Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

As some of you may know I purchased a 2001 4001v63 in the most wondeful Fireglo Rickenbacker can provide. The issue I'm having is setting up the bass with the lowest action possible. Right now it's kinda on the high side.

Here's some pics:

Not sure if the pics tell you anything, but any suggestions will be taken and tried.

For asthetics, here are some full shots:

Tighten the rods 1/4 turns at a time one then the other then the one....straightening the neck with full string tension sight down the neck,you will have to adjust the bridge height..check the relief...

The bridge is as low as it's going to go. I tightened the rods a bit, seemed to help. There seems to be somewhat of a forward bow to the neck. I'm wondering if I should throw the chomes on there.

keep tightening until that neck straightens out you will have to probably raise the bridge.so the strings dont fret out.

That thing's shot. I'll be glad to take it... as...a...favor...oh well.

How heavy are the strings on it now? Once the famous NY winter set in, my '77 raised up a little with XL 105's on her... I switched to 100 Chromes and she plays like hot butter again. So, the Chromes are more than worth a shot.

How I wish I could take that bass off your hands!

Even though you have a recent model, I've found that loosening the strings a step or two can help the neck take on the right "set" as you tighten the rod(s).

If you fret a string at the 1st and 21st fret and hold it up to the light, are you seeing a big or small gap between the string and the 9th fret?

Marc, do you want flats on it, or does it matter to you?

The bass is in such perfect condition appearance wise that I'd probably go for the flats, just to keep the frets nice.

I was just going to flip it, but when I plugged it in, and heard that V sound, it kinda changed my thought process. Plus I'd like to learn how to overcome these kind of issues doing the work myself.

Do all the adjustments first then think about string tension,if you want the lowest tention go with the TI's.

Marc, there is a lot of rod showing past the adjusting nuts. It is unusual and I am wondering if the nuts might be bottoming out. It could be nothing or it could be that someone overtightened them and crushed the wood at the body end of the truss channels. My 4004C project had that very problem. Take the strings off and remove the guard. The acorn nuts on the body end of the rods should be very close to the end of the neck and not recessed very far (see below). Post a pic of what you find. If they seem to be recessed, loosen the truss nuts but leave the on and gently tap on them until the rod emerge from the neck pickup cavity. You should be able to slide them out after removing the adjusting nuts. Look up in the holes at the body end for signs of crushing or splintering. The wood in the holes can be restored.

If you look at the end of the neck here you can see the acorn nuts and about where they should be. This is a 4004C but the 4003 is similar.

Ted, I believe your assumption is correct. The bass is being put into expert hands for the proper repair technique. Will advise of results.

If that is the case, it is perfectly fixable.

Yes, and I'm looking forward to that as the sound definately needs no fixin'.

I had a 4003s5 that the neck would not flatten out ... it wasn't bad but the best I could get wasn't quite good enough ... so I kept tightening the rods until one sheared off at the headstock ... so I learned how to replace rods ... btw ... I have one extra rod for a 4003 if anybody ever needs one ... so my solution was to put in new rods and put lighter strings on it ...