Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Paul, no, the seller didn't mention the bow, but I can't be sure he knew about it. It's still quite playable as is.

Bob, I'd be surprised if the tech uses your method, but it seems like the best way to do it.
How much neck relief do you have on your Rics?

Speaking of D'Addario... I just received a catalog of their bowed instrument strings in the mail. Does anyone else have this thing? It is probably the nicest catalog I've ever seen. Very elegant. It has one of those see-through water marked sheets on the first page. The fretted instrument strings catalog is nice too. Sam Rivers from Limp Bizkit is a devoted slowound user. He seems like the kind of guy who is going to get wicked upset when he finds out they are going out of production. Of course, I'm sure he doesn't pay for them so he can't get too upset.

Hi Jack,
I use the minimum amount I can get away with so it plays and sounds good, usually about a business card or two of relief at the tenth fret with both ends fretted, not much really at all. But I hate fret buzz and if I get it I will either raise the action or put a little more relief in them. I fuss with these basses a lot until I get them just the way I want them, then I leave them alone. I like them to play tight, so on one of them I have med. light Fender flats which are really high tension, but they sound good and I can leave the action nice and low with no fret buzz. I set this bass up about 7 or 8 months ago with these strings and it's played great ever since and the neck hasn't moved and it is VERY humid here in Lima. I would be careful with these strings though, make sure you have a nice strong neck before you try them, if you get excessive bowing take them off (like you will with the majority of 4001's, this is a 78 4001) and use something lighter like TI's or Pyramids.

I got my bass back today, and I'm very happy with it. The relief at the 7th fret is .015", and the neck looks alot straighter than it was.
The Fodera 40-100's feel like low tension strings to me, so that should help. I assume keeping the bass' neck straight for a prolonged period of time will get it aclimated to being straight, and won't require as much truss rod tension. I'd like to know that one day if I choose to I can use heavier gauge strings. Since she is a Jan 2002 and I've had her since March 2003, not much lasting damage could have been done to her neck that can't be reversed (I hope).

Bob, my 4004L is a lot like your 79. I thought it was screwed up until I realized I would need higher action when I string it B-E-A-D and it will also be operating with reduced string tension as a result.....which reduces the heel bend a bit. Also, those basses with the bend at the heel are better for high action freaks since you don't have to raise the bridge so much and thus don't have to raise the bridge pickup way up. It's like shimming the neck on a bolt-on for high action. I can't really argue with it, because my 4004L has about the most perfect intonation of any bass I owned. The ReBop MIGHT beat it, but that Spector bridge is hell to adjust.....the ReBop's only negatory trait, and I'm NOT adjusting it again anytime soon. I have always tended to stick with the bass manufacturer's strings, since I never had access to a lot of different strings in my younger days. I remember the story of John Entwistle where he was recording an album, and he needed a particular slinky string sound. Those strings were not available in separate sets in England at the time, but they came standard on a cheap DanElectro bass. He broke the first set and had to go out and buy another DanElectro bass, broke that set and had to go out and buy another one. By the time the album was over, he was the largest DanElectro bass owner in London, and was down to the last DanElectro bass in any of the music stores! I went back to Fender light flatwounds after a disastrous liaison with nylon tapewound RotoSounds. My 4004L has RIC medium roundwounds and they sound nice, and they are cheap at $20 per set from Rhoads Music. I think they are better than the $15 Ernie Ball Slinky bass strings. The ReBop had what I believe to be Spector Nickel Roundwounds, and I can't argue with the tone. I like the way the ends are finished.....none of that colored silk wrapping ****. With 18dB of treble boost from the active Aguilar preamp, losing treble bite as they age a bit is no problemo. They are the same gauge and appear to be the same quality as RIC bass strings. Since I belong to the Donald "Duck" Dunn school of playing bass strings until they fall off, I'm the last guy to talk to about what I think of various brands of strings. Oh, and neck relief goes hand in hand with action height for me. There is no set amount of neck relief, but I use more relief with a higher action. I don't physically measure neck relief, but add or subtract it to keep buzzing at the same level of avoidance all the way up and down the neck. That is the right amount, no matter what it ends up being.