bass sound beefier. Am I all messed up?

The cap is supposed to reduce the bass output of the bridge pup from what I've read. I haven't done the mod on mine yet so I'm only going by what I've seen. Depending on how Ric wired the cap, it could do either.

 

[David Jayne]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but my bypass mod dramatically diminished my treble output, making my bass sound beefier. Am I all messed up?

The cap is in series, so it reduces bass. Removing it increases bass, which could be heard as reducing treble, but isn't.

 

[msb]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but my bypass mod dramatically diminished my treble output, making my bass sound beefier. Am I all messed up?

The cap removes the bottom end ... the mids and highs are not effected . When you bypass the cap you are getting more low end , same mids and highs .

 

[kcole4001]

Exactly, and it does indeed make a drastic difference in tone.
A push/pull option like the modern 4003 offers is a nice addition to the tonal palette.
From what I read, a little extra routing is necessary to fit a push/pull pot.
I run mine in modern mode 99% of the time, but more tonal choice is almost always a good thing.

 

[Engine207]

The cap is in series, so it reduces bass. Removing it increases bass, which could be heard as reducing treble, but isn't.

So I guess I kinda heard right, but didn't know what the hell I was talking about! Neither the first time, nor the last!

 

[Ric5]

I've heard about that capacitor bypass mod alot. What difference does it make from how it is now?

The .0047 capacitor on old Ric basses totally eliminates all bass and low mids from the bridge pickup. A few love it. But most of us hate the sound it makes. Removing or bypassing it makes the bridge pickup have full frequency response. Like all other basses. Also a 70s 4001 has 250k ohm vol pots and 500k ohm tone pots. I like to replace the 500k ohm tone pots with 250k ohm tone pots. This makes the bass a little warmer sounding. I have rewired several 70s 4001 basses this way and every time it was a nice improvement.

 

[lug]

The .0047 capacitor on old Ric basses totally eliminates all bass and low mids from the bridge pickup. A few love it. But most of us hate the sound it makes. Removing or bypassing it makes the bridge pickup have full frequency response. Like all other basses. Also a 70s 4001 has 250k ohm vol pots and 500k ohm tone pots. I like to replace the 500k ohm tone pots with 250k ohm tone pots. This makes the bass a little warmer sounding. I have rewired several 70s 4001 basses this way and every time it was a nice improvement.

I never found any documentation that it was the reason, but by dumping the bass out of the brdge pup, it allows you to run that pup to a guitar amp in stereo mode with less chance of blowing the guitar speakers. Logically, that's why I'd put it there.

 

[lucas vigor]

fine, i guess seeing is believing

Schwinggggggg!!!!

Awesome bass!