Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

jingle_jangle wrote:

demon666 wrote:That was my idea. I would have to get/make a new plate and different truss rod nuts. Or if any one has any tips for adjusting the rods on a 4003 that adjusts at the body. It's a pain to detune , remove the pickgaurd, adjust the rods, retune, check, de tune reinstall pickgaurd, etc..... Well you see what I mean

There's no reason I can see that this would not work...the only difference between the two versions is the rout in the headstock, and of course the hardware at the adjustment end. It seems to me that this experiment was tried to eliminate the weak spot under the rout in the headstock volute area. Am I correct in this assumption?

That's the story I've always heard. The neck being wider at the body end gives thicker wood, a larger glue area, and more strength, so it makes sense...

cjj wrote:

jingle_jangle wrote:

demon666 wrote:That was my idea. I would have to get/make a new plate and different truss rod nuts. Or if any one has any tips for adjusting the rods on a 4003 that adjusts at the body. It's a pain to detune , remove the pickgaurd, adjust the rods, retune, check, de tune reinstall pickgaurd, etc..... Well you see what I mean

There's no reason I can see that this would not work...the only difference between the two versions is the rout in the headstock, and of course the hardware at the adjustment end. It seems to me that this experiment was tried to eliminate the weak spot under the rout in the headstock volute area. Am I correct in this assumption?

That's the story I've always heard. The neck being wider at the body end gives thicker wood, a larger glue area, and more strength, so it makes sense...

That makes sense too. The neck on this one is pencil thin. A lot thinner than my other 2 Rics. Maybe I should leave it how it is. I got the neck all cleaned up and ready to install the board. I'm gonna clean up the rods again and re-tape them. The old tape is brittle and isn't sticking.

Hey Paul any interest in squirting this thing Silver and installing black binding? I'm thinking of powder coating all the hardware black.

demon666 wrote:

cjj wrote:

jingle_jangle wrote:
There's no reason I can see that this would not work...the only difference between the two versions is the rout in the headstock, and of course the hardware at the adjustment end. It seems to me that this experiment was tried to eliminate the weak spot under the rout in the headstock volute area. Am I correct in this assumption?

That's the story I've always heard. The neck being wider at the body end gives thicker wood, a larger glue area, and more strength, so it makes sense...

That makes sense too. The neck on this one is pencil thin. A lot thinner than my other 2 Rics. Maybe I should leave it how it is. I got the neck all cleaned up and ready to install the board. I'm gonna clean up the rods again and re-tape them. The old tape is brittle and isn't sticking.

I've heard the "modern" way is to use heat shrink tubing instead of tape...

Don't use heat shrink on an old style truss rod--it will inhibit its action. This is for new-style rods only.

Old-style rods should get a 1/8" wide strip of vinyl electrical tape attached between the two leaves of the rod's "hairpin" shape. This facilitates their sliding past each other, which is what causes the tensioned arc that flattens the neck.

I doubt they would even fit back into the slots with heat shrink on them. It's a pretty snug fit which I assume is so the rods won't spin or twist at all.

jingle_jangle wrote:Don't use heat shrink on an old style truss rod--it will inhibit its action. This is for new-style rods only.

Old-style rods should get a 1/8" wide strip of vinyl electrical tape attached between the two leaves of the rod's "hairpin" shape. This facilitates their sliding past each other, which is what causes the tensioned arc that flattens the neck.

Ah, thanks for the clarification Paul! I had heard the heat shrink thing and assumed that for old style rods you would just put it on one half. Of course, in light of what demon666 said, that might not work/fit either...

Yeah, it would work on one half, and save lots of time, too...if it would fit the slot...yer on yer own on that one.

Rods cleaned up and re-taped.



some steel wool and some acetone to clean off the residue. Slight bend into them.

Glueing and clamping the new board

A couple of questions.

1. Should I install the rods before I re-fret? Should they have tension on them? Right now the board is flat from how I clamped it.

2. Is there anything that I can apply to the finger board to seal it/protect it? I may want to have this bass refinished in the future and don't want to create more work for that. The finish was also stripped off of the neck when I got it.

Also about getting it refinished, what's the opinion on color? It was originally Azureglo, and while I think it would be great to bring it back to how it left the factory I've never really been a big fan of blue. I also haven't seen Azureglo in person, and I know that it's hard to photograph blues so I may actually be ok with it. Other options that I was thinking would be White, Silver, and Burgundy. Since it's an '84 the last two would have been the last year they were offered. So what's everyones opinion?

Nice work.

demon666 wrote:A couple of questions.

1. Should I install the rods before I re-fret? Should they have tension on them? Right now the board is flat from how I clamped it.

2. Is there anything that I can apply to the finger board to seal it/protect it? I may want to have this bass refinished in the future and don't want to create more work for that. The finish was also stripped off of the neck when I got it.

As I understand it, you want to finish the finger board with something that is easily removed when doing a proper refinish in the future.
That’s a question for jingle_jangle.
But - the future is now
I did some searching recently as I’m planning to do a refret myself. Here are some useful links to info from jingle_jangle regarding finishing:
viewtopic.php?p=528941#p528941
viewtopic.php?p=625821#p625821
viewtopic.php?p=379133#p379133
viewtopic.php?p=208224#p208224

As for colour - my favorite is Walnut/AutumnGlo

Thanks for the links.

I've always liked Autumnglo too.