New 4004 issues/advice

[cassius987]

If any of these things are enough concern to you, you bought the bass new and you have the right to have it returned for warranty work at the factory. Your retailer can and probably should handle the shipping since you are outside the U.S. You will either get a repaired, 100% working bass or a brand new 100% working bass from this process, or at least that has been my experience.

Regarding your saddles if you or someone else hadn't removed that baseplate they would probably look just fine. If anything it's a sign you have a very healthy neck angle.

As far as relief, the amount you cited sounds normal. Ric necks are not special. No neck should be set up truly straight--all necks need a little bit of relief like you described. Credit card width at the 7th fret sounds a bit much to me but not bad either. I usually go for something like 1/2 to 1/4 as much relief as that in my setups. I don't do it differently for a Ric or a Fender--all necks can basically be set up the same.

As far as adjusting the pickups, they should be adjustable similar to pickups on a Fender Jazz. Most RIC guitars have pickups that operate on the same principle. The foam pushes up and by tightening down on the screws the pickup is pushed down harder, lowering it. It is the opposite of a machine screw mechanism like on a 4003.

Sorry for all your troubles but if I were you I'd get it returned and repaired, returned and replaced or just outright returned rather than banging your head on it for weeks only to reach the same conclusion later. Finish issues you cite etc. are exclusively under the jurisdiction of RIC to correctly repair (AFAIK--they may have someone they use in the UK for it but I don't know of any) so if you are seriously concerned about that you really have no choice but to send it back.

[cheyenne]

Something's seriously wrong here- no way the saddles should need to be like this. Since it's a new instrument, you should submit it for warranty repair.

The man himself has spoken. Dont hesitate. Return it.

I dont want to come of snobish here, but maybe you dont realize that John Hall is the CEO of Rickenbacker?

[aceonbass]

I feel that the neck should be adjusted flatter, and that if strings only buzz on a couple of frets, that perhaps a fret leveling is in order (way cheaper than sending it back to the US, and something the dealer should just do as part of their customer service). The pickup height adjustment issue is an interesting one. Consider this, since 4004's now use the same neck blank as a 4003, the strings are now closer to the body, therefore the pickups need to be adjusted quite a bit lower than on the old 4004's. Now if the CNC programing for the route hasn't changed, this could be a big problem. With the new neck, the top surface of the edge of a 4004's pickup covers would need to end up almost 100/1000's of an inch or more below the "deck" of the bass. This is a relatively easy fix, (for me anyway) and would require the pickup routes to be routed deeper to accommodate more adjustment.

[Hotzenplotz]

Something's seriously wrong here- no way the saddles should need to be like this. Since it's a new instrument, you should submit it for warranty repair.

The man himself has spoken. Dont hesitate. Return it.

I dont want to come of snobish here, but maybe you dont realize that John Hall is the CEO of Rickenbacker?

And provided with the line(s) of Mr. Hall You should talk again to that "expert". That conversation should be very friendly but short.

Best wishes!

[marcinkus]

If the bass now sounds fine and the only problem is the saddle height I would just use the bridge plate that schaller supplies, as suggested prevously.

http://guitar-bridge.com/download/CY417 ... PLATTE.jpg

[nukebass]

He's in Scotland. He's at the mercy of the distributor in that case.

What is the store's return policy? If you really aren't happy with it, take it back. There is no reason to be this frustrated with a brand new bass.

[Hotzenplotz]

IMHO an instrument that costs over 2.000£ has to be perfect, nothing less.

A return or repair now is the way to go for a good store. - And remember what John Hall said!

[blueflamerick]

With the new neck, the top surface of the edge of a 4004's pickup covers would need to end up almost 100/1000's of an inch or more below the "deck" of the bass.

Reduce your fractions, sir.

[johnhall]

As I said before, something just doesn't look right on this instrument. The store should return it to the distributor for service or replacement.

Of course, I'm also assuming this is an authorized dealership and the instrument is not gray market. Even so, the musical instrument retailer has an obligation to you to make it right.

[The Dude]

Excuse the lengthy absence from the thread, I haven't had nearly as much free time lately as I would like, just wanted to let everyone know that I got the bass returned to the store again. I explained that I simply wasn't happy with or willing to accept it for the various reasons discussed and to their credit, they got straight onto the UK distributor (Rosetti) and arranged to have it returned, where it was inspected and replaced with a brand spanking new one

Again, haven't had as much time to play with it as I would like but so far I can't fault it - the set up, finish etc has been flawless as far as I've been able to tell. It also has a much better sounding E-string - the previous one also seemed to be suffering the dreaded 'dead E-string syndrome' which I guess was a symptom of the other set up flaws, so all in all I'm much happier with this one!

My only minor gripe is a slight dead spot on 10th fret of the D string, which I gather is fairly common (it was also present on the other one and my 4003). Ironically, I use this fret a lot in my band, but I've been playing the 4003 for years and it's never been a major issue as of yet, so I'm confident I can live with it (fingers crossed).

Just wanted to clarify that everything got sorted out in the end, and more importantly, to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to reply and give me their advice, especially Mr Hall. Cheers folks!

[jps]

Dead spots are common on virtually all stringed instruments made of wood, it is just the nature of the material. Fenders usually have them around the 5th-7th frets on the G string, for example. Sometimes minor tweaks of the truss rods can minimize them or alter the location of the dead spot.