I just wanted to share some info here. Recently I decided to get my basses back in shape. On that list, was my 1975 Rickenbacker 4001 fireglo. I took it to a technician/Luther. He had a hell of a time with the truss rod system, which (in the past) had been maxed out by folks who didn’t understand the Rickenbacker dual truss rods. Anyways, he brought it back to life. However, one of the items I forgot to tell him to get together was the damper feature.
I ordered the damper through Rockenbacker. I bought 2, seeing there was a minimum order amount. That amount is 10 dollars. The crumby thing about the order, was the 17 dollar shipping charge... and the shipping was pretty darn slow. Otherwise, I received my items and went to work last night.
Just FYI
The foam mute from Rickenbacker should be cut in half the long way. This will provide you with two foam mutes. The foam rubber mute comes with tape backing.
I released the tension on the strings or you can just remove them.
Remove the bridge and then the tailpiece... mine is the five screw type.
Next lift the mute damper bar, which should have a grounding wire attached to it. Don’t break that. With an exacto knife I was able to cut off the old mute (which was a hard and gummy mess).
After that bar is clean, apply the new bass mute and put it back together in reverse order. Enjoy!
