Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

prestoj wrote:.... The one issue I was thinking of having Fret Not address was replacement of the mute pad, as mine is bowed up to where I cannot get the action as low as I want without losing sustain.

Jack, have you used the height screws on the mute to lower it down more? The curve of the mute assy. should mimic the strings "curve" so it hits them all at the same time, so an adjustment to the curve might be in order. But for now lowering the mute pad more should get you by.

To get to the mute pad you have to remove the strings, remove the bridge, remove the tailpiece, then unscrew the mute assy. out of the tailpiece. A major project but not hard or daunting.

Margeurite!! Could not find my previous e-mail to her regarding my Ric, thanks for mentioning her name. Looks like I mis-read your comment regarding Fret Not..........isn't the first time I've scanned quickly through a post and just nicked the point

Please give my regards to Margeurite. I'll check back with her down the road.

One of the problems is that the pad itself is just a big too large. When brought up, the edges of the pad often hang up on the outer edges, resulting in the middle two strings being muted, and the outer strings not. You might want to cut a bit off each end of the pad, and a sliver off each of the long sides to keep it from binding.

johnallg wrote:

Jack, have you used the height screws on the mute to lower it down more? The curve of the mute assy. should mimic the strings "curve" so it hits them all at the same time, so an adjustment to the curve might be in order. But for now lowering the mute pad more should get you by.

D'OH!!!! Problem solved For some reason*, it just did not click with me that loosening the adjustment knobs would take the bow out of the mute pad.

*Actually I know the reason..........but I'll not admit it.

Thanks for jumping on this and clearing it up for me.

One of the problems is that the pad itself is just a big too large........

Paul, Thanks to you as well. I'll go back through my set up, get the action lowered and re-check intonation, but for now, the pad seems to fit fairly well....Jack.

Very nice looking Ric!