I just bought a 4001s from a local music store.I had to wait 2 weeks because they said they had to replace the treble pick-up . I pick it up got home and had half the volume from the treble then the bass pick-up. I know they replace it ,because they gave me the old one.the gap on the pick-up looks good ,the bass p/u has twicethe gap,but also twice the volume. ???????all pots have smooth movements,,,,,,,,,something doesn't seem right,,,,,,,school me

Might just be the effect of the .0047 capacitor in the treble p/up circuit.

Is this a stereo bass? Are you plugging into the Rick O sound jack?

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Brian Morton
A Rickenbacker Fan in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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67 FG 625
74 JG 4000
76 JG 430
77 JG 620
77 JG 320
79 JG 4001
80 FG 620/12
81 BG 480
91 JG 610
02 BG 620

Amps -
78 TR7
83 TR25

There's some controversy at to whether the horseshoes themselves are actuallly magnetized or not, depending on the model/year. You can read at a sister forum:

http://www.rickresource.com/forum/viewt ... agnetizing

http://www.rickresource.com/forum/viewt ... 2&t=386533

Compare the difference between the 60's and re-issue horseshoes in this thread. It's possible the music store swapped out a magnetic one for the more "modern" but widely available plain one.

You at least still have the old one, and it's common for them to get weak over 40+ years. I saw one post a while ago about taking apart the horseshoes and sticking them onto the outside coil of a guitar amp speaker and letting them stay there for a quick-and-dirty re-charge, but can't vouch for the results.

I have a 1980 4001 that has the same issue with the low output from the trble pickup. I almost always use the neck pickup as its output is markedly higher than the bridge.

I have never used the Ric-o-sound feature.

My 1981 4001 had a quieter output from the treble pickup but it took me a while to realise that it was set too low. Also the pickup switch needed reconditioning as it wasn't working well.

Later I replaced the bass pickup with a toaster and fitted a push/pull pot for the treble pickup capacitor the treble pickup.
Now the treble pickup with cap bypassed is louder than the bass pickup and treble pickup sounds 'lacking in bass' with the cap on (as expected!), but it blends nicely with the bass pickup.

What sort of pickups do you have installed in both positions?

@ Monster


I have the stock pickups in her.

@ Dave Labrum,

I hope I am not derailing your thread?

Try INCREASING the gap between the strings and the treble pickup. Seems counter-intuitive, but if the entire horseshoe is indeed properly magnetized, the strings react differently.

There is no reason for anyone with such a fine instrument to give up on one of it's defining characteristics.

I can't vouch for the 4000 bass pickup, since my experience with the horseshoe is limited to a '60's Ric lap steel that I bought, of course, with the pickup looking "well-adjusted". It finally sounded a whole lot better when re-adjusted without any regard to what the gaps looked like.

I have tried adjusting the pickup height on the bridge pickup, in both directions (raising and lowering). It's just not a 'hot' pickup. For now I am solving the issue dowmstream by playing through a big amplifier. That seems to work just fine as the tube preamp in the amp really enhances the sound. The bass sounds great and it always has. I just needed a little more 'oomph'.

In general, the capped bridge pup will be quieter than the neck pup. You need to lower the neck pup or wind the volume back by 15% or so to achieve a balance in volume. If you add a push-pull pot to enable you to bypass the cap at will, balancing the pair with the cap "on" will result in bridge pup dominance with the cap "off". I tend to play around until I can achieve a tone I like which may include some imbalance - it's more art than science!

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As I get older, my music gets softer and my shirts get louder....