rickerbacker bass

mick mahon

i have just bought an 1978 4001 rickenbacker bass. i am having trouble with setting the truss rod and intonations, as they are hard to access. i know that they are inperial sizes, but i was wondering if any one of the right tolls to uses


thanks

Doctor J

Mick, firstly, congratulations on a great choice of instrument, the Ric is a gentleman's bass. I played a gig last night with my 4003 and one person told me "we couldn't hear the band from where we were sitting, but we could feel the bass"

The truss rod setup on the 4001 is quite different to any other design you've encountered, in that the neck has to put into the position you want and then the rods adjusted to lock it into place. This, in my opinion, is best done by a professional, there are too many 4001s out there with borked necks. Also, it doesn't handle heavy gauge strings too well, so keep this in mind when making any adjustments. There are a few numbers in the Instrument Resources sticky of people who may be able to do this, give Derrick Nelson a ring, he's in Marley Park, 01 4942741

John Hall, the CEO of Rickenbacker, had this to say about the 4001 neck

"The string tension of a round wound string, especially a nearly
pure iron string like those in the Roto Sound class, is almost 100
lbs. greater than a typical flat wound string.

The 4001 neck was designed in 1956 for the only type of strings
available then . . . flat wound . . . and since the design favored
a slim neck, the neck strength was right on the edge of the
envelope. Round wound strings took many of these instruments
beyond their rated capability for string tension, resulting in
various problems. But of course there are many types of strings,
not to mention that every piece of wood is different, so plenty of
4001's have been used with round wound strings for decades with no
ill effect.

The best advice on these older basses is to use the light tension
string you can stand."

It wasn't me!

Doctor J wrote:

one person told me "we couldn't hear the band from where we were sitting, but we could feel the bass"

Dude, that's some compliment! I love the Rics. There's one on Chris's site for 800 and I really want it but due to recent music-related purchases ( :rolleyes: ) I'm broke, so maybe later.

Doctor J

300 watts of Ashdown goodness pumping it out didn't hurt either

The Rics are lovely, they're the only bass I've ever played where generally you've to take some low end out of the EQ. They're not the most player friendly instrument in the world though, the string spread is a lot narrower than a Fender and the non contoured top means bruised wrists every time. Still, it's worth it for Ric-O-Sound

It wasn't me!

I love the growly over-the-top low end of it though. Haven't played one so I can't comment on the user-friendliness, or lack thereof, of it but I just love that tone.

mick mahon

thanks for the advise doctor J

eoin5

If you need some advice the guys here are supposed to be helpful, my 4003 was originally set up there and its perfect.
http://www.ricsrus.com

Yea, great sound but awkward yolks to play alright especially standing, thats why i always have my aria on hand. Like fitting on an old shoe, smelly and comfortable.