John Hall getting it in the neck (pun intended)!

[NikNik]

And deservedly so!

 

I gave up on RRF back around 2010 so missed this. Link is to page 10 of a thread on 4001C64 conversion to a Macca 4001, and the issues surround the C64. Page 10 is an ideal starting point for the attack by Mark Walker.

 

An early Christmas present to myself!

[yorks5stringer]

Not got the energy to read to the end, this thread was from 2013: was there any resolution?

[NikNik]

30 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said:

Not got the energy to read to the end, this thread was from 2013: was there any resolution?

Yeh, inasmuch as Mark worked some magic on the OP's bass and sorted the neck issue out by filling the oversized RIC front pup rout with resin. As RIC learning a lesson from that thread? History has shown time and time again that they haven't. Unless someone cares to inform me they've finally sorted that front rout issue. #

 

I had a 4003s/8 back around 2007 that suffered the same issue. Jimmy Moon in Glasgow worked some magic on it and also put in his own rods.

[tauzero]

Reading a few pages on, it seems that Rickenbacker built accurate replicas of the 60s Ricks which included a weak neck joint as strings in the 60s were lower tension so that didn't matter (I'm paraphrasing John Hall here). So don't use higher tension strings (the gauges they mention as causing trouble seem like light gauges to me, and I normally use 40-60-80-100-130) or don't buy a Rickenbacker - buy a Chinese knock-off instead as they do a better neck joint.

[Downunderwonder]

Ricks have neck joints? News to me. 

[pfretrock]

6 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Ricks have neck joints? News to me. 

Usually done to reduce costs. Who knew?

[tauzero]

19 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Ricks have neck joints? News to me. 

 

Set necks rather than bolt-on in this case.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Wow. So this is where Mark Walker got to! I always loved his videos on YouTube, his playing and tone were fantastic, as was his singing.

 

I have to say I totally get where he's coming from. For years I made excuses for RIC, the sort of "yeah they're a terrible company but if you want "that" sound you have to put up with it", but then I thought, why should we? As I've got older I've found much more pleasant ways to get that sound.

[Eric.C.Lapton]

10 years ago, marmite Bass who really cares 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, Eric.C.Lapton said:

10 years ago, marmite Bass who really cares 

Clearly not you, but thank you for taking the time to comment anyway.

[Bassassin]

On 25/12/2022 at 07:17, Downunderwonder said:

Ricks have neck joints? News to me. 

 

Single-pickup 4000 series & some 4001S (same bass with an added neck pickup) had set-necks. The double-neck 4080 had bolt-on necks.

 

Through-neck Ricks are known to collapse & bend at the body/neck junction because of the vast neck pickup route, leading to the same effect.  They'll insist it's because of the 'wrong strings' though.

[Eric.C.Lapton]

22 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Clearly not you, but thank you for taking the time to comment anyway.

You’re more than welcome!
wouldn’t want you getting bored with old content and descending into the usual chaos of arguments 😄

[NikNik]

13 hours ago, Eric.C.Lapton said:

You’re more than welcome!
wouldn’t want you getting bored with old content and descending into the usual chaos of arguments 😄

Old content? You'd have been bored with it if it had been posted yesterday. 

 

It interested you enough to comment....

[fleabag]

On 26/12/2022 at 18:39, Eric.C.Lapton said:

10 years ago, marmite Bass who really cares 

 

Great contribution.

Knobbish post in a thread you care nothing about.

[msb]

John Hall has been retired for several years now , and is living in the UK. 
The Hall bashing seems pointless to me … he once gave me advice about bypassing the .0047 cap on my 4001. At the time I didn’t realize he owned the company. 

[NikNik]

On 30/12/2022 at 20:18, msb said:

John Hall has been retired for several years now , and is living in the UK. 
The Hall bashing seems pointless to me … he once gave me advice about bypassing the .0047 cap on my 4001. At the time I didn’t realize he owned the company. 

It's only pointless to those who have not been subject to his sniping attacks and accusations.

 

As for being retired, I know Ben succeeded him but there's no way he'd ever relinquish full control of RIC. And, yes, the article is several years old, but it gave me great joy to see him getting it again.

[Cairobill]

I had a banana neck V63 that I had a very good luthier give the block/heating treatment to and it didn't work. Shame, as it was a great bass in all other respects.

The moral of the story is to look at the bass from the side and avoid if the action at the neck/body intersection is mid or high. 

My '78 skinny neck' 4001 was perfect though, and had always been string with rounds. Lovely bass.

Being neck-collapse-aware also goes for Steinbergers, they can collapse in the middle if subjected to too much heat...been there once!

[NikNik]

59 minutes ago, Cairobill said:

I had a banana neck V63 that I had a very good luthier give the block/heating treatment to and it didn't work. Shame, as it was a great bass in all other respects.

The moral of the story is to look at the bass from the side and avoid if the action at the neck/body intersection is mid or high. 

My '78 skinny neck' 4001 was perfect though, and had always been string with rounds. Lovely bass.

Being neck-collapse-aware also goes for Steinbergers, they can collapse in the middle if subjected to too much heat...been there once!

Didn't know that about Steinies but a mate had an L2 that had and up-bow around frets 4-6 that involved the bass getting extensive fret levelling.

[Cairobill]

Apparently a Steinberger will do a banana impression if it's exposed to excessive heat e.g. a couple of hours in a hot car. I recently saw a nice XL2 for sale that had a nasty bow on a UK guitar site. Pretty fatal unless you're happy playing exclusively on the lower 5 or so frets;)

Again, like the bendy Rics, there is a potential cure via heat treatment, but it's very expensive and often doesn't work

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Cairobill

[Waddo Soqable]

3 hours ago, Cairobill said:

 Pretty fatal unless you're happy playing exclusively on the lower 5 or so frets;)


 

Apparently there's no money past the 5th fret anyway...

[Cairobill]

6 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Apparently there's no money past the 5th fret anyway...

 

[martthebass]

That surprises me on the Steinies, I thought the original  basses were made primarily of Bakelite, a thermoset PF resin. This is very resistant to heat until it decomposes about 500C and shouldn’t deform dimensionally until decomposition. Worked a lot in the day on PF resins for refractory applications....

[Cairobill]

I’ve had a few XL2s over the years. Two were straight as a die and one arrived bowed. The explanation when I tried to get it fixed was that it can happen due to heat exposure. Maybe a rare occurrence?

[NikNik]

11 hours ago, Cairobill said:

I’ve had a few XL2s over the years. Two were straight as a die and one arrived bowed. The explanation when I tried to get it fixed was that it can happen due to heat exposure. Maybe a rare occurrence?

Owned three: an XL2A, two L2s, and an L2LF transitional. One of the L2s had a slight up-bow but nothing to write home about.