Bad pickup on my Ric?

[clik]

2 questions about my Ric 4001 treble pickup:

 

1) How can I be SURE the pickup is dead? It's not making any sound at all, right now.

 

2) Am I better off getting it re-wound, or buying a brand-new one? This is an early-70s 4001, FYI...

[Rippin' Robin]

Pickups don't 'just' go dead. Bad solder joint or broken switch would be more likely.

[RIC N BACKER]

 

Pickups don't 'just' go dead. Bad solder joint or broken switch would be more likely.

 

 

 

+1

 

if you cannot check the electronics yourself take it to someone, might be a 25 dollar fix

[Death Hands]

Exposed poles?

 

Take a screwdriver or some other metal something and poke the pickup and see if gives you a sound. Check them magnetics.

[isaac42]

 

2 questions about my Ric 4001 treble pickup: 1) How can I be SURE the pickup is dead? It's not making any sound at all, right now. 2) Am I better off getting it re-wound, or buying a brand-new one? This is an early-70s 4001, FYI...

 

 

Best way to make sure it's the pickup is to test it. First, make sure you're properly plugged in. In the mono jack, both pickups should work, of course. In the Ric-O-Sound jack, if you're plugged all the way in, only the treble, or bridge pickup should work. Is it dead in both situations?

 

If so, you'll need to take off the pick guard and test the pickup directly. DC resistance across the pickup should be neither zero nor infinity. I don't know what the actual value should be, but I can tell you later, when I get home. While you're there, is C3 installed? That's the capacitor in series with the treble pickup, to cut the lows and make it more trebly. I've bypassed it on my Rics, bit I think I'll eventually put a switch in instead. Not likely that C3 would fail, but, if it did, you'd get no output.

 

If the resistance is good, the pickup almost surely is, too. You can test it with the pick guard off by hooking test leads to it and holding a tuning fork over the pickup, after getting it vibrating, of course. Run the test leads to an o-scope, if you have one, or clip them to a guitar cord and run it to your amp.

 

Here's the schematic: http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19507.pdf