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Rickenbacker 4003 electrical issue....


ozzy138
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A  question for the Basschat experts

My 2009 4003 Jetglo right out of the blue developed a fault, the bridge pickup sounded thin, i mean real THIN, no sound of it at all when you switch to neck/bridge. Also the vintage push/pull made no real difference. After a trip to a guitar tech Im told the bridge pickup is faulty and needs either rewinding or replacing.

A new pick up was fitted (a Retrovibe 12k high gain) and the same issue is pretty much still there, however now i seem to have some bonus problems...

The bridge is still way too low and muffled, the treble tone pot may well as not exist the same as the push/pull, there's no noticeable difference in tone...

The treble volume, when on full makes everything sound thin again, a few notches back and it seems to get added bass. Turn the bass volume back a few notches and i get another change in sound, its seems to take some bass out..!!

Im at a loss, new pots needed? a new cap? or a whole new harness?

It appears to be a simple change out of old pickup for new.... bad soldering on my part?
 

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Could be many things....

 

The way to approach it is to prep a cable with 1/4" jack (amp) to croc clips.

 

Start with the pickups- unsolder at the pots and connect to the amp with the croc clips - how do they both sound?

 

Next, wire pickup to a volume pot (disconnect tone pots) - does it still sound good - does the volume pot work as expected?

 

Next connect the tone pots (one at a time) -  do these work like tone pots?

 

Next, the switch.... croc leads on the 'output' - do all three positions work as expected?

 

If all is good then so far you have two working pickups, two working vol pots, two working tone pots and a working switch OR you will have found some problems to fix...

 

Finally reconnect the output jacks - these are a flippin' nightmare on Rics with the whole Ric-O- Sound  stereo / mono switching.

 

 

It's often easier to fully rewire than try fixing previous dodgy fixes.

 

I'm looking for a good Ric 4003 wiring diagram - best I could find is this... what you really want is a diagram with the parts and wiring shown as-is.

 

 

output jacks stereo mono 3643.gif

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