Hi I'm new here, first a confession shock horror I'm not a bass player!but I do look after all the gear of my band,ive got the 4003 because there's a problem with it ,its USA made ,there no sound when neck pickup is engaged,ive checked switch ,I thought the pot had gone but if I engage switch then im getting a sound if I tap the pickup but not if I play .any help would be greatly appreciated if u could lead me to a possible solution.thanks,

Make sure your plugging the jack plug into the mono output and not the stereo output socket.

The "stereo" output jack is labeled "Ric-O-Sound." You want to make sure you are plugged into "Standard." If that doesn't fix it, then you have a problem with either the wiring or a dead pickup.

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Author: "The Rickenbacker Electric Bass - 50 Years as Rock's Bottom"

Chers guys for the responsive, plugged into both jacks ,same result,my dilemma is why can I hear a sound when I tap the pole pieces but nothing when I play a string?

I had this happen to an HB1 humbucker in my 4003. I could hear a tap but when I removed the pickup and took a reading, it was bad. Readings all over the place would not settle so something in the pup died. Should have read a solid 15kohms
You might want to take a resistance reading and see if it is a good pup or dead. I think it should read about 12kohms for the higain pickup. If numbers jump all over and won't settle down then you have a bad pickup. Or if it reads infinity or 0.L it is toast.

PS -
HB1 should read ~ 15koms
Hi-Gain should read ~12koms

cheers lumgimfong just the info I'm looking for ..

Other solution is check and see if the blade for the neck pup on the toggle switch is making contact when toggle switch engaged in the neck position. If not, bend it back so it makes contact.