Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

great news John... I love a happy ending!

Sebastien a tip for ajusting the pole screws of the bridge pup,take the allen wrench and grind more than half off the short end and it will fit under the pickup cover no problem.

jagdeluxe wrote:Sebastien a tip for ajusting the pole screws of the bridge pup,take the allen wrench and grind more than half off the short end and it will fit under the pickup cover no problem.

I had never thought to do this but back when I kept the cover on I would have loved to have known... thanks for this wisdom.

cassius987 wrote:

jagdeluxe wrote:Sebastien a tip for ajusting the pole screws of the bridge pup,take the allen wrench and grind more than half off the short end and it will fit under the pickup cover no problem.

I had never thought to do this but back when I kept the cover on I would have loved to have known... thanks for this wisdom.

+1 That's a great idea!

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out, John.

I was just talking to Dan Russell and he said a brand new 4003 had this problem. Now, if you remember Dan you know he had this problem on two other Rics. I really don't get it--I immediately went to my basses and checked and I can't detect anything. What is going on here? Why is this such a frequent issue? He said all other aspects of the bass were fabulous so I don't think it's a QC thing. Yet it isn't innate either because none of mine have it...

*mindfreak*

Actually I always felt the E lacked alittle, but I came to the conclusion its the string, I keep the Rick strings on my 06 although now use the Curt Mangan made for Rics strings and noticed alittle more output on the E, however on my 08 4003 I now use Dean Markley blue steel medium lights and get a much thicker and fuller and louder sound and tone on the E string, so for me that made the difference, use them on my 4001V63 too and love the output and sound and tone.

I have two 4004cii's and have noticed that when using the neck pickup soloed (in both basses), the E string can seem to be lacking in volume and depth compared to the other strings. Interestingly the bridge pickup soloed sounds great with the E string. A bit of compression and EQ solves the issue for me and I have never felt the E string was lacking when playing live (running both pickups).
So what's the issue here? Personally I feel that If the 4004's pickups were more adjustable, you could even out the E string signal by raising the bass side and lowering the treble side, but the current design gives very little pickup adjustability. Or maybe I just have abnormally sensitive ears! Any other 4004 owners out there notice this situation?

The only time that I've been dissatisfied with the sound of my E string is when I've had a bad string. That's not just on Rick basses either. So I just won't buy that particular brand of strings anymore. I don't care who uses them!

Me too Joey, which is why I get so boggled when my friend Dan is something like 0 for 4 on Rics regarding the E string, and he says he tries new strings out most every time. I can't imagine what the issue is, but I also feel that since A) it can't be innate (because many of us never have this problem) and B) it must not be a very obvious problem (because Dan has tried to salvage his 4003 numerous times in numerous ways), there's got to be some weird lingering issue that, if dug up, would enlighten and help a lot of people suffering from this for whatever reason.

rickenbrother wrote:.....I just won't buy that particular brand of strings anymore. I don't care who uses them!

Not the strings Chris uses, is it?

jps wrote:

rickenbrother wrote:.....I just won't buy that particular brand of strings anymore. I don't care who uses them!

Not the strings Chris uses, is it?

Not tellin' you!

cassius987 wrote:Me too Joey, which is why I get so boggled when my friend Dan is something like 0 for 4 on Rics regarding the E string, and he says he tries new strings out most every time. I can't imagine what the issue is, but I also feel that since A) it can't be innate (because many of us never have this problem) and B) it must not be a very obvious problem (because Dan has tried to salvage his 4003 numerous times in numerous ways), there's got to be some weird lingering issue that, if dug up, would enlighten and help a lot of people suffering from this for whatever reason.

So, have you ever tried out one of your friend's basses with a bad E string? I know it sounds weird, but maybe his technique has something to do with it. I've only played 6 Rick basses over the years, and God knows how many sets of strings, but I've never had a bad E string...

Good suggestion, CJ. I also wonder if it is his amp and settings.

Amazing, I just talked to Dan, and he said that much to his disbelief when he finally took the TI strings off of both of his 4003s and tried some standard rounds and some Chromes by D'A the problem totally disappeared. I guess he had been switching strings up quite often, but had settled on TIs as "unbeatable" lately. So yeah, apparently he had two basses with two sets of TIs and both TI sets had terrible Es. Pretty hard to believe statistically but believe me, he's incredibly happy to have his 4003s both old and new in ship shape now.

Hi there.

I'm having a similar problem, but in a 4001.
I noticed that it have a "hollow" E string (lack of mid-bass freqs), compared than other Ricks i can hear on the web (i'm using D'Addario Chromes Flats which parially solved the problem compared to roundwounds).

Seeing that i have a rather notable tailpiece lift (about 2,5 / 3 mm) i was wondering how much would influence the sound to install a new straight tailpiece.

Thank you