Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi Ted!

What year is your 4003?

Hi Charly!

1986. Has the adjust at the headstock, I'm getting into it now, be back soon

Thanks!

Ted, acorn nuts are only recessed about 1/16" or so...I read that rods can flip inside, and might need to be pulled and turned.
Any thoughts?

Great to "see" ya! I have found the world of 4004 basses and sold the 4-2-5 since the 75th. I LOVE humbuckers! Sorry to interrupt the technical discussion, just missed seein ya around much......

That recess sounds OK. The rods are just 5/32 steel wire with threads cut at both ends. They are essentially straight unless the neck was stubborn at the factory. In that case, they may have a curve bent into them to better counter the pull of the wood. In that case, yes the rods could have flipped. Otherwise it should not matter. Try setting the neck before turning the nuts. Tune up and bend the neck back away from the string until they lie flat against the board. Give the nuts about 1/4 turn each then release the neck. Retune and check your relief. Bear in mind that true relief may differ from apparent relief. What I mean by that is a high or worn fret may give the illusion of relief were none really exists. Also, despite the best efforts of the manufacturer, not every fingerboard is perfectly flat. Sometimes to get perfect action the fingerboard must be releveled. Most of the time that is not necessary.

Thanks Ted and everyone.
I pulled them out, they are both pretty curved, and came out like they were installed as a (what do you call it?) up-bow, forward bow? in the neck.They came out easily enough. Both have masking tape wrapping.

Wonder if I should straighten them before reinstalling. I also think about putting a couple shim washers at the body end under the nuts to allow less thread at headstock.

I don't think you can go wrong straightening them. I would bet if there was any "advance" bow put in them, it was slight, just to get it going in the right direction. But then.......... I'm not 100% on that!

Well, I had to do the old 4001 technique and bend the neck; the G side is still not 100% straight. The G side nut on mine is showing about 3mm shorter on the threads than the E side. That masking tape is a pain; took me ages to get that rod out cos it has ripped and curled. Seems ok for now, but the A and G companion strings are not present, and both nuts are at full tightness.

If a neck was 'stubborn at the factory', why would it the instrument have been released to the distributor? Just curious, as I've had no response from RIC at all on above issue.

Cool I'll give it a whack.
Thanks for the help...this is not a pointless exercise in any case- I think the main problem is that the E string side rod threads were bottomed against the masking tape wrap, so I wasn't turning it anymore, probably spinning the whole rod in the neck. I really believe I can fix this now.
Love this forum, Love my Ric.

Not a good idea to use the word whack when talking about a neck!

Charly, you know I'm not gonna whack my neck to fix this,right?

That was a good laugh! I needed that, after all this bad news today!

The rods will tend to take on a curve just by taking them out. Try installing them so the bend will take the neck away from the strings (back bow). The only time you will want to go the other way (up bow) is if the strings won't pull the neck forward enough to get all of the notes to play.