Taking the truss rods out

[HKC]

Does anybody know of a place where I can see a picture, or find some guidansce how to take the truss rods out of my 1979 4001. I (that is my luthier) can't get the neck back far enough to get it straight. I have done a lot of searching on this subject and it appears that it's not that hard to take out the truss rods and straighten them. Rickenbackers are not that common in north Europe so my luthier is not that keen on doing it without seeing some proof that it can be done first.

PS What string gauge do people use. I have read Rotosound Swing Bass 45-105 are light enough so that's what I use on mine. When I first got it I used the super light 40-95 but since a lot of people seem to use 45-105 I changed to that but now I wonder if that was such a great idea.

[rickenbrother]

Hello Henrik and welcome to the forum. The truss rods are removable as Ted Staberow explains in this post:

http://rickresource.com/forum/viewtopic ... 46#p218246

[johnallg]

Welcome Henrik! That post of Ted's should get you and your luthier started.

[ram]

Welcome to the forum Henrik, What Joey and John said.... I use DAddario EXL170s on my 74 4001 45/65/80/100. Good luck with the operation!

[johnallg]

Welcome to the forum Henrik, What Joey and John said.... I use DAddario EXL170s on my 74 4001 45/65/80/100. Good luck with the operation!

+1 on the EXL170 strings.

[rickenbrother]

I use the D'Addario EXL-170 string set also. If I want even more output and brightness (similar to the Rotosound Swing Bass set), I use the D'Addario EPS-170 string set, which is the same gauge and approximate tension as the EXL-170 string set.

[johnallg]

Joey, what would the difference in tone be?

[rickenbrother]

John, the EPS-170 Pro Steels set has that zingy brightness that is closer to the Rotosound brightness, they also have more output than the ELX set. The stainless steel wrap has a stronger magnetic attraction to the polepieces. They aren't quite as bright as I remember the Rotosond being, but I've never gotten a set that I was unhappy with, unlike the Rotosound sets.

If you like a bright tone, but not too bright, stick with the EXL sets.

[johnallg]

Ehh, they're cheap, so I guess I'll try a set. I liked the sound of the Rotos for about 4-5 days. Then they started sounding old fast. Thanks.

[rickenbrother]

That's another good point about D'Addario strings, they are reasonably priced.

[antonius]

Hi Henrik!

I used to use Rotosound Swing Bass 45-105 but I never managed to get the neck as straight as I wanted it on my 1975 4001. The rod ends were bent down in the head cavity too, possibly from incorrect adjustment by a luthier years ago, or possibly they bent down on their own over the years? So recently I followed the excellent advice I found here and it was indeed easy to remove the truss rods - even for someone like me who had no experience with this sort of thing. I straightened the ends, cleaned them up, sorted out the damaged thread, etc, and put them back in. So now they are fully adjustable but I still couldn't get the neck completely straight. Perhaps this is just a limitation of my neck and I have to live with it. So I'm now using DR Highbeam 40-60-80-100 and due to their low tension the neck is much straighter and I can have a fairly low action - I guess any tail lift will be avoided too. The DR strings are fairly bright (although not as bright as the RS) and stay sounding good for a while and are kinder to the frets than the Rotosound.

Anyway, do some searches of this forum and ask questions as there are some outstanding people here who will help you.

[chefothefuture]

Henrik-
Welcome!
It is paramount that your tech understands how the old style rods
are supposed to work. The way they fit into their channels can affect
if they work at all. Rickenbacker sometimes cut the channels too deep,
so all the rods would do is nothing.....
The rods MUST fit fairly snug against the bottom of the fingerboard
as well as the bottom of the channel as these are bearing surfaces.
It's not hard to fix so don't fret(no pun ....).

Emjoy

[johnallg]

John - what do you do if they don't fit snugly front to back? I tried again today to get my 4001 neck flat but I've got the truss nuts as tight as I can turn them and still have a fair amount of bowing. I even pulled them out again as I had to bend the threaded ends up a bit as they were diving into the neck. Oh, and what way is the aluminum piece supposed to go on - one side is tapered?

[jps]

The taper fits the radiused corners of the cavity.

[johnallg]

The taper I'm talking about is on the long edge - one side is flat, the other has a slanted or bevel cut - looks like this in cross section:

|__/ but with a top I can't draw in ascii.