Rickenbacker Scale

[jack1953]

Are all Rickenbacker 4000 series 34" scale?
thanks
Jack

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

33.5 ". everyone has to have a weird scale !

[rickenbrother]

They are 33.25". They are still long scale basses, as long scale bass strings are the proper choice for them.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

joey, are you measuring in real time or going by the advertised quote ? i'm going by the catalogues.

[cassius987]

RIC advertises them at 33.25'' on their web site.

[rickenbrother]

joey, are you measuring in real time or going by the advertised quote ? i'm going by the catalogues.

Like Joshua said, I'm going by the spec on the RIC website.

[s4001]

Wonder why shorter? Maybe the work table was too close to the wall.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

wonder why the catalogues said 33.5 ? did they change the scale or realize they made an earlier advertising mistake ? i measured my '64 and i get 16 and 5/8 " to the twelfth which makes it 33 1/4, so i guess the earlier advertising was faulty or they just rounded it off to make more sense to the buying public.

[ken_j]

From a discussion I had with JH:

>I do have 2 RIC catalogs from 1985 that list the 4001V63, 4001, 4003, 4003S, & 4001FL scale length as "33-1/2" ".

>No quibble with that; it was a misprint...

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

my cats from '79 and '81 list the 33.5 and the '79 cat has '74 style 4001 basses in it with the 1/2" spacing and an early tobacco burst 4002 insert with screw under the g string near the neck for the pickguard. the 4002 is listed as 33.5 scale as well.

[jack1953]

I think the 33.25 isn't going to be a problem as i went into the local GC and tried a Fender jazz. I was amazed how comfortable it felt. It must be from getting used to the 30" scale coming for a 26" guitar scale. I'm going to be on the lookout for a 4000 that I can afford. Interesting thing is, I started taking lessons at the age of 11. My parents bought me a Magnatone electric guitar. My car got stolen 9 years later and the guitar was in the trunk. For the next 25 years all I've ever owned was a couple of different pawn shop acoustic guitars. This is actually the first time I've owned my own decent guitars and I'm 56 years old. Time is running out! I may never get another opportunity to own a Rickenbacker!
Jack

[scott_s]

I wonder if the advertising department in 1985 was measuring from the nut to the saddles -- due to compensation, that'll be a little longer than twice the distance from the nut to the 12th fret.

- Scott

[FretlessOnly]

Yeah, what Scott said: I remember reading a quote somewhere, I believe it was from John Hall, about how scales were once measured from edge of nut to the average setting of the saddles, but that has been changed to edge of nut to far edge of 12th fret and then doubled.

[moaimen]

My 1967 4005 measures 16 and 11/16ths" from edge of nut to center of 12th fret which equals 33 and 3/8ths" scale. The only thing I can think of for differences in scale length is if they changed tooling at some point for some reason.

[jps]

Welcome, Mark!

Where is the bridge located on your 4005, post a pic if you can. Many of them had the bridge almost on top of the pickup and you can see the saddles pushed all the way against the back of the bridge.

Here is the bridge on mine, set in the correct location. I will measure the same area you did after breakfast.