Chunky necks...
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
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scottpro1969
- Intermediate Member
- Posts: 687
- Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:19 am
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scottpro1969
- Intermediate Member
- Posts: 687
- Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:19 am
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scottpro1969
- Intermediate Member
- Posts: 687
- Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:19 am
Bob said: "I have completely taken Rics apart and experimented with the circuits, set ups, etc. Everything I do like this makes me feel closer to them, they are very interesting instruments, I love taking a beat old 4001 or early 4003 and restoring it to good playing condition."
I totally agree.
Although I'm not a luthier, just a player, I do basic setups like neck relief, bridge height, intonation and pickup/polepiece height adjustments, pickup changes, and replacing the stock Philip saddle screws with flat head Allen screws to my RIC basses. Carrying out these tasks myself makes me get to know the construction and sonic aspects of my babies better. In my very humble opinion, knowing how to set up one's instruments is basic requirement for being a player. It's similar to being responsible and trying to understand your kids' problems and help them out.
Some guitars and basses are more prone to changes of seasons and their setups should be fine-tuned every few months. With all due respect, paying someone to set up (relief, string height, intonation and pickup heights) a RIC for $100 a time is "being too rich", IMHO. Why not learn to set them up by ourselves and save the money to buy more Ricks? $100 can buy you a RIC pickup or a few sets of strings. On the other hand, we've all seen popped fingerboards caused to lots of 4001 basses by clueless luthiers because they didn't know any better than the owners themselves about the correct ways to adjust the old 4001 truss rods. It's safer for the owners to learn to adjust them correctly. Also, only the owners themselves know how straight a neck and how high the string action they like anyway. IMHO.
With so many setup instruction infos on the internet (and specifically for Ricks here on this forum) nowadays, it should present no significant challenges should one wish to do setups to a Rick by him/herself, especially the post-Sep. '84 ones that have the modern truss rod system.
Check out our own Rickenbrother Joey Vasco's bass maintenance page for basic guidelines:
http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/maint.htm
Good luck, Chris.
I totally agree.
Although I'm not a luthier, just a player, I do basic setups like neck relief, bridge height, intonation and pickup/polepiece height adjustments, pickup changes, and replacing the stock Philip saddle screws with flat head Allen screws to my RIC basses. Carrying out these tasks myself makes me get to know the construction and sonic aspects of my babies better. In my very humble opinion, knowing how to set up one's instruments is basic requirement for being a player. It's similar to being responsible and trying to understand your kids' problems and help them out.
Some guitars and basses are more prone to changes of seasons and their setups should be fine-tuned every few months. With all due respect, paying someone to set up (relief, string height, intonation and pickup heights) a RIC for $100 a time is "being too rich", IMHO. Why not learn to set them up by ourselves and save the money to buy more Ricks? $100 can buy you a RIC pickup or a few sets of strings. On the other hand, we've all seen popped fingerboards caused to lots of 4001 basses by clueless luthiers because they didn't know any better than the owners themselves about the correct ways to adjust the old 4001 truss rods. It's safer for the owners to learn to adjust them correctly. Also, only the owners themselves know how straight a neck and how high the string action they like anyway. IMHO.
With so many setup instruction infos on the internet (and specifically for Ricks here on this forum) nowadays, it should present no significant challenges should one wish to do setups to a Rick by him/herself, especially the post-Sep. '84 ones that have the modern truss rod system.
Check out our own Rickenbrother Joey Vasco's bass maintenance page for basic guidelines:
http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/maint.htm
Good luck, Chris.
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rickenbrother
- RRF Moderator
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- Joined: Sun May 26, 2002 5:00 am
