Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have looked for videos online, on how to get the neck straight on the 4003 but Joey's bass notes is offline. I have done a quick search though & can't seem to find what I'm looking for. So what is the best way of getting the neck straight on the 4003 bass please. Thanks in advance

Shawn,

You're going to have to be a bit more specific with what issue you are having. Back bow and strings hitting the frets when brought to tune? Excessive relief? What version 4003? Adjustment nuts under the TRC or at the body? Did this problem just crop up out of the blue? Has it changed with the season?

4003's adjust like other basses except RIC uses two truss rods. The early 4003's had the adjustment at the body hence the two piece pickguard. Modern 4003's after the early 1980's adjust via nuts under the TRC.

Sepp

What I'm after is getting the neck straight & the action low, for me this is how I like my 4003 to be. There was a video on joey's bass notes but I can't find it now.

How long have you had the bass? Is it new to you. If you've had it for a while is your high action issue new or has it always been high? If you sight down the neck, like aiming a rifle, can you see an upwards, string side, curve to the neck? If you fret your E string at the first fret and at the 20th, how much space do you have at the 9th fret between the string and fretboard. A "flat neck" normally will have a paper thin amount of space at the 9th fret when fretted at the fist and 20th.

Do you own a truss rod adjusting tool? It's a long neck 1/4 inch nut driver. If not you will need to obtain one in order to attempt to adjust your truss rods. If your neck is bowed then you will need to snug (tighten) the truss rod nuts in order to pull the neck back. Turn each nut no more than an eighth of a turn a day and give the neck a day to settle to the new strain. Never but put more torque on the nuts than you can exert with hand strength.

The reason for the "20 questions", I'd like to make sure you actually have a neck issue and not just a high bridge or neck set issue before monkeying with the rods. Truss rod adjustments are easy, it's just they are a bit daunting at first. It is necessary maintenance in reality unless you store the instrument in a climate/humidity controlled area where there is not change in either throughout the seasons.

Sepp

I too miss Joey's site since I found myself going back to it for a refresher course before doing any work to any of my 6 Rickenbackers. If I remember correctly, the videos dealt with neck adjustments on the 4001 series of basses since they are not adjusted in the traditional way. Talk about daunting, I find setting the neck on my 4001 to be borderline terrifying!! Thankfully, that neck is one of the more stable of my basses.

Sepp

I apologize to those who have been looking for my site for setup help. If I find the time, I will put the JBN pages back up. Been paying for the site for absolutely no use the past couple of months. There are several sites that like to help themselves to the contents of my site without permission. I'm sick of that. I'm not sure what I will do with the vids. I'd thought about just breaking them put into pictures and adding voice mp3s to explain underneath each pic. That will take a very long time! If I put the vids on my own site instead of Youtube, that will will probably take up a lot of bandwidth and I'll need a more expensive plan. I'll have to get ads or some sponsors. I really didn't want to do that.
The wiring diagrams will never be added back, those have really become a free-for-all on other websites. They may go somewhere else. I'll let the potential taker that I have, say so if he'd like. If they don't go somewhere else, they'll go into oblivion.

Kopfjaeger wrote:I too miss Joey's site since I found myself going back to it for a refresher course before doing any work to any of my 6 Rickenbackers. If I remember correctly, the videos dealt with neck adjustments on the 4001 series of basses since they are not adjusted in the traditional way. Talk about daunting, I find setting the neck on my 4001 to be borderline terrifying!! Thankfully, that neck is one of the more stable of my basses.

Sepp

I miss Joey's videos I hope they come back. For your previous answer, the bass is from 1992 I've owned it for the past 14 years & I have the correct trussrod tool. I tried your advice regarding a paper width at the 9th fret thank you, it took some gentle turning but it looks like it worked thanks again.

rickenbrother wrote:I apologize to those who have been looking for my site for setup help. If I find the time, I will put the JBN pages back up. Been paying for the site for absolutely no use the past couple of months. There are several sites that like to help themselves to the contents of my site without permission. I'm sick of that. I'm not sure what I will do with the vids. I'd thought about just breaking them put into pictures and adding voice mp3s to explain underneath each pic. That will take a very long time! If I put the vids on my own site instead of Youtube, that will will probably take up a lot of bandwidth and I'll need a more expensive plan. I'll have to get ads or some sponsors. I really didn't want to do that.
The wiring diagrams will never be added back, those have really become a free-for-all on other websites. They may go somewhere else. I'll let the potential taker that I have, say so if he'd like. If they don't go somewhere else, they'll go into oblivion.

I didn't know that so many were ripping you off Joey? Your bass notes were a great source of help for me & watching the videos was always interesting, maybe you could post them on here?

lucky wrote:

rickenbrother wrote:I didn't know that so many were ripping you off Joey? Your bass notes were a great source of help for me & watching the videos was always interesting, maybe you could post them on here?

Yes, quite a few embedded my content into their websites. I'm glad you found the site helpful. I hope it will help you an others again soon. I'd have no problem with the vids being part of the RRF. I don't know if the server that the RRF is on, can handle them.