Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

If it's your dream bass I'd keep it and send it to Mark Arnquist. He will fix it, and he's not very expensive. It may just need to fill that lower route.

Looking at the pic of the neck pickup, it's def pitched up. No doubt.

There is a problem with that neck.

If you still can, return this bass and keep on looking.

IMO you should replace the ABM bridge with the Hipshot one (and order longer intonation screws) and you'll be fine.

It does look like you might have a neck issue,, but for around $100 bucks, a Hipshot style "A" bridge and perhaps a little work on the nut slots would be worth a shot.

the Hipshot style "A" is a much better bridge anyway IMHO.

I had them on both of mine:

To a degree I'd have to disagree with the idea of replacing the bridge,etc,at least until you have someone who is knowledgable about Rick basses look over that neck/ body join situation. That may be a deal breaker if it's going to be an expensive proposition to fix.
You mentioned you adjusted the rods on the bass,is it possible you went too far ? When i took my 2 basses in a few weeks ago,they said the necks had just a touch of relief,which i realize is not the recommended modus operandi for Rick basses,but it seems to be working just fine for me,with a medium- low action.

From what i can see looks like your neck needs adjustment, action way too high.

So for closure for anyone following this saga, I took the bass to my local GC (I had ordered it used online from GC.com) and the guy there took one look at it and said "they never should have sold this to you" and took it back with full refund.

Thanks everyone. My search continues I suppose.

cboehmig wrote:So for closure for anyone following this saga, I took the bass to my local GC (I had ordered it used online from GC.com) and the guy there took one look at it and said "they never should have sold this to you" and took it back with full refund.

Thanks everyone. My search continues I suppose.

Happy, and sad for you...

Guitar Center. 'Nuff said.

Patience Charles... they (4004C) are out there. And if it can be any 4004... then there are many out there right now. Keep us post with your quest!

edski wrote:

cboehmig wrote:So for closure for anyone following this saga, I took the bass to my local GC (I had ordered it used online from GC.com) and the guy there took one look at it and said "they never should have sold this to you" and took it back with full refund.

Thanks everyone. My search continues I suppose.

Happy, and sad for you...

Guitar Center. 'Nuff said.

GC can be pretty obnoxious but I'm lucky that mine has two folks working there that I really like and trust (and who seem to like me too). They're great to deal with and took the bass back no questions asked, even though I bought it from a store halfway across the country.

cboehmig wrote:GC can be pretty obnoxious...

Yeah, but I did get my Martin and PRS at one! So I can't complain too much about them. Well, maybe I can.

cboehmig wrote:GC can be pretty obnoxious but I'm lucky that mine has two folks working there that I really like and trust (and who seem to like me too). They're great to deal with and took the bass back no questions asked, even though I bought it from a store halfway across the country.

Yes, you are lucky, seeing as the chain is part of Bain Capital, and there seems to be no effort at the one in Tampa to actually move product. They literally have some of the same basses on the wall today as they had 18 months ago.

My bud was hot on a P Bass they had, and negotiated a price of $600, down from $640 with a salesman that fits your description. The next day when he went to buy it, a manager stepped in and said it was going to be $650. Well, that was over a year ago, and that same P bass is still on their wall.

I get the feeling that Bain is just using GC as a tax write off...

Didn't Bain sell GC earlier this year?

jps wrote:Didn't Bain sell GC earlier this year?

That's possible - I really don't keep track of that stuff...likely they sold it to another blood sucker that just wants to extract "management fees" from the rotting corpse of a once viable business.