Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

woodyng wrote:Hi,Ash. The stock bridge on the Rick 8-string .....is that adjustable for string spacing? I seem to remember one of the forum members here actually making an improved version of the 8 string bridge and offering them for sale,sorry i can't recollect who that is.
As for the measurements on my bass, it is at the practice house,we have a gig on Halloween,so hopefully i can try to get some measurements to you after this weekend. I do know that the bass has more of a Fender style neck,but the string width seems pretty consistent all the way up the neck. One of the things i love doing is faux Wes Montgomery runs on the upper limits of the g strings. (24 fret neck!)

The standard Rick bridge saddles are not adjustable and I've already bought one extra unit to try out my existing string spacing. I don't mind buying another unit though, if I can get this spacing just right. I'm still hoping that Kevin Teed (Teeder) will produce further supplie sof his 8-string saddles, but no news yet.

And yes - the Wes Montgomery stuff really is great fun on an 8-stringer, isn't it!

Ash

Woody - could you also post the width of the neck at the nut? Is it a "standard" width, or did they fatten up the neck a little for the 8-strings?

Ok,Guys,it's measurement time, .
The nut is 1 5/8". The width of the space between the fundamental and octave strings is 1/8" at the nut. That seems to gradually widen to a 3/16" spacing toward the 12th fret.Hope that helps!
I just used this bass again for about 1/2 of the 3-set Halloween gig we just did,and it really kicks butt!

My first octave bass was an old Ibanez ST-980, and that one had a massive gap between the root and octaves - 4mm (measured string edge-to-edge). I later found a Hamer B8S and BC Rich Bich 8, and the root/octave spacing on both of those is only 2mm. Those feel great to me, but it's all a matter of preference.

On the above basses, the spacing is (or was, in the case of the Ibanez) constant all the way up the neck - i.e. if the gap between courses is 2mm at the nut, it's also 2mm at the bridge.

I have a stock '95 4003s8, and just now noticed that the spacing on it does indeed taper. The gap between the courses is about 2mm at the nut, and widens slightly to 3mm at the bridge. I still need to set that one up and reverse the courses (I prefer the octaves on top), and so I haven't played it out much yet. I'll probably strive for the 2mm spacing at both ends when I do.

Ashgray wrote:I'm still hoping that Kevin Teed (Teeder) will produce further supplie sof his 8-string saddles

Hope to get my hands on one of those as well

Thanks Woody, Joe - that's really helpful!

Ash