4003 neck adjustments.

[R10FCB]

Hey guys, just wanted to ask a question to those who own a Rickenbacker 4003.
I have a 2010 4003, so this year will be the 4th year I've owned and played it. At first I had to get my head around adjusting the truss rods regularly and had to teach myself how to do it specifically for this bass. But like I said, I'm coming to my 4th year as a Rickenbacker owner and I still find myself adjusting the neck roughly twice or 3 times a year, is this normal? The reason I ask is because despite living in Australia where our temperatures rise and drop dramatically, I have 2 other basses which necks stay completely still throughout these temperature changes. In fact I've never adjusted the truss rod on my other bass once.
I thought maybe it was a Ric thing and it was all part of owning one but my Dad's 70's 4001 doesn't have this problem either. The neck stays still throughout our weather. I keep my bass in the case under my bed when I'm not playing it and I still find that the neck/truss rods shift.
So if any 4003 owners (Aussies especially) can help me out, is this a regular occurrence and something I have to maintain? Or is there roughly a time period when the neck starts to settle down and doesn't need to be looked after as much?
Thanks.

[Colonel Sanders]

Hey guys, just wanted to ask a question to those who own a Rickenbacker 4003.
I have a 2010 4003, so this year will be the 4th year I've owned and played it. At first I had to get my head around adjusting the truss rods regularly and had to teach myself how to do it specifically for this bass. But like I said, I'm coming to my 4th year as a Rickenbacker owner and I still find myself adjusting the neck roughly twice or 3 times a year, is this normal? The reason I ask is because despite living in Australia where our temperatures rise and drop dramatically, I have 2 other basses which necks stay completely still throughout these temperature changes. In fact I've never adjusted the truss rod on my other bass once.
I thought maybe it was a Ric thing and it was all part of owning one but my Dad's 70's 4001 doesn't have this problem either. The neck stays still throughout our weather. I keep my bass in the case under my bed when I'm not playing it and I still find that the neck/truss rods shift.
So if any 4003 owners (Aussies especially) can help me out, is this a regular occurrence and something I have to maintain? Or is there roughly a time period when the neck starts to settle down and doesn't need to be looked after as much?
Thanks.

I had to adjust my 2011 4003 quite regularly. It was the bass I kept in my donga lost in the bush (during my fly in fly out days). So it did see quite severe temperature changes.

[ram]

I think I end up doing my four basses a couple, three times a year. I usually find the spring summer and fall/winter periods to be the most needful of adjustments. I always check out the neck flatness and adjust as necessary, when I change strings.

[jps]

Seasonal adjustments for most of my basses, however, the '73 4001 with the old style rods never needs any adjustments.

[cassius987]

Like Jeff I find that while my '70s 4001 needs no seasonal adjustments (4.5 years of ownership at this point), the newer models usual require some tweaking. Partly though, it's just me fiddling with the setup. I guess once or twice a year max unless I'm in the mood to experiment with the setup a lot, which is rare after the initial break-in period.

You could also just have a bass with a more "responsive" neck like my 2008 4003FL. While conventional wisdom might tell you this is a bad thing, my luthier loves it because he says it takes very little effort from the truss rod to accomplish what you are wanting to do with a lot of precision (and these are the kind of necks that actually take advantage of the dual truss rod design, i.e. unresponsive necks don't have near as much fine adjustment like that so both truss rods tend to flatten or relieve the whole neck). Some basses are "unresponsive"--they don't move much when you adjust them and probably don't move much from season to season either, so coaxing them into a new setup is not so fun. This was the case with a 2009 4003 I no longer own. It actually needed to be replaced because the neck was "frozen", and the two-piece 2010 body that I got back was much nicer than the original.

If there is a downside to "responsive" necks, they tend to have a lower limit on max tension they can have and still maintain a good setup. But the more I play light gauge strings the more I think this actually works out in their favor... the more wrap diameter on a core, the less the string can really behave like an "ideal" string (i.e. it is becoming more and more heterogeneous in composition), so light gauge strings tend to be better behaved overall in my experience, controlling for other factors like tension and taper. This observation has led me to move away from my previous hard line on equal tension for each string because there are definitely limits on the benefits. Low Bs are a great example. A lot of .135'' B strings don't sound as good as .130'' and even some .125'' B strings because the .135'' is just saturated with layers upon layers of wraps on its core and doesn't ring true when it vibrates.

[R10FCB]

Thanks for the reply's guys.
I've heard about different strings requires different set ups so for now I'm sticking with the standard Rickenbacker round wounds but when I'm more comfortable with doing set ups I might move on to Elixir's.
My only concern is my neck only ever bows forward so I'm wandering if I'll have to reset the truss rods in order to continue to tighten them, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Thanks guys, making me a feel a bit better about owning a Ric with a "responsive" neck.

[heinpete]

Seasonal adjustments for most of my basses, however, the '73 4001 with the old style rods never needs any adjustments.

... mine is one year older, but behaves the same.

[cassius987]

Thanks for the reply's guys.
I've heard about different strings requires different set ups so for now I'm sticking with the standard Rickenbacker round wounds but when I'm more comfortable with doing set ups I might move on to Elixir's.
My only concern is my neck only ever bows forward so I'm wandering if I'll have to reset the truss rods in order to continue to tighten them, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Thanks guys, making me a feel a bit better about owning a Ric with a "responsive" neck.

Most necks only ever bow a little as far as seasonal changes are concerned; it's far more rare that they actually lose some relief all their own, and when they do it tends to be a sign of dramatic humidity changes (IME). Remember, the neck of a bass is inclined to go the path of least resistance (i.e. with string tension, not against it).

I have to say I find the RIC stock string gauges a bit weird. The A and D strings are super skinny relative to the G and E. If your neck is "responsive"/doesn't love lots of tension/prone to relief, I would try some rounds you like in the following gauges: 40-55-75-95 (or 100 if you like a beefier low E). Those gauges tend to give you a fairly good tensional balance, and when all the strings have fairly similar tension getting a good setup is easier. Good luck!

p.s.: My "responsive" neck bass has really great tone, so don't let anyone tell you that because your neck isn't made of stainless steel your tone will suffer.

[johnallg]

My late (Nov) 2004 4003 has what we call a baseball bat neck but still usually requires one or two (fall/spring) adjustments to the rods. My '74 with the old rods does not.