Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Steve - that was exactly what I said when this was originally announced.

My non-scientific measurements are as follows....

'98 4003s8 from bridge to bridge p/u is 4.25" and from bridge to neck p/u is 8.5"

'05 4004L from bridge to bridge p/u is 4.25" and from bridge to neck p/u is 9.25"

.....I measured to the center of the p/u's and from the center of the s8 bridge. For the 4004L I used the "imaginary middle" of the bridge based on the range I used for setting my intonation.....if that makes any sense. So the bridge p/u on my 4004L is spaced the same as a 4003 but the neck p/u (right next to the neck) is 3/4" further.

For me, as I have mentioned, it is more of a comfort/aesthetics reason that I prefer the spacing on mine but I'd be interested in comparing both versions side by side at some point to compare differences in tone.

As far as the p/u position as it relates to truss rod maintenance....it may be rare that it is required to remove the rods but it clearly does happen on occasion and I'm sure it is a warranty nightmare when it does.

Imagine down the road when the 4004 basses are 40-50 years old and the rod access may be more of an issue....that's when people will be cursing Ric for their design that hinders maintenance. I think them switching back to the current placement is a great idea.

Jeff Scott's 4004Cii that he is selling is a fantastic bass that has great action and fantastic tone....it also had truss rod issues that required Ric to route two small channels in the body between the neck p/u and the neck to allow removal of the rods. The bass still looks great and I'm sure it benefitted from the surgery but I'd be a very unsatisfied customer if that was Ric's solution to a warranty claim of mine. I would imagine this is at least part of the reason why Ric changed the p/u positions.

Brian, Jeff had some special circumstances you might not be aware of. Had it been a straight warranty repair, we probably wouldn't have had to do this but worst case, we would have replaced the entire instrument.

For the record, I'd be surprised if there's more than 25 instruments out there with this configuration. Given that our overall warranty rate for all problems is less than 0.1%, the odds are with you.

Hmmmm.....I wasn't aware of the special circumstances.....sorry if I posted any misinformation. The two occasions where I have received warranty work I was very pleased with the service/results so I guess I should have known there was more to the situation.

I would also have guessed that a replacement may be offered or that a different (more intrusive) proceedure could be implemented with no evidence left when it is complete for a similar repair.

I understand that warranty issues are a rarity with Rics but wouldn't aiding repair with an acceptable design change, even if it is rarely needed, be a good idea in general?

I broke the rod because I cranked them down really really hard ... I was determined to flatten out the neck ... the neck always had a slight curve to it ... it was not really high action ... but I am really fussy about low action ... I was using .130 gauge rotosound strings ... very high tension ... I put in new rods and put on Ric strings .115 low B and it was fine ... it still never flattened out ... but some experts will say a 5 string bass shouldn't be completely flat ... most Rics will go into a backbow with a few turns on the truss rods and I even had an s5 that had a straight neck when the rods were finger tight ... my theory is the red bass sat in a low humidity music store too long without a proper adjustment and the neck wood curved permanently ... but the up side of the story is I am really a fan of the Ric neck and the new truss rod system ... and you have to really work hard to break a rod and if you do it does not damage the neck at all ...

again the bass was not defective it just could not be optimized ... and I forced the issue ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/red-4003s5.htm

Brian, we do have a way to repair these if the issue comes up but Jeff had already done some work himself on the instrument and had a large chip in the wood; routing the new slots took that chip out. Under other circumstances we likely would have taken care of this in another way.

Also, he had already done some signifcant parts changes that precluded us from doing a body swap.

Well that is great news (I'm sure) to those with the "other" p/u spacing. From looking at it....it looked like routing the slots or removing the fretboard were the only options.

"...or removing the fretboard were the only options"

Removing the fingerboard would only serve to facilitate repairing the rod, but would not solve the issue if a rod needed replacing down the road. John and all involved at RIC did an exemplary job on my 4004Cii. If I had not done some of the mods to mine the bass would have just been replaced with a new one. As John mentioned, they went about it a differrent way which was educational for them actually, as now they have the knowhow to repair any of the others that may someday need this done to it, like Scott Dosecks, but hopefully that will never happen. There was a minor issue with the treble side rod from new, and it was only a matter of time before I broke it! When I got the bass back from RIC, it was like new!

Measurements, and as Brian says "non-scientific". That is, not very precise...but good ballpark:

1975 4001: 4 1/2" from bridge for treble PU, 9 1/8" for the bass PU

2004 4004: 3 1/2", 8 3/8"

Both basses are exactly the same scale length: 33 1/4". I measure averaging the lengths between E&A and D&G...it really didn't make a difference, as quickly as I was doing this...

I did notice, with both RIck basses out and next to each other, it seems I have the 4001 tuned F-Bb-Eb-Ab... hehehe. I know the Laredo is close, I've played 4 gigs in 3 weeks with it, and it wasn't far off tuning each time I tuned it...

Ugggghhhh!! (sound of me being punched in the stomach...)

Wildwood Music Inc.
804 Main St.
Louisville, CO 80027

They were just shipped the other 4004cii/BBR

Oh well....I'll STILL have a nice Christmas

Chris.....how dare you bring this thread back on topic.......

My bad....

I'll try to keep my mind on other things....


I said I'll TRY....

Chris, I have been getting punched in the stomach daily.....I see BBR's flying all over the place, to places that have had 3 guitars arrive, 2 are BBR's. OUCH.

I'm sure I'll look back and laugh and say "it really wasn't THAT long of a wait!"....I WILL say that, won't I??