Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

coolingitdown wrote:As long as I can get VERY similar tone out of them, I might want to try them. From what I hear about the feel of the 9050CL set, I am very tempted to try them. I might even be able to afford to change strings every now and again if I start using them!

I only stick with the TI set for the tone, which I absolutely love. I put up with the horrible balance and feel just to get that tone, which is especially sweet with the RIHS and the toaster in the 1/2" position.

Well I don't think TIs sound identical to the Fender 9050s, but the only way you can really find out is to try some. I think they sound somewhere between TIs and Chromes. TIs have this "warble" in their voice that I don't like very much and is almost unique to them, and maybe to a lesser extent the roundcore Pyramids.

cassius987 wrote:

rickenbrother wrote:Just curious, what strings do you have on it now?

TI JF344s apparently.

I use TI JF 344s on my V63, C64, AND 77 4001, and all my Fenders 4 precisions and 5 jazz basses and have never had any problems or issues and absolutely love and swear by them, to me the double truss rod system is a pain in the arse, would rather have a single truss rod, here wear I live in philly the weather and humidity change constanly and so do the the set ups on my Ric's, gets very frustrateting, and I dont like to mess with adjusting 2 rods or dealing with it,all my other basses have single rods and the only one I have had to tweak only once since owning it is my 1976 Gibson ripper

Jonathan, sorry to hear you are having a problem with this 4001 C64 that you've been wanting for so long.
Hopefully Dr. Rickenbrother can fix what ails it.

8mileshigher wrote:Jonathan, sorry to hear you are having a problem with this 4001 C64 that you've been wanting for so long.
Hopefully Dr. Rickenbrother can fix what ails it.

Thanks, Rich! It's really a minor issue and there is absolutely no love lost between me and the C64. And I'm very confident that Dr. Rickenbrother can fix it!

Does one just have to fight with these instruments a little bit at first before they settle into perfection (as they inevitably do with time and effort)? That seems to be my experience thus far, and I don't mind the struggle because the end result is worth it!

coolingitdown wrote:

8mileshigher wrote:Jonathan, sorry to hear you are having a problem with this 4001 C64 that you've been wanting for so long.
Hopefully Dr. Rickenbrother can fix what ails it.

Thanks, Rich! It's really a minor issue and there is absolutely no love lost between me and the C64. And I'm very confident that Dr. Rickenbrother can fix it!

Does one just have to fight with these instruments a little bit at first before they settle into perfection (as they inevitably do with time and effort)? That seems to be my experience thus far, and I don't mind the struggle because the end result is worth it!

I find working on guitars as a relaxing type of activity. I love it. I guess that why I don't get frustrated or feeling like I'm struggling with it.

I think I start out that way when I work on mine, but it quickly turns to frustration if I don't get the results I want right away. It's my fault, never the instrument's.

Must learn patience!

Your bass is in very capable hands !
It will be better-than-new, before you know it.

ricaddic wrote:

cassius987 wrote:

rickenbrother wrote:Just curious, what strings do you have on it now?

TI JF344s apparently.

I use TI JF 344s on my V63, C64, AND 77 4001, and all my Fenders 4 precisions and 5 jazz basses and have never had any problems or issues and absolutely love and swear by them, to me the double truss rod system is a pain in the arse, would rather have a single truss rod, here wear I live in philly the weather and humidity change constanly and so do the the set ups on my Ric's, gets very frustrateting, and I dont like to mess with adjusting 2 rods or dealing with it,all my other basses have single rods and the only one I have had to tweak only once since owning it is my 1976 Gibson ripper

I don't think the TIs are the problem. It's probably just the way the rods are set. Like you, I see it as simpler from the player's standpoint to build a stronger neck (i.e. laminated, and/or with graphite rods) and use a single truss rod. On the other hand my luthier here in Denver is in love with having two truss rods to play with, and he's mostly a Gibson guy.

That's a lot of cash invested in your strings! Wow! Like, a whole bass' worth. I'll have to do inventory on myself and see if I'm guilty of that too.

Seriously! That's what, $700 worth of strings? Haha.

And yeah, in my case I doubt the strings are the problem. It probably just needs an adjustment by hands more capable than mine.

coolingitdown wrote:The neck is dead flat on the treble side. When fretted at the first and last fret, the G string touches every fret all the up the neck, so it's flat, if not back bowed (I don't have a straightedge with which to test this). the bass side, however, shows some relief (slightly less than a sheet of paper's thickness at the 8th fret). I've tightened the bass-side rod, and loosened the treble-side rod to the point where it can be moved with fingertips.

You, my friend, are an incredibly lucky man. To me, with all due respect to Mr. JH and crew, this is the optimal setup for a Rick bass, as it gives the top strings ultimate playability, but gives the lower strings just a tad more clearance when you really dig in. This is the setup I have had on my 4002 for almost 20 years. First of all, re-tighten the treble side truss rod until it is just snug so it isn't the cause of the rattle. Second, raise the bass side of the bridge a turn or so to see if this helps the rattle. All strings will buzz, rattle and clank if they're too low. There may be a chance the treble side does have a bit of backbow. When you hold the G string at the first fret then fret the other end down on the last fret, watch carefully. If it is indeed flat, then as you fret it down the string will hit all the frets at the exact same moment. If it hits even one fret before the others, then you have backbow. Loosen the E side rod a quarter to half turn to see if it helps. If so, great. If not, go one step heavier strings (say, from a 40's set to a 45's set, or from the TI flats set to the new Fender 9050CL set, or the RIC stock set) and when it settles in, see if you need to tweak the rods again.

Just to add a bit to Scott's post, I remember he set my 4003 up like that and it played very great, and my luthier in Denver did it to my 4003FL when he planed the fingerboard and it also plays great.

cassius987 wrote:

I don't think the TIs are the problem. It's probably just the way the rods are set. Like you, I see it as simpler from the player's standpoint to build a stronger neck (i.e. laminated, and/or with graphite rods) and use a single truss rod. On the other hand my luthier here in Denver is in love with having two truss rods to play with, and he's mostly a Gibson guy.

That's a lot of cash invested in your strings! Wow! Like, a whole bass' worth. I'll have to do inventory on myself and see if I'm guilty of that too.[/quote]
Its definitly not the strings, but its definitly very frustarting, because the basses are hit or miss, and are unreliable, on the fortunate side, I have plenty of basses to play so dont have to rely on the problem childs....lol

Hey all!

This story has a happy ending!

After doing some adjustments to my truss rods last week, I brought the bass out yesterday. I noticed immediately that the action was lower. I held the E and G strings down at the first and last frets. The G side of the neck got the teeniest, tiniest little "plink" sound in the middle of the fingerboard, which was just what I was looking for! The E side had a little bit more relief in it, probably no more than a sheet of paper.

As long as I didn't dig in too much, all the strings on all the frets played buzz free! Even then, I noticed that none of that extra noise was coming through the amp.

Fretting a C at the 8th fret of the E string still produced that "brong" sound that I described earlier, but that was much improved over how it was before (frets 6-8 on the E and A strings before). Curiously enough, I noticed that if I fretted the 7th AND 8th frets, the sound vanished. So, somehow, the string is buzzing off of a fret behind where I'm fretting the string, outside of the speaking length. Very odd...

Jonathan, Glad to hear that your tweaking of things is having positive results.

8mileshigher wrote:Jonathan, Glad to hear that your tweaking of things is having positive results.

Yeah! Thanks, Rich!

I guess I'm better at working on guitars than I thought I was! I'm no master luthier, but still...

I don't have all the issues sorted out quite yet, but it take quite a few months to get the 4003 in order, and now it's easily the best bass I own! On to a glorious future with the 4001C64!