Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

clasbas wrote:Fantastic thread! This is why the forum is much better than FB.

My thoughts exactly.

Dirk wrote:Alright fair enough, but how do you reset a neck thru bass?
I understand the technique on a bolt on neck, no problem.

Cut off the body wings and correct the angle there?
Take the fingerboard off and plane the neck again?

This will be interesting to see what fix is implemented.

I'll shortly be posting several sets of pictures covering how Larry accomplishes this

Yes, I'm curious about this as well!

Hi all,
So, as I indicated, Larry has reached the point where he has no option but to physically reset the neck on my 4001.

Initially I had thought that the "SOP" of loosening the Truss Rods, bending the neck into it's new position then re-tensioning the truss rods would be the way to go:

Alas, this is not the case:

In order to protect the new Fretboard and the freshly sanded (and naked) wood a cardboard heat shield is fitted
Resetting the neck Part-1 With this done, heat is now applied to soften the glue at the target locations. As the glue begins to soften a blunt blade is gently inserted to the neck joint Repeated and very gentle pressure is applied to the joints on both sides of the neck, and, the end result is carefully controlled joint separation: With this the neck can be very gently eased into its new position and the original pickup route filled in with new Maple.
To be continued .......

Fascinating! Really cool to see this process.
Cool to know these kinds of things can be easily fixed.

Couple questions I was wondering:

Will he have to sand down the wing edges to get them even with the new neck bend whichever way it was reset - fore or aft of the wings? or was the reset slight enough to not create a lifted edge?
Also, does any regluing need to be done or the old glue just resets itself once it cools?
Also, how does he keep the heat from inadvertently loosening the glue on the freboard and binding?

Ahh, that’s why I can’t find an FL!


Awesome project! Make it yours! That’s what I do.

It doesn’t look that easy! I’m just glad there is a fix.

lumgimfong wrote:Fascinating! Really cool to see this process.
Cool to know these kinds of things can be easily fixed.

Couple questions I was wondering:

Will he have to sand down the wing edges to get them even with the new neck bend whichever way it was reset - fore or aft of the wings? or was the reset slight enough to not create a lifted edge?
Also, does any regluing need to be done or the old glue just resets itself once it cools?
Also, how does he keep the heat from inadvertently loosening the glue on the freboard and binding?

Great questions.

1: I'm not sure at the moment, but there may be a slight readjustment that'll need a touch of sanding

2: Again, not sure, probably a little of both I'd suspect

3: That was the purpose of the "heatshield" it prevents the direct heat from the lamps affecting the other areas.

Resetting the neck ..... Cont
Ok, so we now have the neck joint eased and can proceed to the adjustment, re-routing and plugging.

There are a lot more than 6 pictures in this segment so I'll post in multiple parts

Here we go ... Adjusting the neck angle In addition to re-setting the angle, the old route is being cleared out to make way for a new plug
Some very specific Router Templates are used for this at various stages of the process The new routed space will be completely filled with a two part Maple plug, cut specifically to hold the now adjusted neck in its new location
Routing begins with "clearing out" the old Preliminary routed to depth We now have the old pickup cavity cleared out.
Part - II continuing the new Routing

Part - II continuing the new Routing
New cavity template is carefully applied Note that the neck is still being held in its new angle with the clamps while the new cavity is being routed Cavity routing complete New cavity is now routed out to size Next, in Part III will be the new Maple plug

Plugging the cavity

The new cavity will now be filled with a two-part Maple plug This plug is then glued and clamped in place while new neck the neck angle is maintained The plug is clamped on two axis, downward toward the body, and in line with the neck side of the cavity Once the first plug has dried, the second plug is fitted to tight tolerances As you can see the two plugs fit the cavity very well, and, they have intentionally different grain structures to further strengthen the plug, they are allowed to fully cure before the neck clamps are removed.
This kind of work is not for the faint of heart

Onwards to routing the new Cavity.......

WillyWonka wrote:Ahh, that’s why I can’t find an FL!


Awesome project! Make it yours! That’s what I do.

My next project with I've already started to discuss with Larry will be to take my Fireglo 2015 4003-S and turn that into a fretless, making it the same colour as this current project.
To my knowledge, Rickenbacker never made a Fretless "S" model, my plan is to take my "S", replace the fingerboard with a Ebony fretboard, make it fretless with Crushed Pearl dot markers, a real Magnetic Horseshoe and a vintage Toaster pickup

I may also have Larry do some sanding (think Chris Squire body shape) to lighten the overall weight .... that's to come.

Wow that's an amazing amount of effort.

thx1955 wrote: To my knowledge, Rickenbacker never made a Fretless "S" model

Actually, Rickenbacker made fretless versions of several models, apparently to special order. As I mentioned in the book, "fretless" was a little known option and not just a separate model. In fact, only 4001FL and 4003FL were ever mentioned in catalogs or price sheets, but I accumulated photos of fretless (as far as I can tell they are factory built) 3001, 4000, 4001S, 4002, 4003S, and 4003S/5. Really the only differences are in the fingerboards (and the accompanying position markers).

Awesome Jim! I love this stuff.

I knew how the neck reset was done except for the wing separation…..