I quite like the cap.
![Sad Eyes :sad:](https://bassoutpost.com/Smileys/default/frown.gif)
In my head the cap it is a throwback to the '50s and '60s, when guitar manufacturers figured that the consumer and artist would prefer to dial through preset tones, rather thanhave the straight outputs of each pickup and the ability to blend the full output of each at will. I sometimes get the impression that until Larry Dimarzio and company came along people didn't really think too much about the pickups and wiring in their instruments; unless something went wrong. Players back then seemed to consider their whole rig as one single entity, from bass to amp to speaker, though there were exceptions! Even Gibson's 'Rhythm/Treble' naming convention on their pickup switches doesn't allude to the actual function of the switch, and other manufactures like Burns, Hofner and co would use similarly named switches to route the pickups through a phalanx of capacitors and resistors to otherwise shape the tone before it even reached the output jack. Pickups lurked under chrome covers out of sight, and you couldn't buy replacements at your local music store.
In a weird way the trebly, bass-free tone of the bridge pickup with the cap would be more useful in the '80s with fusion players. Perhaps a slightly lower corner frequency wouldn't hurt so much either. I've also read that the cap makes the bass respond differently to different amplifier impedance, which may throw another curve-ball. If you were using the Ric-o-sound output and running in stereo then you could always back bass off on the bridge pickup amplifier, and it is always nice to have a full tonal palette to meddle with, rather than one that already has a lot missing.
I was playing a fretless 4003 at the weekend that had a faulty 'vintage' switch, so the cap was always in the circuit on the bridge pickup. In that configuration it was a total nuisance, as the bridge pickup solo'd was totally gutless. However in the middle position I liked the combination of fat, rubbery neck pickup and sizzling bridge pickup; again my personal preference. Without the cap I can't help but think that modern Rick pickups just sound too warm and bassy anyway. The bridge pickup, minus cap on a modern 4003, is bassy enough for most uses, testament of the fact that it is already in the 'sweet spot' the pickup of a Precision bass occupies. In that scenario the neck pickup is redundantly bassy, and doesn't really counterpoint the other pickup very well. By contrast the early '70s 4001 I played last year had a lot more snap and snarl to the pickups, and less of the dark, rubbery tone I associate with modern Rickenbacker basses. For being 'hi gain' they don't seem to push useful frequencies a lot, in my opinion.