Rickenbacker 4003 neck problem

[vax2002]

What can happen is one rod is doing all the pulling and one is just straightening the other side up.
The rod that is doing all the work is tight in the grove, the other rod is now longer, it has to go somewhere and bulges out.

This is why a undoing both rods and half turning each the same amounts until the neck starts to look near, string up and fine tune the rest out.
If you think about it

I find with the scratch plate off, you can see the bottom nut moving out if one rod is over tight.

[Kopfjaeger]

How is the neck now that all the tension is removed? Does she arc rearwards slightly but uniformly? Is the "bump" still there?

What John was alluding to is an issue that seems to flair up in that year. The neck wood where the bottom truss rod not sits sometimes compresses so you really never get the rod to engage like it should. You'll know this is happening because the amount of threads sticking out at the adjustment nut side will be much more than the other side or both will have quite a bit of tread showing out of the adjustment nut.

Don't put the cart before the horse here. If the bump is gone with no tension, slightly snug both truss rod nuts and begin to bring your strings to pitch. Adjust your rods equally to pull out the excess relief. We'll keep our fingers crossed that the rods were so um-equally adjust4d that it gave you an S curve. Hopefully in a few days you'll have her where you want her.

Sepp

[alberobello]

How is the neck now that all the tension is removed? Does she arc rearwards slightly but uniformly? Is the "bump" still there?

What John was alluding to is an issue that seems to flair up in that year. The neck wood where the bottom truss rod not sits sometimes compresses so you really never get the rod to engage like it should. You'll know this is happening because the amount of threads sticking out at the adjustment nut side will be much more than the other side or both will have quite a bit of tread showing out of the adjustment nut.

Don't put the cart before the horse here. If the bump is gone with no tension, slightly snug both truss rod nuts and begin to bring your strings to pitch. Adjust your rods equally to pull out the excess relief. We'll keep our fingers crossed that the rods were so um-equally adjust4d that it gave you an S curve. Hopefully in a few days you'll have her where you want her.

Sepp

Hi, after I removed all the tension from the neck, still I can see that "bump" there. As if this thing was not enough, now it seems like E side of the neck and G side of the neck look different than each other! It seems like G side has more relief if there is no tension on them. I waited for 2 days without doing anything to see how they react..so, now should I turn the nuts equally to see if something good happens?

[Kopfjaeger]

Ok, so does the neck appear to have a twist to it? if one side looks more bowed than the other, I imagine you have a twist. You can most likely eliminate the twist, if it does exists, by pre-loading the rod the has the least amount of back bow with no tension on the neck. However, you can still see the "bump" so removing the twist will not alleviate the bump issue you initially were complaining about.

can you capture this with a foto?? I'm thinking it may be time to seek a luthier.

Sepp

[alberobello]

Hi again,

I uploaded some pictures, hope they will be enough for you to diagnose the problem. My bass was waiting there for 3-4 days without any tension from truss rods or strings on the neck. I wrote "G" some of the pictures to indicate that pictures is from G side, just to prevent any confusion. I hope you will see the"bump" on the E side.

http://i.hizliresim.com/ea4qQg.jpg
http://i.hizliresim.com/xY1PLE.jpg
http://i.hizliresim.com/x8GnvW.jpg
http://i.hizliresim.com/KDLXbm.jpg
http://i.hizliresim.com/emVlyZ.jpg
http://i.hizliresim.com/xE7ldB.jpg
http://i.hizliresim.com/wjEJOD.jpg

[vax2002]

I would say it needs to be clamped up against a straight bit of timber in a sandwich and clamped every 3 inch, placed in a warm room for a week.

[alberobello]

I would say it needs to be clamped up against a straight bit of timber in a sandwich and clamped every 3 inch, placed in a warm room for a week.

It seems like it is time find a luthier..

[cassius987]

To me those pics scream, "Have the fingerboard planed and re-fretted." I would not be wanting to simply coax the wood back into semi-correct shape. This is not cheap work but you could save some $$$ if you forego refinishing afterwards.

The other concern is, is something in the grain going to keep making this happen? In which case a new fingerboard blank may be the place to start.

The fingerboard even seems uneven from side-to-side. Is it definitely a real Ric that hasn't been modified?

[antonius]

My 1975 4001 neck looked like that and I ended up having it levelled, re-fretted and refinished. I'm careful not to put high tension strings it, but it has remained stable in the 4 years since I got the work done.

[alberobello]

To me those pics scream, "Have the fingerboard planed and re-fretted." I would not be wanting to simply coax the wood back into semi-correct shape. This is not cheap work but you could save some $$$ if you forego refinishing afterwards.

The other concern is, is something in the grain going to keep making this happen? In which case a new fingerboard blank may be the place to start.

The fingerboard even seems uneven from side-to-side. Is it definitely a real Ric that hasn't been modified?

I am quite sure that it is a real Ric but it's never undergone a serious procedure in 15 years but I am not sure that each rickenbacker would have the same problem in 15 years.

[alberobello]

My 1975 4001 neck looked like that and I ended up having it levelled, re-fretted and refinished. I'm careful not to put high tension strings it, but it has remained stable in the 4 years since I got the work done.

So you would advise to see a luthier. Even tough there are many luthiers in Istanbul I am not sure how experienced they are on rickenbackers. Some friends are suggesting me to send it abroad to a rickenbacker master luthier, but again anything can happen during shipping, so still no idea about what to do.

[heinpete]

... a picture from the front of the fretboard in the respective area may give a clue if there is some wood structure that confers to the hump...? I had a similar experience with a '83 4003 (split pick guard) in 1997, however still with the old style truss rods.