Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

fatcat wrote:Is the 300's neck width the same as a 4003?
Bass nut is available at the company store.Black or white.

From the RIC site: 4003 neck width at nut = 42.9 mm (1 11/16'')

Which translates to 1.68".....which is exactly what I just measured the nut width on the 3000 to be.

Cool beans!

Didn't see the brass one on the "mother ship's" site....I'll probably order a couple of options to try!

Thanks again folks, from a newbie....

Not sure on the 3000 bass but when you're filing the slots, on a 4001 bass, the pull on the A and D strings differs, looking down the fret board at the Nut face, the E is sitting 6 o'clock but A and D are 7 or 8 and 5 or 4, an early 4001 with a V slot is not good.
Glad you're on the road to a fix William.

Update: Haven't ordered a new nut yet, but I filled the poorly cut E-string portion with JB-weld and filed it to a reasonable shape. Now the "flat" sound of the string has gone away, which is a great sign.

However, the volume from the e-string is still much lower than that from the A, which still makes me wonder about the health of the pickup. I have raised and lowered the PU, with little to no changes.

Also, the PU seems very sensitive to rubbing the textured cover, which makes me wonder if it is/has gone bad on the E-string side.

It is almost like rubbing your finger over a microphone cover, it just picks up the sounds easily.

I need to pull the pickup out and do an inspection of some sort....does the metal cover come off the PU at all?

What after market PU is "good" in the 3000?

Since the construction of this pickup is 4 poles with one coil wound around the outside of those poles, if there was a coil problem none of the strings would be loud. Look at the magnet glues under the pickup and see if it is all there and still fully attached. I do not think it is the pickup. BUT if you were to replace it, any 70's Rick higain would be the replacement.

You could have a dead string, or there might be twists down the length of the string not letting it vibrate fully. When you filed the new slot, was it only the width of the E string and not wider or narrower?

The E-string fits the nut modification pretty well, could be a tad tight...but not by much.

I do have some new strings on the way, so we'll see what that does. Maybe the'll arrive today! Different brand than what is on there now.

I'll pull the pick guard and have a closer look at the PU. It has always been strange to me how sensitive it is to resting my thumb on the textured cover. It really picks up that sound like moving your finger across a microphone.

Again, thanks for all the pointers....this ain't the most exciting thread I know!

The pickups on my 3000 and 3001 are also microphonic. Not enough to make me want to fool with them.

Good....I'll just move along then....