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[Rickenbacker 4003] RWRP Bridge Pickup Mod Tutorial

#101
krfoss said:
You nailed the diagnosis. It seems the ground was never attached and just wedged in place creating contact but falling off when moved. I never knew it was supposed to be connected!

I soldered the ground on the star terminal and everything worked perfectly. Silent as can be. My heart stopped for a second when, going back to play a little later, the neck pickup stopped working until I realized I had my mono Jack in the rick o sound outlet. Stupidness continues.

This mod is great for anyone considering. Worth the extra effort.
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Glad you got it working right!
Yeah- not sure why it isn't done this way at the factory like most single-coil instruments with multiple pickups. Actually the owner/CEO of the company pretty much just says "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" about pretty much every out of date aspect of Rick instruments... It was the first thing I did to my first Rick before replacing the pickups and I can't say I heard any negatives from it (there is phasing that occurs with multiple pickups no matter what, but this mod would change the blended tone somewhat theoretically).
 
#102
sunbeast said:
there is phasing that occurs with multiple pickups no matter what, but this mod would change the blended tone somewhat theoretically
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What effect on tone would be noticed? I've noticed that my slap (pop) tone is less ballsy than it was before the switch, but I'm wondering if thats just in my head. Could pulling the pole pieces in/ out do this, or bring it back?
 
#103
krfoss said:
What effect on tone would be noticed? I've noticed that my slap (pop) tone is less ballsy than it was before the switch, but I'm wondering if thats just in my head. Could pulling the pole pieces in/ out do this, or bring it back?
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It’s hard to say for certain- the RWRP arrangement cancels out any shared signal between the two pickups, most of which will be midrange harmonics (and most importantly 60-cycle hum!). The thing is that there is inherent phase cancellation between two pickups regardless of physical electrical phase of the pickups because they are picking up the string vibration at different locations on the string (ie different times)...

The polepiece height (and pickup height of course) definitely effect tone and mid content, so I recommend experimenting with those. I feel like lowering the pickup and raising poles seems to favor mids with the stock pickups. Also try rolling the neck pickup off just a hair to bring back some mids and punch (many consider this the “classic” Rick setting). You will still get some hum-cancelling equivalent to how much neck pickup you have dialed in. I also like the reverse sometimes (ie- full neck pickup with bridge rolled off a bit), but this is a bit less useful with the low-output stock neck pickup...
 
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#105
krfoss said:
What effect on tone would be noticed? I've noticed that my slap (pop) tone is less ballsy than it was before the switch, but I'm wondering if thats just in my head.
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from doing the RW/RP mod?

it's in your head :)

the sound itself doesn't change, it's only the hum that gets canceled.
 
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#107
Edit- I was wrong about its applicability to this discussion, but this app is neato: You can put in the correct scale and other measurements and also invert phase of a pickup (and revert to see the difference). Keep in mind this response changes as you fret notes (ie- this shows you theoretical response for one open string at a given scale/pitch, the interactions change for every note!) Guitar Pickup Response Demonstration
 
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#108
I took the pickguard off my 4003S Ric, to shield its innards AND perform the RWRP procedure. Now, I'm putting it all back together and find that I have a pair (2) SPRINGS left over. I've already replaced the two LARGER springs that are part of the BRIDGE Pickup assembly, but there doesn't seem to be sufficient space between the Pickguard and Chrome Surround of the NECK pickup. Do these Springs go BENEATH the Neck PUP's Screws and Magnet and simply sit flush against the cavity? Do they go elsewhere, altogether? Someone please respond ASAP, as I'd like to put the RIC back together already and see how the RWRP and Shielding improvements have reduced the noise.
 
#109
The only springs I can think of in the Ric are the two in the bridge pickup assembly, the two in the mute assembly, and the intonation springs that go on the bridge saddles. The neck pickup is mounted with little rubber grommets in place of springs since it has so little adjustability (most people just leave it screwed up as high as it can go since it has such low output). It’s possible somebody switched the rubber out for springs at some pint though
 
#113
Just a word of thanks to Cassius for the original tutorial, and to all others that contributed to this thread. I've been working over the past several months to restore a Ric that I rescued from a pawn shop. It appeared to have been in a fire - it was filthy and water-damaged - and its pickups were VERY noisy. Shielding of the pot cavity, along with the RWRP mod to the bass's bridge pickup, have now eliminated all noise from the outputs of this Ric that aren't intentional.

I have two other Ric basses in my arsenal, and while they are quieter than the pawn-shop bass was before the mod, they both suffer from chronic 60-cycle hum. I suspect the RWRP mod will be done the next time I do a string change on each of them.
 
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#114
RicConvert said:
Just a word of thanks to Cassius for the original tutorial, and to all others that contributed to this thread. I've been working over the past several months to restore a Ric that I rescued from a pawn shop. It appeared to have been in a fire - it was filthy and water-damaged - and its pickups were VERY noisy. Shielding of the pot cavity, along with the RWRP mod to the bass's bridge pickup, have now eliminated all noise from the outputs of this Ric that aren't intentional.

I have two other Ric basses in my arsenal, and while they are quieter than the pawn-shop bass was before the mod, they both suffer from chronic 60-cycle hum. I suspect the RWRP mod will be done the next time I do a string change on each of them.
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Did you do the RWRP mod yourself. I did mine and it seems like it really tames the buzz when using the standard output jack. I still get some hum but far less than I had with both p/u’s at 100%.
 
#116
RicConvert said:
I did the mod myself. As I explained above, it turned out well - so well that I did it again on another of my Rics, also with good results (hum reduced to a minimum).
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Cool. I’ve been meaning to re-do mine and video the process. I wasn’t sure when I did mine exactly the process. But it makes sense now. I’m glad to hear of others doing theirs. It does make a difference.
 
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#117
A video would be cool - I'm sure in this day and age people would watch a video before they'd come to a page like this one. But by reading through Cassius's original notes and using his photos, the process is pretty straightforward. (Hmmm, maybe a video incorporating some of those photos would be the way to go ...)
 
#118
RicConvert said:
A video would be cool - I'm sure in this day and age people would watch a video before they'd come to a page like this one. But by reading through Cassius's original notes and using his photos, the process is pretty straightforward. (Hmmm, maybe a video incorporating some of those photos would be the way to go ...)
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The magnet orientation was the biggest question. I’d seen posts of people saying they’d drilled new holes to line up the magnet- which was confusing. It dawned on me from flipping it on the other axis that was not necessary.
 
#119
So ... I had nothing to do this evening, so I decided to do the RWRP mod on my one Ric that I hadn't done it on yet. This bass always buzzed louder than the others, so I was looking forward to doing the work. While I was at it, I figured I'd also replace the bridge pickup cover with a bezel I've had on the shelf for awhile.

I started removing the bridge pickup assembly and found something weird - the pickup and magnet were installed crooked on the mounting bracket. I mean REALLY crooked, like 10 degrees off. "And this passed Rickenbacker quality control?!" I grumbled to myself. I wondered for a moment whether I could install the bezel, but I decided to press on.

I reversed the magnet and redid the wiring with no issues, and started remounting the pickup and magnet onto the mounting bracket. I applied just a little pressure with my hand as I screwed the ground eyelet down onto the magnet, so I'd end up with the magnet/pickup and bracket properly aligned with each other. As I tightened I heard an ominous "BOOIIINGG!!" The solder joint where the ground wire on the hot lead attached to the eyelet came loose. And so I knew at last why my bass buzzed SO much - the ground connection was probably poor to start with.

I re-soldered the ground and reassembled everything, mission accomplished. But while the buzz is reduced a bit, this bass is still noisier than the others, which makes me think I still have a ground issue. I'm sure I'll find it, but with a premium instrument like this I shouldn't have to play detective. Mr. Hall may be able to explain away why Rick won't make the RWRP mod standard, but not a faulty, potentially dangerous ground.
 
#120
RicConvert said:
So ... I had nothing to do this evening, so I decided to do the RWRP mod on my one Ric that I hadn't done it on yet. This bass always buzzed louder than the others, so I was looking forward to doing the work. While I was at it, I figured I'd also replace the bridge pickup cover with a bezel I've had on the shelf for awhile.

I started removing the bridge pickup assembly and found something weird - the pickup and magnet were installed crooked on the mounting bracket. I mean REALLY crooked, like 10 degrees off. "And this passed Rickenbacker quality control?!" I grumbled to myself. I wondered for a moment whether I could install the bezel, but I decided to press on.

I reversed the magnet and redid the wiring with no issues, and started remounting the pickup and magnet onto the mounting bracket. I applied just a little pressure with my hand as I screwed the ground eyelet down onto the magnet, so I'd end up with the magnet/pickup and bracket properly aligned with each other. As I tightened I heard an ominous "BOOIIINGG!!" The solder joint where the ground wire on the hot lead attached to the eyelet came loose. And so I knew at last why my bass buzzed SO much - the ground connection was probably poor to start with.

I re-soldered the ground and reassembled everything, mission accomplished. But while the buzz is reduced a bit, this bass is still noisier than the others, which makes me think I still have a ground issue. I'm sure I'll find it, but with a premium instrument like this I shouldn't have to play detective. Mr. Hall may be able to explain away why Rick won't make the RWRP mod standard, but not a faulty, potentially dangerous ground.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by "where the ground wire on the hot lead attached to the eyelet came loose"? When you did the RWRP mod where did you swap the two pickup leads? I assume you made sure the pickup ring was still grounded nd not sent to the pickup switch?

The splice where the pickup ground lead joins with the ground wire going into the control cavity is a common failure point on Rics if you ever pull the bridge pickup out
 

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