Advice on '73 Rick requested, please

[hieronymous]

WOW - congrats! That's even less than I paid for my '76 in 2002! Looks great.

[Denis]

Thanks! I think the electronics need a good cleaning and I suspect the output jacks need tightening. It's possible that some of the soldering needs to be inspected as it doesn't seem to be putting out what it ought to be capable of putting out. You can tell it has a great sound but I think once the electronics are all spruced up it should be a lot nicer. Mids are really nice on the old girl! Balances very well and though it weighs nearly 10 lbs it doesn't seem so at all. I like it and can't wait to get her all cleaned up.

[Hornisse]

That is a great score!  I had a '77 Mapleglo years ago and loved that bass.

[hieronymous]

Thanks! I think the electronics need a good cleaning and I suspect the output jacks need tightening. It's possible that some of the soldering needs to be inspected as it doesn't seem to be putting out what it ought to be capable of putting out. You can tell it has a great sound but I think once the electronics are all spruced up it should be a lot nicer. Mids are really nice on the old girl! Balances very well and though it weighs nearly 10 lbs it doesn't seem so at all. I like it and can't wait to get her all cleaned up.

Actually, my '76 is VERY low output. After I bought it I got some Seymour Duncans thinking that that would spruce it up, but quickly went back to the originals. With their low output they can seem weak, but put them through a decent preamp and they sound great! I used to use a Fodera Model 2000, but more recently use an Alembic F2-B. Basically, turn the input UP!!! I recorded this demo with my '76 and the new Taurus III - I don't like how the Moog turned out, but I think the bass sounds pretty good - it's just the bridge pup (which I don't usually use by itself) into a PJB Briefcase, recorded on a Tascam digital recorder:

[Hornisse]

Agreed about the low output.  I recall having to turn my amp down when I switched from my '77 Ric to my '77 P bass.  Love the sound of these basses through Sunn amps!

[Bert]

I'm not sure if this year still has a bass cutting capacitor on the bridge pickup. If so, then you can win a lot of bass with bypassing it (with a little piece of electric wire).I personaly like this bass cutting capacitor. But only with both pickups active. I never use the bridge pickup on it's own.

[ilan]

Congrats on a great score!

Bert: the bass cut capacitor was discontinued in '85.

[godofthunder]

That is a great deal on a very cool bass !

[SKATE RAT]

very nice. and great deal!

[patman]

great score...I am sooooo jealous.

[Denis]

Thanks, guys, I'm happy as hell with it! I was fooling around with it and the thing almost has an upright bass sound, especially on the D and G strings. Neat!

Can you take some pics and post them? If possible - under the pickguard and nameplate.

Yes, sure can!

[ilan]

The bass-cut cap is still there. I'd bypass it and get a fully functioning bridge pickup.

The truss rod nuts look good - on so many 4001's they are bent. I think you got a great bass for a great price.

[Dave W]

Yeah, looks extra clean inside.

Note the wiring channel made by drilling with forstner bits. Those were the (pre-CNC) days!

[Denis]

I like that A LOT!

The bass-cut cap is still there. I'd bypass it and get a fully functioning bridge pickup.

The bridge pups were basically handicapped, then? Would you point the bass-cap out for me, please? That's a term that's new to me so I don't want to go messing with stuff I don't understand. Thanks!

Yeah, looks extra clean inside.
Note the wiring channel made by drilling with forstner bits. Those were the (pre-CNC) days!

So, how handmade were these things? When did Rick get CNC machines? It would be interesting to know much time it took to make one of these pre-CNC 4001s.

[dminer]

"Would you point the bass-cap out for me, please?"
  The .0047 cap is the LITTLE light yellow cap kind of under the larger light yellow .047 caps. I believe it runs from the 2nd pot to the switch. Go to the rick forum or Joey's bass notes to find out how to do the bypass. It's pretty easy and well worth the mod in my opinion.
  I believe that this tiny cap has been responsible for the majority of pickup swaps on the older rick basses. Most players just didn't know why their rickenbacker sound was so anemic compared to their p/jazz basses and lots of folks switched out the pups to try and get that fuller sound.
   Many players love the cap in place but personally I love the cap bypassed. A few years ago I got my 4005 and the cap was in place. To me it was kind of a plink-plunk bass sound...when I removed the cap WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! I never ran a preamp though, and perphaps it would have sounded much better through one. My 76 already had the cap removed and I love the sound of that bass, and it has one of the nicest feeling necks of any bass I own. Great deal on a great bass!!