Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey,

My 96' 4003 has what could be the thinnest of the necks on the list of neck measurements taken by forum members. However when I got this bass from it's original owner there was a neck twist. Some may remember and old post that I made about this with pictures. I guess there is a cost of thin necks.

At the time, I took off the strings and removed both truss rods to find that with no tension load the neck still had a small twist. However, after setting the bass up again from scratch myself... the twist appeared to diminish and I could get even better playability out of it (it was buzzing out above the 12th fret on the E string... but then I also had super low action).

Tonight I was getting increased buzzing high up the neck (maybe the summer heat) so I set the bass up again. I was able to eliminate almost all buzzing high on the E string (I need to really play hard to get it to buzz now).

Looking down the neck I don't think I can see any twist at all!!!

I wonder if the twist was something that developed over time because the first owner set it up poorly (thin neck making is more sensitive to a bad setup). After a proper setup the wood may be (slowly) relaxing to it's natural position. Or could it be weather? Or both?

What do you guys think?

Probably all of those are possibilities. My 1980 4001 was ok when it came from New England 2 years ago, but it was getting progressively more out of tune going up the neck. It seemed a little twisted to me, but not wanting to mess it up, I took it in and had a proper tech check it out. What had happened was that one of the truss rod nuts had cracked, gradually allowing the rod to work it's way out or something. So the guy, who was a peach to do it, went all over town to find another nut---why bother he already had me!----and was able to fix it. He also did something to the mute so that it was lower and thus the action could be lower and put on some D'Addario chromes o it and it is like a different bass! It plays so sweet and easy now, I couldn't believe it! I think the weather changes had caused the neck to flex and the fact that the nut was cracked really created a bad situation.

Interesting. Good to hear that your situation worked out in the end.

This bass has no apparent nut or truss rod issues. AS far as setup, no one in town could really get it to where I liked it so I learned how to do it all myself and I must say that I do a good job (neck, string height, intonation, pickup volume). No one knows how I like my bass as well as I do.

Cool that you can do that! I felt it was 40 bucks well spent not to screw it up!

John: It is not so much the heat as the humidity. The wood swells as the humidity rises causing a bit of back bow to develop. The amount of deflection can be significant. I just did truss adjustments on my '80 and '85 because the strings were flat against the frets. During the winter (the last time I adjusted them) the action was pushing 3/32" at the 20th fret.

I noticed last night and today after having the air conditioning running for a few days now (75-95% humidity outside) that both the 4003 and 4004C necks had moved. I had to adjust the rods on the 4003 and the action on the 4004 is a tad high but not bad and I only had time to play a bit or adjust - I elected to play. Oh, and they were last set up in low 70 degree temp and around 40% humidity. In the house it is still those conditions, but I did notice the necks moved. FWIW

That is exactly why they have truss rods.

The temperature doesn't really matter much, other than the extremes which affect the humidity. That's what's critical- humidity- and optimum is about 35%. At 75% on up, it becomes problematic, just as it does below 25%, but it's also a factor of how long the instrument is exposed too.

When I played in the blues band we often played lengthy outdoor festivals in July and August (it gets pretty humid in Ohio). I would start out with nice, low comfortable action, and by the end of the night it would be buzzing like crazy. I always took 2 or 3 basses with me, and kept the spares in their cases until I needed them.

Yeah... I like my action super low but sometimes higher action gives more "headroom" to avoid buzzing in humidity changes.

My jazz bass is bad for needing adjustments for the seasons also. The 72' is rock solid, and I have not had my longhorn long enough to tell with it... but no change in about 2 months (from cold and damp to hot and humid).

"Thin necks at a cost..."

My first thought was "Great! How much and what's the wait time?"

I will admit to using that title for shock value... but there is truth in it. Bigger necks tend to be more stable. It is nice to have the happy medium (I think that is where the new necks will be).

Maybe the new necks will have something new to stabilize them further?(don't even know if they need it, btw)

I like my '03 neck on my 4003...it really never goes anywhere.. and I live in Central Florida - I hope the new ones are "somewhat" like this

My 68 Ric has the thinnest neck of any Ric I've seen. Also it's as stable as a rock and almost never goes out of tune. The variables involved are beyond me.

Yes I have a 72 4001FL with a very thin neck and the neck is very stable. I think a big part of it is the actual wood they use, not the type but how hard it is. I had a 75 4001 with the old style thin neck and that thing was also like a rock. I wanted a little relief in it and I had to put Fender med. gauge flat wounds on it for several weeks for it to even budge, those are the highest tension strings I have ever used. You could tow cars with the E strings.