Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I had Chris set up my 4003 too. He did a great job although I still keep tweaking the bridge height. Nonetheless, as a bass player himself he really knows what he's doing. On the other hand my 4004's never seem to need much at all. They're like brick houses.

Judging by some of your set-ups,i think i have quite low action for an agressive picker,and strangely,no fret buzz at all!!!
I didn't need to fiddle with the neck at all when i bought it approx 3 weeks ago.There is a small amount of relief (fretted at 1st & last,there's a 0.3mm gap at the 9th fret).All i did was lower the bridge a touch.
I always thought my bass actrion was quite high,but there again,i used to be a guitarist

From top of the 12th fret to bottom of the E string: about 2,5mm. Neck is straight but I'm getting some fret buzz sometimes, so I guess it should be closer to 3mm.

I usually set the height at the 20th fret to about 2.5mm across all the strings. This will vary a bit depending on what strings are on which instrument.

Sounds like I like the action lower than the average bear, but I also like super skinny necks. I measured the '80 4003 and it was 2mm for the E and about 1.85mm for the G. I am getting some buzz on D & G so I think that end of the bridge needs to be raised a froghair. The action on the '88 4003 isn't as low as I would like at about 2.8mm on both sides, but the sustain on that bass is phenomenal. Oh, play fingerstyle 99% of the time and prefer flats or half-rounds.

Matt B.

I use super low tension strings on most of my basses, which, in general, require higher action to minimize buzzing. A very light touch helps much, also.

I play aggressively, and if a flea can limbo under the strings, they're too high.

I returned to this thread to check everyone's numbers expecting mine to be much higher (I am always told by luthiers that my action is higher than they would expect for a 99% fingerstyle player). I was amazed to find that mine appear to be lower--the lowest even?? I have checked repeatedly and there is 2.4 mm of space from fret to string at the 20th fret on the E string side of both of my fretted basses, and 2.3 mm at the 20th fret on the G string side of both. I don't get any fret buzz or clack but it's probably because I use larger gauges most of the time and prefer medium-high tension. In the sake of being conservative about the numbers I think the most these values could possibly be are 2.8 and 2.7 respectively.

EDIT: Just checked out the fretless Rics: measured at the end of the fingerboard, the 4003 has 3.2 mm E/3.1 mm G and the 4001 has 3 mm E/3 mm G.