MEASURE YOUR GIRTH

[leftyguitars]

Great to see you here again Ted.

Rickenbacker necks are like Grahams G's belly, they just get bigger and bigger as time goes on!
Occasionally they lose some thickness though (which unfortunately will never happen with Graham)

[rickenbrother]

What year is your S/5, Joey? My '89 S/5 has your typical small late 80's neck. My 2000 S/5 has a chunky neck like the 4003's made at the time. For a 5-string, I prefer the fatter neck. I think RIC just used a 4003 neck slab and put an elongated head wing on top to accommodate the extra tuner.

I agree with your skepticism though. In a perfect world, the same person would use the same tape measure and the same methods to measure all of the different bass necks. Many of the measurements were my own basses and a few others were somebody else's basses, measured by me. Those ones have consistent measuring methods and the same measuring tape. So its a less than perfect sample of info, but I think it makes its point.

Jeff, my S/5 is from Jan-97. I also prefer a fatter, but with the tone and playability of that bass, I can't resist playing it.

I thought the S5's had the same neck as the S4's, only with 5 strings.

Sam, I also thought that the S/5 had the same as the S/4, just seems funny that my S/5 has a smaller girth than a couple of 4 stringers on the list.

[rickaddict]

Rickenbacker necks are like Grahams G's belly, they just get bigger and bigger as time goes on!
Occasionally they lose some thickness though (which unfortunately will never happen with Graham)

LOL!!

Oh wait...I'm not allowed to laugh at that because the humor was made at the expense of my friend Graham.

[oler]

Interesting reading. Two more necks:

4003 <July '03
1. fret: 11,4
3. fret: 11,7
12. fret: 13,3

and

4003 July '05
1. fret: 11,5
3. fret: 11,7
12. fret: 13,4

And again, just for fun: my Fender Jazz Bass '62 reissue:
1. fret: 10,4
3. fret: 11,0
12. fret: 13,7

[johnallg]

Ole, I have added your measurements to the table. Thanks, and welcome aboard to the forums.

Now we need some 4003 basses from 2007 to see about the new necks, how they compare to the old style 4003 and also the "choice" 4001 and 4005 necks.

I also broke out the 4004 measurements into their own table. As Joey pointed out to me, their profile is really different than the 4001/2/3/5 bass necks. Thanks, Joey.

[teeder]

1969 4000
1st Fret = 11.25
3rd fret = 11.5
12th fret = 12.9

1971 4001
1st fret = 11.5
3rd fret = 11.75
12th fret = 13.0

[johnallg]

Thanks Kevin - added your measurements.

http://www.geocities.com/johnallg/Rick_ ... ements.xls

For those without Excel - Free Microsoft Excel Viewer:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

[wints]

Nice work there John...

Jeff too...

[rickenbrother]

The Bass Neck Girth Measurements spreadsheet looks really good! It needs more entries. C'mon guys, measure up!!
John, after seeing the measurements that you got on that 4001 MG, I'm assuming that you must be loving that neck!

[johnallg]

Thanks, Wints and Joey. I figured since so many had taken the time to make measurements that we should have an easy way to look and quantify those measurements. Anyone have further suggestions, like breaking out the 4005 bases? Of course, we'd need more basses represented!

Joey, my 4001is a most comfortable bass to play. I have large hands so even the 2004 I have is not hard, but this 4001 almost plays itself (sure makes me better than I am). Reminds me of your 4001 I was playing at SoCal last August. I was surprised how it measured against Kevin's two new basses.

[sloop_john_b]

Positively tickled that my v68 has the thickest neck (so far, anyway).

[johnallg]

Positively tickled that my v68 has the thickest neck (so far, anyway).

I'll bet! Someone HAD to beat my 2004!

[jahniki]

OKOKOK youGuys,This stuff is addicting! My 83' 4003S, behind the 1st fret>11.5cm.
Now who's gonna start the forum that wants to know how much distance from the pickguard to the bottom of the bridge pickup tone knob, not the volume knob, that'a another forum later tomorrow!
Dontcha just love this stuff!?!

[s4001]

Positively tickled that my v68 has the thickest neck (so far, anyway).

And my '68 is the smallest.

[antipodean]

For the record:
XXXX 74 4001 X 74 4000 X 99 V63
1st Fret 11.1 X 11.4 X 11.8
3rd Fret 11.7 X 11.8 X 12.1
12th Fret 13.2 X 13.5 X 13.4

For me, the '74 4001 has the perfect "fast" neck. The 4000 is comfortable. The v63 feels just a tad chunky, and has a number of dead spots that I need to address. Apologies for the poorly formatted table.