Terrible Buzzing

[thedistrict3]

Hello all

I've had my rick for about 3-4 months now, and since i've had it i've noticed that from frets 5-1 im getting a nasty buzz on all strings. Now, this is weird for me because I used to be a religious Fen*** player and that same problem only arose on the higher frets. I've checked the bow in the neck and it's almost dead straight, maybe a small amount of back-bow at the top of the neck (I must sound incredibly stupid as that's probably the catalyst of my problem). My action is medium-low.
I've tried looking for help on the official rick forum to no avail. Odd.

Are there any easy ways to fix this? Can anybody diagnose my problem? I'll provide pictures if need be.

[jdogric12]

Hi Matt, and welcome! Pics always help. Did you get your Rick new? What kind of strings are on it? What year is the bass?

[thedistrict3]

It's a long story

basically, I ordered a rick and was told I'd be waiting a year or two. Thankfully, some guy who had ordered one a year before from the same store, decided that the bass was just not his thing and returned it to the store. Me (being next in line for one) was contacted and told I have a brand new Rick just a week after I had ordered one. I sent in the warrenty so everything is fine in that department.

I believe they are still stock strings. It's an 08 bass.

[rickaddict]

Sounds like a truss rod adjustment is in order. I'd back both rods off 1/8 of a turn at a time.

[thedistrict3]

http://s512.photobucket.com/albums/t324 ... t3_bucket/

A couple of neck pictures, and a family picture for the hell of it

[jwr2]

Matt: What part of the world do you live in? Probably somewhere where it gets humid in the summer. I used to live in Michigan. It got humid in the summer and dry in the winter. Rics like to exist in 35% humidity. As wood absorbs moisture it expands. As wood loses moisture it shrinks. So when your bass gets exposed to humidity the wood in the neck will expand. The truss rod will stay the same so you have to back off the rods. In the winter if you run a furnace the humidity will go down, and the neck will shrink so you will have to tighten the rods. Back in Michigan most of my basses needed adjustments twice a year. Now I live in Colorado and it is dry most of the time So My main task is to try to keep them from getting too dried out. I keep the basses in my basement and try to keep the humidity around 35%. Since the humidity level is more constant year round I am doing fewer truss rod adjustments.

Also welcome to the forum ...

[rickaddict]

Photo #8 sights down the neck from the headstock on the E side. Unless its an optical illusion, it looks to me like there is some backbow there and your truss rods should be backed off slightly.

[rickenbrother]

Photo #8 sights down the neck from the headstock on the E side. Unless its an optical illusion, it looks to me like there is some backbow there and your truss rods should be backed off slightly.

My thoughts also.

[jdogric12]

yup, what them fellers said!

[johnallg]

Jeff T called it - back off the rods not more than 1/8 turn each. Then wait a day and see if it all is right. You *might* need to back off more, but I doubt it. moving both rods that small amount of turn will move the neck more than you think it will. Jeff R is also spot on about humidity and how it affects the neck (setup).

And welcome aboard!

[henry5]

As above.....

[weemac]

Wot they said...
It's also worthy of note that the treble pickup cover is very high on that thing. the previous owner (for a few days) may have taken the cover off and then put it back together in the wrong order.
Or the pickup itself is screwed up very high..............
That aside it is a really nice looking bass!
Eden.

[stevebasshead]

...the previous owner (for a few days) may have taken the cover off and then put it back together in the wrong order...
Eden.

Looks very much like it to me, I did the same when I put the cover back on my 4003JG. Felt stupid, slapped myself on the side of the head and redid it, properly

I also had the exact same buzzing on the 1st 5 frets and a tweak of the truss rods sorted it. Good luck and enjoy.

[jwr2]

It is a good idea to learn how the set up and intonate your 4003. There are several points of adjustment.

1 - the 2 truss rods. Get comfortable adjusting these rods.
2 - bridge height. this is a simple allen wrench adjustment.
3 - saddles. The Rickenbacker bridge tailpiece makes adjusting the saddles difficult. I swapped the phillips screws out for allen screws. This helps a little.
4 - the nut. For my taste Rickenbackers come from the factory with the nut cut too high. careful if you cut too deep that is hard to fix.
5 - strings. find the right string gauge for your playing style.

Also most of us remove the pickup cover.