Tail-lift a possible cure?

[johnallg]

Nice solution, Terry. You may have found a side business for around here.

[aceonbass]

I'd rather have a little tail lift that drill four holes all the way through my bass, particularly if it were a real 4001CS. If it did lift, I'd just add the 2 screws at the rear like the early 4003's. It would still be a 5 screw bridge with only 2 screws showing like a 4003, just in a spot where they do more good. Here's a little detail that I've never seen discussed here about the difference between the cast aluminum and zinc tailpieces. If you look at the 3 holes under the bridge on the 2 tailpieces, they are in exactly the same place. On the aluminum part, the holes are as far back in the casting as possible to keep it from lifting, and they usually don't. In the zinc tailpiece, even though the bridge was made deeper from front to back for more saddle travel, they left the screws in the same place. They should have moved them back too for the same reason they're as far back as they can be in the aluminum part. This wouldn't have stopped the problem, but it would have helped to some degree in the zinc ones. The stock RIC tailpiece takes very little to be as tuneable and stable as the Hipshot. Some people would rather critisize it and drop $115.00+ on an aftermarket part that infringes on RIC's trademark so you'll buy it. One thing for sure about the part, on basses with shallow neck angles you can't get the action as low as with the stock part, and at that point, the break angle of the strings over the bridge saddles is also shallow enough that they can rattle too.

[66Atlas]

Nice solution, Terry. You may have found a side business for around here.

Something tells me I shouldnt quit my day job!

[cassius987]

Just adding more screws detracts from the image

You have a right to your opinion but I am going to have to disagree. I think the 7-screw tailpieces (and 5-screw) look great, especially with the shiny-finish screws RIC uses for its tailpieces. And frankly, I wish RIC had never abandoned the 7-screw tailpiece.

[woodyng]

hI,Ron! that is an older pic of my 83 4002,that jdog now owns. the skinny on it-when i got it,it was missing original pickups,and bridge,had the s.d.pickups,and the original pg had been cut up badly to accomodate these "improvements".
i had my luthier make a tortoise guard,changed the contols to a jazz bass-type vvt setup,only with push-pull coil taps on both volume controls and played that bass for about 11 years. then i found rickresource.....and got gas for a cii. a former forumite contacted me wanting to buy the bass, and he restored the ric bridge and black pg and put hb1's in it,which made it look stock again. i happen to love tort guards,and thought it might be nice on the walnutglo-i think it looked better in person than it photographed,but it was different! i never did find out who made the fender-type bridge that came on it,it wasn't particularly stylish,but did it's job magnificently well. the best thing about the 4002,imo,is the bridge pickup placement,but my cii is one of the offset pickup type,and it is pretty close.

[rickaddict]

Just adding more screws detracts from the image

You have a right to your opinion but I am going to have to disagree. I think the 7-screw tailpieces (and 5-screw) look great, especially with the shiny-finish screws RIC uses for its tailpieces. And frankly, I wish RIC had never abandoned the 7-screw tailpiece.

+10

No tail lift here:

http://www.rickresource.com/register/us ... llsize.jpg

or here:

http://www.rickresource.com/register/us ... llsize.jpg

Or here, for that matter:

http://www.rickresource.com/register/us ... llsize.jpg

And call me kooky, but I really don't see why this bass http://www.rickresource.com/register/us ... llsize.jpg looks any better or worse than this bass http://www.rickresource.com/register/us ... llsize.jpg due to the the 4 extra tail piece screws visible. I mean...these basses have visible screws all over the pick guard, tug bar, pickups, pickup surround and TRC. Why so much concern about the tail piece?

If screws are such a problem, why not remove them from the pick guard and glue the thing on?

I LOVE the RIC tail piece. They work well (well...sometimes you need to help them out the first time), they have a working mute, they're not very difficult to adjust, and they complete that unique RIC look and sound. I can't imagine why anyone would want to swap it out for any of the compromised solutions that have come and gone over the years.

[doctorwho]

Tail lift anyone?



(That's a faker, btw. But black trim tailpieces are more prone to tail lift even on real Rics.)

Now THAT"S a tail-lift!

Intonation has got to be a real drag.

Tail lift? I got yer tail lift right here ...

4003S/5 SPC Blackstar (before correction)

[brad70]

I managed to clamp my bridge between two pieces of wood about 1x4x4 on both sides of the bridge. It worked pretty well. This was a black bridge and it is the only bridge among my 4 Rics that has had this problem.