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Pick Up Covers on Vintage Jazzes..
- Thread starter JohnLovesRush
- Start date
nada, now a days they are there for looks only. i'm sure someone else can give you a more detailed history, but apparently they were used for shielding back in the day, and they had foam mutes on the bridge cover. but today they are there for looks, and they look pretty damn sweet IMHO
They were used to give shielding for the pickups and under the bridge one was a foam mute to make it sound DB-ish.
Now they're used for vintage looks, or some players (Marcus Miller, Martin Mendez, and myself when I had a j-bass) integrate the neck one into their playing.
Now they're used for vintage looks, or some players (Marcus Miller, Martin Mendez, and myself when I had a j-bass) integrate the neck one into their playing.
I think the original ones might have had something going on, but now they're just there for looks.
Actually the original 4000, and 4001's the horseshoes were magnetized and were a working part of the pickup, sometime in the 70's when the switch was made to high gains. The shoes were no longer in the design of the new pickup and the cover was put in its place for shielding and to keep the overall look of the bass roughly the same. Its been that way all the way up through the current 4003's I'm sure someone with more info will chime in and/or give corrections, Im still brushing up on my Ric history.
Yes they did, a 4001 and a 4003 are roughly the same bass in most respects, the major difference being a redesign in the trussrod system. You can put a most 4001's and a 4003 side by side and unless your an expert cant visually tell the difference.
A 4001:
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-1979-RI...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
My 4003:
A 4001:
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-1979-RI...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
My 4003:
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ahh I see..well I've seen them with no cover.. I don't think geddy played one with a cover.. again could be wrong...
You would be correct, Geddy removed his cover, as do alot of people. Unfortunately if a person wants to remove the cover its not as simple as unscrewing them like they are on a Fender. The cover is bolted on with the pickup and raises and lowers with the pickup in the outer mounting ring. Most of the time you have to take the strings off and disassemble the hole unit to take it out, though with a little patience and care it can be removed without string removal.
John
John
