I love the later 4001 basses . But I bypass the cap and put flats on 'em . Congratulations . I recently picked up a burgandyglo 4000 !
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New to Me...4001 Day!
- Thread starter Quadzilla
- Start date
Already bypassed the cap
. I've done this to every 4001 I've had over the last 10 years. Makes a world of difference! I just do it in the way that I run a wire in line with the cap that bypasses it. Works great and is completely reversible.
nice bass. I need to ask. i thought 4001 had the toasters. my first and only one did. obviously not. so what is the difference between a 4001 and 4003
Already bypassed the cap
I was a Ric player (‘77 4001, ‘81 4003) in my early years before the internet and I never knew about the cap mod!!! I was a huge Yes and Tool fan back then and thought Ric’s were the be all end all. I could never figure out why mine sounded thin. I even bought a new Ric in 2005 and was a/b ing it with a mex Jazz I had to my then wife. The Jazz sounded better, which was baffling to me . I played that Ric for a year then got a 62 RI J and haven’t had one since. I’d love to try a 4001 with the cap bypass just to see how it would sound through my Ampeg and Sunn rigs
The toaster neck pickup was replaced by a high-gain pickup sometime in the mid-70s. To a rough approximation, the main difference between the 4001 and 4003 is the 4003 has truss rods that work like most other basses instead of the "hairpin" rods of the 4001.
@PaulBoyer wrote a book (now in second edition) that will fill in the details (and the photography will cause GAS, just saying). Maybe he can answer your questions a little better.
@Quadzilla, that's a beautiful bass, I'd rock it all night!
In a nutshell, the 4001 and 4003 look pretty much alike, work much the same, and serve the same purpose. But the details of the structure, electronics, and appearance have gone through several incremental changes. In essence, the company could have made all these changes and still called the bass 4001, but I think they changed the number on the improved model to separate it from an existing inventory of the "unimproved" 4001. They sold both models alongside each other in catalogs for the first few years of the '80s. The book tells all.
Yes - the original bridge on my '79 was just fine (and in a little better shape than the one in the pictures). But - last year, I gave in and bought a Hipshot - and was very pleased with the difference it made. The Hipshot simply looks cooler - much more modern. My bass plays better and it has a bit more low end muscle - in other words, the solid tailpiece gave it more bass and minimized some of the HF chatter. I got the Hipshot with brass / chrome, and I wish I hadn't waited as long to get it as I did.
I put a Hipshot bridge on my former '04 4003FL, but not because the stock one did anything wrong. I am "one of those" who actually intonate my fretless basses so that the 12th "fret" harmonic matches the stopped note there and I needed more rearward travel of the saddles to get there, which the Hipshot allowed for.
Well, I just left Kevin Brubaker's shop and he thinks that after a minor truss-rod servicing (bending them back into a back-bow) and a setup, she will be money!
I had to to minor truss rod surgery on my 4005WB after I got it back from a friend who had it for a few years. That was the first time I removed rods but it was pretty easy to do, really. The most important thing is to clamp the neck between the nut and 1st fret to keep the fingerboard from popping.
Edit: spelling
Edit: spelling
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What a great patina! And it looks like the previous owner spent a lot of time exploring the instrument's range.
Already bypassed the cap
I’ve not heard of this. What does bypassing the cap do for tone?
