Intonation Irritation

[Low End Lover]

Hello All,

I am having a heck of a time getting my newest Ric, a 1995 610/6, to intonate properly. Just so you know what's been done thus far:

1. Put a new set of TI Flats, 11-47, on.
2. Did some truss rod adjusting to get the neck nice and straight
3. Raised the bridge height just a tad to take off a bit of buzz

Now I am working on the intonation and it seems like nothing is happening. What I mean by this is I will make an adjustment, tune to pitch, check at the 12th fret and I am pretty much where I started from. For the record, I have the proper size hex wrench and am popping the string out of the saddle groove because I really don't want to have to bring the string in and out of pitch repeatedly. And since the screw is moving easily, I think I am okay with this approach. Also, there looks to be enough travel in either direction for the saddle to move either way.

My only guess that I need to make bolder adjustments. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on how to get things where they need to be.

Thanks,

LEL (Jason)

EDIT: Been doing some reading and the magnetic pull of the pickup is mentioned. The only thing I can do here is raise or lower the height as these pickups are pre-2006, which means no adjustable pole pieces.

[stsang]

Hi Jason, did you try adjusting the bridge baseplate distance? Check out instructions for this on the Rickenbacker manual (middle of page 4):
http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/manual.pdf
It notes:

Additionally, the bridge baseplate on most 300 and 600 series guitars is adjustable for coarse intonation to allow use of a wider range of strings. Loosen the baseplate and move it to the position required. Generally speaking, flat wound strings require the bridge to be closer to the tail of the instrument while round wound strings favor a position toward the neck. Carefully re-tighten the baseplate before restringing.

[Low End Lover]

Simon,

No, I didn't. I have gotten 4 of the 6 strings pretty close, but I will bear that in mind. I wish I had realized I could do that when I put the strings on. I didn't notice this described in the older manual.

Thanks,

LEL (Jason)

[ken_j]

Hi Jason, did you try adjusting the bridge baseplate distance? Check out instructions for this on the Rickenbacker manual (middle of page 4):
http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/manual.pdf
It notes:

Additionally, the bridge baseplate on most 300 and 600 series guitars is adjustable for coarse intonation to allow use of a wider range of strings. Loosen the baseplate and move it to the position required. Generally speaking, flat wound strings require the bridge to be closer to the tail of the instrument while round wound strings favor a position toward the neck. Carefully re-tighten the baseplate before restringing.

This feature may have been introduced after '96. I don't recall when but not all of my Ricks had it.

[Low End Lover]

This feature may have introduced after '96. I don't recall when but not all of my Ricks had it.

Ken is correct here. I just compared it to my 330/6 and 620/12, both 2009, and I can see that it can be done on them but not on the 1995 610/6. Oh well... any other ideas?

[stsang]

This feature may have introduced after '96. I don't recall when but not all of my Ricks had it.

Ken is correct here. I just compared it to my 330/6 and 620/12, both 2009, and I can see that it can be done on them but not on the 1995 610/6. Oh well... any other ideas?

Sorry to hear that... the only other suggestion I can think of is to try going back to the stock Rickenbacker string gauges and maybe try the RIckenbacker Brand strings instead of the TI flats. (BTW, I have TI flats on my Rick360/12 and I love them)

[ken_j]

The new style base plate is only $10. If you are handy you could modify your existing plate. I would only do this if you are at the end of the adjustment and still need a bit more. Also depending on the direction of the saddle you may be able to reverse it. http://www.rickenbacker.com/cart.asp?vi ... ry=Bridges

[dylumph]

I've got a 360 12 V64 and it didn't come with a baseplate but I bought the guitar at a guitar show and the guy who sold it to me sold me one ($10) and a 12 saddle bridge. I needed em'! The E and A groups had to go back toward the tail about a eighth of a inch after I put a set of Pyramid flats on it.