Questions regarding a Rickenbacker 4001v63

[Komadinic]

Hello all,

I have recently acquired a 1984 made 4001v63 Fire glo in a trade. Serial number dates it to November 1984 but the cavity has September 1984 in it. The horseshoe pickup appears to be magnetic as well, and it's in great shape for it's age, however i cannot manage to lower the action past 7th fret. I tried truss rod adjustments, bridge is as low as it goes and I'm out of ideas. I have gathered info from this forum that it might be a neck angle problem but there are no separations anywhere and the neck definitely floats above the body and seems okay, it might have a very light twist on the treble side. Strings that the previous owner (i do not know how many owners it had) had on it seem to be heavier gauge than recommended.

I bought light gauge strings and tuned the bass full step lower until they arrive. In a thread i posted on TB many people suggested coming here and asking you for help, i never owned a Rickenbacker until now and in all honesty never even played one. I would love to get the action on this bass 1mm lower on bass and treble side and would appreciate any advice to achieve that.

If I do not accomplish it I will take it to a luthier, however right now in NYC no one will accept a job because of the quarantine. Any info would be appreciated, I will link photos that i took of it and I can take any photo you might need to help me out. Thank you in advance and thank you for welcoming me to your forum!

TB thread
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/help-m ... 66/page-12
Pictures
https://imgur.com/gallery/bOUHgg7

[rickinroma]

Congratulations for your instrument
The V63 is in my opinion the best version made within the 4000-4001-4003 family
On your specific problem, it is surely a matter of set up
Good luck

[espidog]

Hi there Dorde and welcome to RRF.

I've examined your pictures and read through the whole of the TB thread. Given that you've already adjusted the truss rods until the relief is around 0.2 - 0.3 mm, and you've bottomed out the bridge adjustment, I'm sorry to say that this does look like a case of neck lift owing to the previous owner using heavy guage/high tension roundwounds (that is one fat E string!) on a 4001.

Cutting deeper grooves in the bridge saddles is a job for an expert, and has its limitations. The contact area between string and saddle should ideally be as minimal as possible, so there's only so much saddle metal one can file out, and (I would imagine) only so low you can go at the bridge end before the strings get uncomfortably close to the edges of the treble pickup surround when plucked.

I'm not really sure what remedial action can be taken in a case like this (others here will know far better than me), but with regard to your desire to take it to a luthier, I would strongly urge you to look for one who is well experienced in working on Ricks, even if it means having to travel a bit out of NYC to get to them. Hopefully some other forum members might be able to recommend a good one.

This is a gorgeous instrument and worth spending money rescuing - provided it can be. Fingers crossed!

[clasbas]

This is a gorgeous instrument and worth spending money rescuing - provided it can be. Fingers crossed!

+1 to that, good luck!

[teeder]

I suggest sending it to Larry Davis and have him put a new maple block in the pick-up cavity to hold the neck straight. He did that on my '93 V63 to strengthen that area even though it didn't have an angle issue, yet. I have no idea why Rick would route that much wood away from such an important area.

[Dirk]

Can you take a picture up the neck from the body end?
That will give a better idea of how your neck is adjusted.

I assume the v63 used the old style rods?
Sorry I'm only familiar with regular vintage 4001 and 4003's.

One last thing you might consider if you're not familiar with the Ric dual rods, they indeed setup differently than most other basses.

There are some great suggestions for proper adjustment and they can be found on here.
I seem to recall someone posting some other useful suggestions for neck adjustment.

Basically it requires clamping the body down, then bringing the neck into proper position, then locking it in place.

Good luck, that's a great looking bass and I agree worth any effort to get it where you want it.
Dirk

[espidog]

Can you take a picture up the neck from the body end?
That will give a better idea of how your neck is adjusted.

Second that. Yes please.

I assume the v63 used the old style rods?

According to the discussion in the TB thread, this 1984 bass uses the "modern" truss rods (thank goodness!)

[Komadinic]

Thank you all for the responses and the compliments. So in my desperation i played with truss rods (they are modern styled) and loosened them all the way and then tightened them well and the relief was the same. I don't know what to make of it but it could come down to me being an amateur. I will take the picture, just explain to me which angle it is you need me to picture. Sorry, I'm not quite understanding what it is you need me to do, and again i really appreciate your help with this unfortunate matter!

[espidog]

I will take the picture, just explain to me which angle it is you need me to picture.

A picture like this, looking down the length of the neck. I slung my bass over my shoulder as if to play it standing up, then tipped the neck down so the headstock was pointing toward the floor, then I pointed my phone's camera down the neck from just behind the top horn.

I'm posting this as a link rather than an image, cos it's quite big

http://www.steamingaudio.myzen.co.uk/4003/neck_side.jpg

[rictified]

Komadinic posted a truss rod cavity picture in the Talkbass thread which can be blown up and they looked like old style 4001 truss rods to me as the aluminum black was fully visible but I'm sure he would appreciate other opinions. He actually posted some very good pictures in Talkbass that can be blown up by clicking on the picture, the neck appeared to be pulled forward to me from having heavy gauge strings on it and the truss rod nuts appear to never have been touched so it looks like it sat for years and gradually pulled forward. It looks to me like it could be brought back to spec with a lot of patience and some light gauge strings.

[Komadinic]

Hey all so I have an update. I just spoke to Darrell Gilbert for a while and I'm taking it to him tomorrow. He was guitar tech for Steve from Yes and he has many, many years of experience under his belt and told me that he knows the issue i'm talking about without even needing to see the bass, apparently it's a common thing and it happened on his Rick's in the past. He will remove the truss rods and heat treat the neck to get the angle right and then put back the rods and tighten them up. I asked if this is a permanent solution to the issue and he said it is, he did it on his bass over 25 years ago and the neck didn't move an inch. Sounds like a really nice guy and definitely a knowledgeable luthier and I feel this is the best way to go because I don't wanna hurt this instrument in any way. Thanks for all the answers and efforts, I will keep you posted once he fixes it and share pics and the story so that hopefully someone who has this issue in the future can fix it as well!

[espidog]

Wow, Dorde - sounds like you went to the right guy. Well done!

[Dirk]

Well I would certainly defer to his expertise no doubt!
I've never had to go that extreme luckily, well I should say, so far.

Please let us know how it turns out.
Dirk

[Komadinic]

I will definitely update you and post pics once he's done with it, probably gonna take a week or so.

[aceonbass]

The neck pickup cavity is WAY too big on this and subsequent 4001/3's till early 2014. The proper fix is pressure fitting a precisely cut maple block that is slightly loose on the sides, but so tight that the neck needs to actually be bent back slightly to make it fit. Then a new neck pickup cavity will need to be routed just large enough to fit the neck pickup, and access the truss rods for adjustment, (which by the way, are the current style rods). If the neck is already flat, then heat treating it will accomplish what?