Hi Mark! First of all, I'm new to this forum and I am thrilled to find it; what a great resource! Thank you for sharing your time and expertise.
I am the loving owner of two beautiful Ricks. I have some questions concerning my 325v59 which I'll post as another query.
As to my 360/12v64; I received it 2-1/2 years ago, as a wedding present from my beautiful wife. (Did I pick a great wife, or what!) It is the most gorgeous guitar I have ever seen (or heard) and I love it.
My ONLY concern has been that I can obtain no relief at all on the bass side of the neck. The treble side has a tiny amount (just the right amount) of relief, controlled by the trebleside truss rod; but the bass side, with the bass side truss rod "loose", is totally straight. Not a real problem now, as the guitar plays well with only a small amount of string buzz (although a bit less buzz would be nice), but what about down the line, as there is no "further adjustment" possible?
I will soon be stringing with Pyramids (for the first time; I've always been using Rick 12's) and the Pyr's are slightly heavier on the lower 3 pairs, so perhaps the extra string mass and tension will help out here...?
Any opinions and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Mark (and all)!
360/12v64 neck semi-lacking relief
Moderator: jingle_jangle
This is not that uncommon an occurrance.
The rods should be okay ,It would be nice to have some relief in the neck on both sides ...have you tried loosening both of them all the way and just using the bass side ?
There is a torture twist thing that I do to clamp necks and 'force ' them into submission .This is not for an amateur ...and it bothers everyone that sees it being done .But it does sometimes does the trick.
The true/real answer is this .
Play it constantly ....wear out the frets,then the problem can then be removed and you will end up with a wider playing surface .Until then keep your eye on it and as you get closer to the end of the warranty ,then stay on top of it .You may want to return it for factory work ,but only if there is a true problem.
Believe me (and this is true of all manufacturers)They don't want to fix anything they don't have to and they want it to work ...so sometimes they only give band aids to fix things.I am NOT accusing Rickenbacker of giving inferior service ,on the contrary...I am just stating that to fix a minor truss rod issue is generally not going to be done unless there is an obvious problem.Like both rods are loose and the fretboard is still arched.
Or the fretboard is dipped and the rods are torqued to the point of ,you feel like if you tighten them any further ...you will break something and you tune down to a "C" !
Those are true troubles and will be address by any maker.
Try the string change and let us know what happens.
The rods should be okay ,It would be nice to have some relief in the neck on both sides ...have you tried loosening both of them all the way and just using the bass side ?
There is a torture twist thing that I do to clamp necks and 'force ' them into submission .This is not for an amateur ...and it bothers everyone that sees it being done .But it does sometimes does the trick.
The true/real answer is this .
Play it constantly ....wear out the frets,then the problem can then be removed and you will end up with a wider playing surface .Until then keep your eye on it and as you get closer to the end of the warranty ,then stay on top of it .You may want to return it for factory work ,but only if there is a true problem.
Believe me (and this is true of all manufacturers)They don't want to fix anything they don't have to and they want it to work ...so sometimes they only give band aids to fix things.I am NOT accusing Rickenbacker of giving inferior service ,on the contrary...I am just stating that to fix a minor truss rod issue is generally not going to be done unless there is an obvious problem.Like both rods are loose and the fretboard is still arched.
Or the fretboard is dipped and the rods are torqued to the point of ,you feel like if you tighten them any further ...you will break something and you tune down to a "C" !
Those are true troubles and will be address by any maker.
Try the string change and let us know what happens.
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!
Hi Mark; and thanks very much for such a quick reply!
I have previously loosened both rods, which resulted in too much relief on the treble side, and just a small amount on the bass side. I did not then try tightening only the bass side, as it seemed that would result in some "back bow" on the bass side by the time I got the treble side where it should be... But I will try this out when I next remove the logo plate.
I promise I won't try the Torture Twist (I'll leave that up to you!)... but I have given gentle twist pressure by hand, which makes things PERFECT... until you let go, when it of course goes right back to where it was.
When you say, "play it constantly; wear out the frets; have problem removed; wider playing surface", I'm not sure what you mean... Total refret? Or something less drastic?
I agree that with over two years left on warranty, I'll keep a close eye on this. As I said, it's only a TINY way off of optimal; if I knew for sure it would never worsen, I'd be content to have it stay as it is. But that LITTLE improvement would really make things perfect.
Perhaps (and I hope) the string change will give it the slight amount more tension that it needs for the perfect relief... I'll try your truss rod idea when I do the string change, and I'll let you know the results.
What do you think of this theory: would over-tightening the lower 3 string pairs, and loosening the higher 3 pairs, and then leaving the guitar in the case for a period of time, have any beneficial "curative" effect? Or would it just go back to where it was after you properly retuned it? (Would this be anything like a kinder, gentler version of your Torture Twist?) Hey, that could be a new dance craze...
Thanks so much, once again!
Gene
I have previously loosened both rods, which resulted in too much relief on the treble side, and just a small amount on the bass side. I did not then try tightening only the bass side, as it seemed that would result in some "back bow" on the bass side by the time I got the treble side where it should be... But I will try this out when I next remove the logo plate.
I promise I won't try the Torture Twist (I'll leave that up to you!)... but I have given gentle twist pressure by hand, which makes things PERFECT... until you let go, when it of course goes right back to where it was.
When you say, "play it constantly; wear out the frets; have problem removed; wider playing surface", I'm not sure what you mean... Total refret? Or something less drastic?
I agree that with over two years left on warranty, I'll keep a close eye on this. As I said, it's only a TINY way off of optimal; if I knew for sure it would never worsen, I'd be content to have it stay as it is. But that LITTLE improvement would really make things perfect.
Perhaps (and I hope) the string change will give it the slight amount more tension that it needs for the perfect relief... I'll try your truss rod idea when I do the string change, and I'll let you know the results.
What do you think of this theory: would over-tightening the lower 3 string pairs, and loosening the higher 3 pairs, and then leaving the guitar in the case for a period of time, have any beneficial "curative" effect? Or would it just go back to where it was after you properly retuned it? (Would this be anything like a kinder, gentler version of your Torture Twist?) Hey, that could be a new dance craze...
Thanks so much, once again!
Gene
The way to fix this is ....
Pull out the frets,Put equal tension on the truss rods,Plane the fretboard,refret with the frets eztended over the binding and only beveling the fret edges to 30 degrees,or less.
The strings could then be spread out .Making a new nut would in effect give you more playing surface.
The stringing twisting torture thing ,I have tried unsuccessfully.Even with heat it is only a temporary fix at best.
The fret pull,plane is THE answer.
Most of my guitars that I own are ones that other repairman gave up on and the fretboards needed to be planed,and fretted.They are wonderful now.
From the 1952 Esquire,to the 1957gold top,to the 1962 Strat ,the 1959 Telecaster,the 1966 Rick 12 string ,the D-35,and the Longhorn 6 string bass.
These wee all "basket cases" .I fixed all of them and I got the screaming deal on all of them due to their problems.
Moral to the story....don't give up until you are sunk. "I will not tolorate Failure!"
Pull out the frets,Put equal tension on the truss rods,Plane the fretboard,refret with the frets eztended over the binding and only beveling the fret edges to 30 degrees,or less.
The strings could then be spread out .Making a new nut would in effect give you more playing surface.
The stringing twisting torture thing ,I have tried unsuccessfully.Even with heat it is only a temporary fix at best.
The fret pull,plane is THE answer.
Most of my guitars that I own are ones that other repairman gave up on and the fretboards needed to be planed,and fretted.They are wonderful now.
From the 1952 Esquire,to the 1957gold top,to the 1962 Strat ,the 1959 Telecaster,the 1966 Rick 12 string ,the D-35,and the Longhorn 6 string bass.
These wee all "basket cases" .I fixed all of them and I got the screaming deal on all of them due to their problems.
Moral to the story....don't give up until you are sunk. "I will not tolorate Failure!"
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!