Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Phil and anyone else,
OK I've made a liar out of myself, I just checked my set up with a feeler gauge on my 78 4001 which is my main player here in Lima. And my action is much lower that I had expected and is much flatter too.
here are my specs:
E string side at the twelth fret .080 in. which is about 3/32nds or 6/64ths
G string side at the twelth fret: .070 in. which is about 5/64ths.
And I have about exactly one business card of relief at the tenth fret with it fretted at the first and last frets and this is on both sides.
I did this by feel and playability, I have Fender med. light flatwounds on it, which are pretty heavy, with lighter gauge strings Im sure my action would be a little higher.
And this thing plays and sounds great, no buzz and all the notes are even.

hey Bob - i dont get all those funny measurements what is you string heights in mm? i only ask as im curious to see how you set yours up

I'll let you know tomorrow Owen I almost did it that way but it was much more precise with the feeler gauge. I'll do it mathmatically for you that will be more accurate. Well, with my math maybe not.
I know there are about 2.54 CM to an inch, so whats that, about 25.4 mm to an inch?
How does 3.1 mm on the E side and 2.7 mm on the G side sound?
I thought you guys were still with us stubborn North Americans with the old lbs. and ft. stuff, but I'll check again though with the tape measure.

Bob yeah those measurements in mm are basically what mine are set to, and about a buisness card of relief at the 12th fret

well actually my E is about 4mm off the 12th fret (nothing is being fretted here the string is open)

4mm is about the same as 5/32", so your action is as high as mine, Owen. I'm going to go looking for a couple of heat lamps this weekend at Lowe's. The old 4004 needs some neck therapy all right. I've got a couple of other basses that are well set up now, so I don't need it for a while. If I can't get any significant improvement, I might try the lighter strings and higher action like Bob did. I only need to bring it down at least another 1/32" and add a bit of relief up near the nut to be a happy camper. We'll see what happens after I hit it with the Bend Rays.

Phil, whoa, are you saying 4mm is high action? it plays like a dream to me - all my basses are like that - any lower and its buzzbuzzbuzz and youd have to play really gentle.

I always play with a thick (1.5mm non flexible) Pick - and can easily bottom out the strings without whacking the bass about

Owen, just for giggles, try a 2mm Dulap Tortex sometime, I really like the tone. I usually spend a few minutes working the beveled edge with a triangle file, as big as it is I've always got plenty to work with. I can always rework the bevel when I wear it down a bit too.

A friend of mine who is a blistering speed demon on the guitar uses them, I had never seen a lead guitar player use a pick like that, but he swears by them. I usually use fingers, but just like thumb slapping and finger pulls, I use the pick as a tone shaping tool.

Owen, just for comparison, my new OLP SB4 made by little ole Papa San in China has an action of 3/32" (6/64)on the G string and 3.5/32 (7/64) on the E string. That's a fairly average action on a lot of players' basses. Like Entwistle, I don't mind a fret rattle now and then when I'm getting heavy handed. 4mm is about 10/64, so extrapolate from that. My G string would be about 2.4mm, and my E string is about 2.8mm. My OLP MM2 has exactly the same action. This is where everything snapped into focus for me. I don't want it any higher or lower. I'm using Ernie Ball Regular Slinky strings, 45-65-85-105, which I'm sure some of you here think are the dregs. They have a rather bright sound, and I like that for finger picking. Good enough for a Chinese bass anyway. The 4004 uses RIC roundwounds 45-65-85-105. I want to try a set of RIC compressed roundwounds on them all as well. When the Ernie Balls fall off.

You must come from standup basses, Owen. 4mm would seem nice and easy to you. An electric bass is just a long necked guitar with fat strings to me. The scale is 33% longer on a bass, and that is about how much higher the action should be in relation to a guitar I play. If your guitar is 3mm, then your bass should be around 4mm.

lol Phil - if i put the action down 1mm i wouldnt notice, and no i dont come from stand up bass i am self taught and cant even play the guitar.

Im lost here , i dont play real hard and can get rattles easy with this set up. Most basses new in shops have similar set ups to mine

I just dont see how you can get the strings that low when the strings are so big

I agree with Philip, 7/64"E/6/64"G isn't unusually low.

My measurements were taken with open strings also, I think the reason I don't get fret buzz is because of the high tension strings on it. I hate fret buzz, I like a nice open note. I'll raise the action just if one note buzzes and then fuss with it for weeks to get it out. And actually the big strings slow me down a little which in my case is good because I have to think more and rely less on my rif bank. I'm lucky, this 4001 handles them well. I brought them with me to Lima as spares and had to put them on, and got used to them again. You can't get flats out here.

guys, i just think that you cant get the strings as low as a guitar and expect it to play/sound good. A guitars strings can be very low and still the notes sound clear. Not on a bass - you need room for the strings to breathe as it were. Im not one for way high strings to get the clearest possible sound (as in motown etc) but i still want it nice and solid.

Also as soon as im on the stage its all irrelevant asnd it plays like butter

Yeah, it's funny how the old adrenalin flows once you are onstage huh?

Owen, the big strings have more tension and can go lower than light skinny strings due to the higher tension. Provided that they don't spring your neck, of course. So....if you want to go low, use big strings, and tighten that truss rod! I tried some lightweight Rotosounds and absolutely hated them. Floppy flat sounding ****.

Owen, most new basses in shops are high and sharp because the neck has continued to shrink after initial setup at the factory. This releases tension on the truss rod which allows more bend in the neck which allows higher action and causes sharper intonation. The average new bass has not had the truss rod tweaked when it went on the rack. You shouldn't judge it until it has the truss rod set correctly in order to return it to original factory setup. I was at the local music shop the other day, and the bass with the best and lowest action was an old "no name" one they had taken in on trade. It must have been owned by somebody who knew what they were doing and the neck had stabilized with age. The new $1250 G&L L-2000 had considerably higher action.