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4001 Neck Construction Variations/Relief

Posted: Sun May 06, 2018 2:04 pm
by teptwizz02
I realize that there are countless threads regarding neck relief, but I have a few more points of interest regarding the neck construction variations of these basses during this time period.

Mine is a '76. Understanding that Ric necks are designed to be set up dead flat or at least close to it, I'm wondering if it's feasible that because they were constructed by hand individually, the variation in construction would result in the ability to set the neck flat to be far from possible. In my case, I was able to set the neck flat (bass side relief .004" and .00010 on the treble) following the procedure for 4001's on joeysassnotes.com. The action was set to the indicated spec of around 3/32" to 1/16", yet the buzzing on the first 5 frets was unbearable. I raised up a bit more... nothing. I have very light touch so this is tough to understand.

I decided to add a good amount more relief up to .008 and 005 respectively, but this had no effect whatsoever. Tried even more with no results. This has me concerned. I doubt it's uneven frets as I had the a refret done by Larry Davis (Ric expert for those who don't know), so I have to think this is something else. This is why I'm throwing it out to you all to get your thoughts on whether or not this is just a normal phenomenon due to the variation of neck construction.

One more thing... if by chance that while I was adjusting the relief (once again following the proper procedure for these old truss rods) I caused the fret board to separate ever so lightly, would this cause the fretting out of the first 5 frets? It's possible that the varnish along the side might be masking a slight separation, I think. Not sure.

Sorry for the long post, guys. I appreciate all your input.

Re: 4001 Neck Construction Variations/Relief

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 9:18 am
by radapaw
hows the nut?