Rickenbacker 4003

[ezbass]

13 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

what glue does a luthier use when replacing a nut ?

Dave

Just a couple of spots of CA on the underside, IIRC. Makes removing it again not too difficult. 

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, ezbass said:

Just a couple of spots of CA on the underside, IIRC. Makes removing it again not too difficult. 

Its not a job i would tackle myself hence the question.

Dave

[ezbass]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Its not a job i would tackle myself hence the question.

Dave

I'm no luthier by any stretch of the imagination, but I had a Telecaster where the nut was off centre and the string would pull off of the fretboard. A quick search on YT and I just knocked it out, added the 2 spots of CA and repositioned. A little shaping on the now overhanging edge with a nail file and a little building up on the opposite side with CA and all was good. I don't think I'm up to buying a blank and cutting it, not to mention having to then having to buy specialist tools that would see very limited use.

[geofio]

Small touch of superglue is enough, use a good one small blob either side hold the nut firmly for a couple of mins you don’t want any over spill of the glue so minimal amount. The string pressure alone will hold a nut on so there is no need for over kill.

[tvickey]

Update: The CA glue that I used the second time around held...

 

This time I did put some glue both on the nut bottom and on the side that faces the fretboard.  Perhaps that was the key... 

 

I took the bass into the studio this morning with strings added, but not fully tensioned.  We made sure to track guitar first today in order to give the glue as long as possible to cure.  By the early afternoon it was time for bass and I tensioned the strings up... and I managed to record the bass tracks in the studio without any problem.  Those were the last tracks for the album.  Yay, all done!

[tvickey]

5 hours ago, geofio said:

The string pressure alone will hold a nut on so there is no need for over kill.

 

This is certainly true on my Warwicks, but has not been my experience at all with this recent Rickenbacker 4003.  When the nut breaks loose, the string tension tends to pull it away from the fretboard (you can see what I mean in the photo).

[Dov65]

Had the Ric out last night again, currently it’s up for sale on here but I “think” it’ll be sellers remorse if it goes. 
 

The problem…..I’m running a Frank Bello pedal & it seems to pickup every god damned bit of background noise using my Ashdown rig and Markbass combo, my other basses are fine (Spector) with very little noise if any.

 

I’ve done the cavity with copper tape which did help a good bit but is there something I’m missing bar flogging the Bello pedal ? Cheers for any ideas

[Skybone]

Have you tried it without the Bello pedal?

 

If you can't live without the pedal, maybe something like a noise suppressor pedal might work?

 

There's always either the RWRP wiring on the bridge pickup (TalkBass thread) or get something like the Nordenbocker.

[Dov65]

Cheers I’ll have a nose around 👍

[Sparky Mark]

On 17/03/2024 at 19:27, tvickey said:

 

This is certainly true on my Warwicks, but has not been my experience at all with this recent Rickenbacker 4003.  When the nut breaks loose, the string tension tends to pull it away from the fretboard (you can see what I mean in the photo).

Glad to hear that the nut is now staying glued in place. It seems that the friction between the strings and nut was high enough when tuning up, to break the nut away. The strings need to slide through the nut slots when tuning. I'd look in the nut slots for any rough bits grabbing one or more strings, then carefully smooth them away. Applying graphite dust (lead pencil) in all the slots will also reduce friction. 

[geofio]

Change the power supply on your pedal , I had a dug pinnick pedal was noisy as hell with the supplied power adapter , purchased a higher quality power supply, Silence!!! 

[Dov65]

Nordenbocker ordered @Skybone cheers for the input too @geofio certainly another route to look at

[Skybone]

4 hours ago, Dov65 said:

Nordenbocker ordered @Skybone cheers for the input too @geofio certainly another route to look at

Let us know how you get on with it. 

[tvickey]

21 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Glad to hear that the nut is now staying glued in place. It seems that the friction between the strings and nut was high enough when tuning up, to break the nut away. The strings need to slide through the nut slots when tuning. I'd look in the nut slots for any rough bits grabbing one or more strings, then carefully smooth them away. Applying graphite dust (lead pencil) in all the slots will also reduce friction. 

All excellent comments!  I did apply some graphite, but that was not sufficient enough to prevent the glue break.  I became convinced that a small bit of glue is needed between the nut and the edge of the fretboard (and when the nut first broke off, there was evidence that Ric had put a bit of glue there too).  The nut on the Ric is very tall and narrow.  Anyway, it's holding now and the bass that we recorded for the album sounds massive.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Many years ago I bought a vintage 70's Rickenbacker 4001, cause it looked so damn cool, and I had that kind of money back then.

 

It sounded okay, but wasn't exactly blown away by it, I still thought my Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic (yes, made in Japan on the Matsumoku factory, and still own that bass by the way), sounded way better, and I ended up hating how it felt in my hands and played in general.

 

Most expensive piece of absolute crap I ever bought.

 

Edited March 31 by Baloney Balderdash

[tvickey]

26 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Many years ago I bought a vintage 70's Rickenbacker 4001, cause it looked so damn cool, and I had that kind of money back then.

 

It sounded okay, but wasn't blown away by it, I still thought my Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic (yes, made in Japan on the Matsumoku factory), sounded way better (still own that by the way), and I hated how it felt in my hands and played.

 

Most expensive piece of absolute crap I ever bought.

 

Early or late 70s Ric?

[Baloney Balderdash]

5 minutes ago, tvickey said:

Early or late 70s Ric?

Honestly I don't even remember.

[Skybone]

Was it just the sound, or was it something else that made it a PoC?

 

I've tried the "Vintage" circuit on my 4003 a few times, and it really does the the "guts" out of the sound. Pop it back to the standard circuit, and there's loads of "body" in there.

[King Tut]

1 hour ago, Skybone said:

Was it just the sound, or was it something else that made it a PoC?

 

I've tried the "Vintage" circuit on my 4003 a few times, and it really does the the "guts" out of the sound. Pop it back to the standard circuit, and there's loads of "body" in there.

That vintage switch is pretty useful when you're using both pickups.

[Skybone]

10 hours ago, King Tut said:

That vintage switch is pretty useful when you're using both pickups.

I've tried that, but it just doesn't sound quite as good as with the circuit disengaged.

 

It's always better when you roll off a bit of volume on the bridge pickup. IMO of course.

[Simon C]

Hi everyone.  This is a question before my Ric 4003 goes to the guitar tech.

 

Since I bought the bass in early January, I’ve been slowly adjusting the set up.  I’d like the action a little lower than it is.  It is ok over most of the neck (I’d like it a little lower), but it’s too high on the E string on the 1st 5 frets.  The bridge saddle on the E string is bottomed out.  There is room to drop the other strings further,  but if I did drop the action further on those strings the E string would feel oddly high.

 

So with my limited set-up knowledge it would seem that if I want a lower action, I need to drop the E string at the nut.  The nut seems to  be highest at the E string and lowest at the G string, with a more pronounced gradient than on my other 3 (non Ric) basses.  The E string may also have a shallow cut nut slot.

 

Pics attached, which hopefully illustrate what I’m describing.

 

Is what I describe above relatively common?  
 

What’s the recommended way to go?  I guess either remove the nut, file it at the bottom and reset (this sounds like a way to introduce problems that aren’t currently there), or file the nut slot lower? Or is there something else to consider?

 

Any other comments?

 

Thanks in advance for the thoughts.

 

 

Edited April 7 by Simon C

[Sparky Mark]

28 minutes ago, Simon C said:

Hi everyone.  This is a question before my Ric 4003 goes to the guitar tech.

 

Since I bought the bass in early January, I’ve been slowly adjusting the set up.  I’d like the action a little lower than it is.  It is ok over most of the neck (I’d like it a little lower), but it’s too high on the E string on the 1st 5 frets.  The bridge saddle on the E string is bottomed out.  There is room to drop the other strings further,  but if I did drop the action further on those strings the E string would feel oddly high.

 

So with my limited set-up knowledge it would seem that if I want a lower action, I need to drop the E string at the nut.  The nut seems to  be highest at the E string and lowest at the G string, with a more pronounced gradient than on my other 3 (non Ric) basses.  The E string may also have a shallow cut nut slot.

 

Pics attached, which hopefully illustrate what I’m describing.

 

Is what I describe above relatively common?  
 

What’s the recommended way to go?  I guess either remove the nut, file it at the bottom and reset (this sounds like a way to introduce problems that aren’t currently there), or file the nut slot lower? Or is there something else to consider?

 

Any other comments?

 

Thanks in advance for the thoughts.

 

 

Edit: does your nut look taller on the E side than mine? Maybe the nut needs some attention as well?

 

Here's mine. Looks very similar but I have no issues with string height over frets 1 to 5. Bridge still has room for adjustment either way. Could mean your 4003 truss rod(s) need adjustment?

Edited April 7 by Sparky Mark

[Simon C]

10 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

Here's mine. Looks very similar but I have no issues with string height over frets 1 to 5. Bridge still has room for adjustment either way. Could mean your 4003 truss rod(s) need adjustment?

Thanks. Maybe re the truss rod. I adjusted it a week or so ago (tightened it) as the action felt high to the point that it was somewhat painful to play. I think it was probably due to the seasons changing (all my basses had the same issue). It's better now, but there may be further to go. It did feel very tight to adjust though, so I'm a little concerned about going much further without a guitar tech seeing it. Alternatively if I can find a max torque setting from Rickenbacker I could see if my torque wrench will fit in there. 

 

Edited April 7 by Simon C

[Sparky Mark]

2 minutes ago, Simon C said:

Thanks. Maybe re the truss rod. I adjusted it a week or so ago (tightened it) as the action felt high to the point that it was somewhat painful to play. I think it was probably due to the seasons changing. It's better now, but there may be further to go. It did feel very tight to adjust though, so I'm a little concerned about going much further without a tech setting it. Alternatively if I can find a max torque setting from Rickenbacker I could see if my torque wrench will fit in there. 

 

I've looked more closely and edited my response above re the nut.

Edited April 7 by Sparky Mark

[Skybone]

You don't show any pictures of the bridge/saddles. Have you adjusted the grub screw on the bass side?

 

It does need an imperial set of allen keys, but they are well worth having if you own a Ric.