Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Nice looking set of ricky truss rods up on the bay . God i wish i would have seen those last year LOL

I think Ilan has those marked. Wish i had seen them first... )-:

A friend of mine is a tool and die maker and he just made me a set of dies capable of squeezing the flat wire. Unfortunately, that kind of flat steel wire is not available anymore so we have to make it from round stock. I don't plan to make huge quantities of the stuff (this will certainly not be a money-making venture) but there will soon be a ready supply for those who need it. I will start with bass rods and later make shorter versions for older RIC guitars.

Ted, that's great news! By the way, I tried to contact Randy Wood Guitars for old-style rods, but they never returned my emails.

Bob: if you need them, I'll step back, let me know.

Isn't the seller Dane Wilder? he also has a very nice Arnquist mod bridge/tailpiece on eBay.

Yeah, I need the tuners and the tailpiece, and have bid accordingly.

The Randy Wood rods are ok but a bit over-made. If they are adjusted carefully there will be no problem. However, if ape is doing the adjustments there could be SERIOUSLY bad results. The steel in those rods is way too strong and the threaded portion is round. This leaves no safety valve should a rod be over-tightened. With the RW rods, maple will break before the rods do. The mild steel and the seemingly weak construction of the older rods is entirely on purpose!

BTW As JH has stated here before. Replacement of the older rods is usually not necessary. They can be trimmed and re-threaded should they break. Apparently, the rods are somewhat longer than they need to be so taking off an inch or so should not be a problem. I suggest trying to save your original rods before considering replacements.

Yep. That's my stuff on the 'Bay. The tuners are paractically new and came off of one of my 3000's when I did a Jeff Rath..I mean 5-string conversion on it. I modded the bridge myself and had it re-plated to look brand new. The rods have been steel wooled and polished, re-cut and tr-threaded with new electrical tape/anti-rattle isulation. I'm financing my Chris Squire Electra MPC bass project so bid often and bid now!

I bought a set of nickel plated tuners from Dane a while back. They arrived in absolutely perfect condition. Nicely polished too!

Yeah Ted, I'm redoing the sea green 4001 and going back to chrome so I'm hoping to get Dane's tuners and tailpiece. Then I'll have some BT parts for sale. Someone always needs those.

One thing-
The old rods are only effective if they fit properly
in the channel. A great many 70's Ricks have a channel
that is in some cases 1/16 of an inch too deep. The rods
do nothing but expand within the neck and aid in finger board removal. Replacing the lower rod with 3/16ths roundstock doubled over at the end to anchor the passive
rod, and replacing the 1/4 nut with a 5/16 coupling(long) nut regains control of the neck.
BTW-
The new style compression rods in a damp climate(like here in Hawaii...) is DISASTROUS. The wood under the anchor nuts collapses until (as on my 381/12) the nuts pop through the heal. Yessir the nuts looked just like a couple of chrome gophers!

The adjusting nuts or the anchor nuts? I have never heard of the wood failing like that.

pixs!

Si!

John Hall made a suggestion to me about supergluing that area to strenghten the wood, you might consider doing that.

The headstock end Jeff?