Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

when you are not depressing a string how high should the string be off the neck?

have you ever noticed a hollow sound in the back of the neck on any of your ric`s....a sound like the truss rods are loose?


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Chris,

Sorry to hear about your distress. At first, I was tempted to give a flip answer, like, "Don't DEPRESS your strings; try not to dwell on the sad aspects of your life when you're around them. Always keep a positive thought in mind, and don't be shy about sharing these little inspirational messages with your strings."

But I won't.

Your questions do raise other questions, though:
- Is yours a guitar or a bass?
- How high should WHICH string be?
- String height at which fret?

You hear a holllllooooow sound? Sheesh. Truss rods? Hmmm. Ugh.
- When was the last time you checked or adjusted these alleged truss rods?
- When was the last time you sighted the neck of this baby? How is it now? Bet the answer is something other than, "straight."

The recommended string height figures can be had from various places around the 'net (on the guitars, it's 5/16" at the 12th fret for the low "E," and 3/16" for the high "E," for instance [he said off the top of his head, dangerously.]) Realize, too, that that figure is just suggested; I have my 360/12 set a bit higher because I finger-pick a lot, and because I use a capo even more. I haven't a clue about the basses.

But I think there are other things amiss here, only partly veiled by your seemingly innocent questions. I'm thinking broken rods, stripped nuts (and we should all pause for a moment, to consider just HOW painful that would be), a warped neck...This may be secondary to low humidity.

But EVEN IF there's nothing broken in there, I belive that you've described an instrument SO FAR out of whack that...that...that...from there, you'd wouldn't recognize "whack" if it fell from the sky, landed on your face, and began to wiggle. So I believe the late, great Dear Abby spoke for all of us when she said, "Seek professional help." So take it to a competent luthier/tech; have them diagnose the problems and attempt to exorcise your demons; then go thou and sin no more.

I'm a firm believer in the premise that everybody should have their guitar(s) in the shop a couple of times a year for set-up and preventative maintainence.

Sorry, nothing to add; I just hit "Enter" 3 times.

Note to self: Cut back on caffeine.

Paul,

thanks for the reply,

it is a 2001 4003.the truss rod nuts are not stripped and i have never understood what straight neck means...if i sight the neck holding the top horn looking up from the body i would see a slight bow in the fret board. which i have been told is normal. the people i ordered the bass brand new from want to keep my bass a week just to do the set up. this is my only bass and dont want to have it out of my possesion that long.

if i sight the neck from the head stock down it looks striaght to me but i no not what i am looking for.

i have also not met anyone who i feel confident in letting them set up my bass either.

i wish i could find someone in upstate NY who was trust woirthy or at least sounded like they knew what the were talking about

Chris,

You may be a lucky bugger on this. If it's a pretty new bass, it may just be that you need some set-up work done, and you should be able to do that yourself, absent a good/competent/quick guitar tech in your area.

As far as the the neck goes, it should (I think most folks here would agree) have a very slight bow. Sounds like you're about there. Good. Don't fiddle with it unless you've got fret buzz. A perfectly straight neck is prone to "buzzing," and that's seldom desireable. If you DO have buzz, then you want to loosen the rods a bit to allow that slight bow (see above.)

So is the problem buzzing or too much string height? If it's too much string height, it may be that you get away with adjusting the strings to the desired height at the bridge, then adjusting the intonation with one of the electronic tuners (play the string open and at the 12th fret. The tones should be in tune) to compensate for the change in string height, and Voila!!!

You would still have the hollow (helllllooooo!!!) sound in the neck to deal with, though. If the nuts aren't stripped, then they must be too loose. So the next trick would be to take off the truss rod cover and use the supplied wrench to tighten the nuts to just slightly past finger-tightness (so as not to effect a change in the already about-right neck angle.) Put the cover back on and try it out. If all goes well, you're done. If it doesn't...Seek professional help.

I think you've got a slugger's chance of getting out of this thing in pretty good shape for free, and in the process learning a little about setting up your bass based on your personal preferences. Good luck, and please let us know how this turns out.

yr fthfl srvt,
PHF

PS - Boy, I wish Mark was around to answer this kind of question.

i have never been one who was confident enough to make adjustments on my bass`s especially my ric.

any stores that i inquired at for a tune up didnt give me a feeling of confidence in their ability either.

i met a guy in a hole in the wall store about a month ago and he himself owns a 4001.his name is earl BTW.....a name a nyc boy like me is not apt to trust....lol

today i took a chance and brought my baby to him.


banta, paul you were right.....there was absolutely no tension on those rods.

this guy not only let me watch he insisted i watch and he taught me a few things.

he asked about my playing style and we went from there


i thought my bass sounded great before but goddamn.....this thing rocks now......my action is so low its scarry


the best part of it all.........he charged me 5 bucks!

5 bucks.......everyone else wanted 25-30 and leave it for a week


thanks paul for your advice

all is good in ric heaven now.....

I think if you need Qs answered about Truss rods, you simply have to go look in the Forum Archives.Just about Any scenario you're likely to have encountered has been discussed and/ or remedied already. Peter didn't create the Archive section just to have it ignored; Use it!!

I think if you need Qs answered about Truss rods, you simply have to go look in the Forum Archives.Just about Any scenario you're likely to have encountered has been discussed and/ or remedied already. Peter didn't create the Archive section just to have it ignored; Use it!!


well i did check ALL 2 in the archive.....thanks for the advice though

5/16ths at the 12th fret??????????

on a guitar???

mine are all closer to 5/64ths (0.08" or just a tad over a sixteenth).

That's a big OOPS for me.

Sorry 'bout that; I thought one thing and typed another. The general set-up for string height on a guitar is 5/64" for the low "E" at the 12th fret and 3/64" for the high "E" at the 12th fret. My apologies. Mea culpa. Verzeihen sie, etc. Call it a brain cramp or call it a typo, but either way, it's my goof. To be sure it doesn't happen again, though, I've fired these hands, and am having a new set shipped in at great expense. I'm still saving up for the brain implant, though.