Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi gents, I want to remove some chrome for a careful cleanup without hurting the finish on my '83 4003. Obviously this means string removal. Any concern re untensioning the neck and truss rods needing to be adjusted after reinstall of strings.

removing all of the strings and working on the bass and re-installing strings will not hurt the neck ...

no comprendo, could you translate that into English for me Saxon? haha! If you mean loosening the truss rods and then retightening them again after you reinstall the strings, if you are going to leave it like that for any length of time yes I would do that. One hour, maybe even an evening shouldn't hurt it. I wouldn't leave it like that for a few days though.

taking the strings off does not require a truss rod adjustment ...

There is no concern about removing the strings for cleaning. I do it all of the time.

Me too, when changing pickups and doing annual fingerboard cleaning/polishing. The proper neck relief settles back in half an hour or so after restringing/retuning.

I don't think there would be any problems unless you do it every day which might cause "rubber necks". However, loosening the rods a little to maintain an absolutely straight neck with no backbow is recommended if you want to store the bass unstringed for a long period of time.

What do you guy's use to clean and polish the neck? I use lemon oil on rosewood necks but I've never cleaned my 4003's.

I guess I'm very careful with necks, when I change strings I change one at a time and if I have to leave a bass unstrung for any length of time I loosen the truss rods, better safe than sorry. If I have one completely unstrung I do whatever it is I have to do quickly and get it back together again as fast as I can, hopefully within an hour or less.

I like to use Dr. Ducks Axe Wax on all the metal parts including the frets. It gets gunk and corrosion off metal, but you have to use it sparingly. A little goes a long way. I've waxed the fingerboard of my Ricks with Meguiars Carnuaba Cleaner Wax, it's just time consuming to get the wax completely off the frets and fingerboard, but I find doing maintenance on instruments to be relaxing and mentally therapeutic type of activity.

Bob, I do the same thing, when I can. Take one off, put another one on. I've always been like that, except for the rare occasion when they HAVE to come off.

I do the Meguiars thing too. I love the way my basses look and feel afterwards. It puts a nice slippery shine on the frets.

on all of my guitars and basses whenever I change the strings I take them all off ... clean up a little and then put on new strings ... I've been doing it that way for 35 years and never yet had an unstrung neck go bad on me ...

It seems kinda creepy to have old and new strings on the bass at the same time ...

especially when changing 8 at a time.

thanks guys, movin' on to shine it up.

Saxon, I also remove the hardware to get into the nooks and crannies when a guitar needs to be cleaned, so I take the strings off as well, and I never have had any problem.

Post a picture of it when you are done!