Costly Mistake

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:20 am

Message to self... leave things alone that you have no idea on what might happen.Yesterday i was looking at my bass and i could see that the tail lift was getting worse,so i stripped the bass down and thought that i could bend the bridge back.How wrong i was i broke my tailpiece so here is my question.

1.Would it be worth slackening the trussrods until i get a new tailpeice.

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:59 am

I would. I'd also replace the stock bridge with one of these:

http://www.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=215

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:30 am

The Hipshot unit looks nice and i doubt you will ever get tail lift,but i think i'm going to go with the Ric unit.IMO the bridge is one of the parts of the 4001/4003 that when you see it you know it's off a Rickenbacker.Someone here in work mentioned Allparts,has anyone here used one of these.I feel so gutted that i did it.

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:38 am

There's one currently on eBay.

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:53 am

My vote is for the genuine RIC part.

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:28 am

Thanks guy's like i said i feel gutted about it and it's only been about 24 hours.Even though i've got the '64 Hofner violin bass i have'nt used it in 8 years,i have'nt used any other bass since i got this in 1998.I hope that my stupid mistake has put anyone off trying DIY on their Ric and not knowing quite what there doing.Leave it to the professionals.

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:46 am

"Leave it to the professionals"

Or ask the pros here and DIY when you feel confident. Some of the guys here have more knowledge than many professional luthiers (most luthiers know Fenders, Gibsons and acoustics, but are clueless when it comes to Rics).

There was a thread here about correcting an enormous tailpiece lift, and it ended well.

Here's the link: ../43/69290.html"#FFEECC">

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:01 am

If you're not trying to replace a vintage part, just order from the RIC website boutique.

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:04 am

That's what i meant Ilan,that's one of the things that i love about this forum there is a lot of help & advice available.You are right though you speak to some luthiers and a glazed look comes over them when you mention the word Rickenbacker.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:00 am

in most cases adding 2 extra screws will fix the tailpiece lift ...

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:05 am

It hurts to look at Rics at the moment,when i get another tailpiece the happier i will be.

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:22 am

Shawn, I've done worse. That's all I will say, other than it was an insane plot to convert a Jackson 4-string into an 8 string that failed. Ended in disaster. So you could have done way worse.

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:31 am

Shawn, who gave you the handle "Lucky"?

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:41 am

Shawn, look on the bright side, at least it's just the matter of replacing a part that is a relatively simple task to do.

ram · Post by **ram** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:10 am

Hi Jeff,

Could you outline what you did to get the screws in there? My 4001's lift isn't bad, about a 1/16th or 3/32nds at the end of the tail piece. But just incase - what screw size did you use? Is this the same as the 4003 screw set up? When you drilled the holes in the tail piece did you countersink the them? Is it done with the tail piece on the bass, string tension lowered?... anything else you can think of would be appreciated.