Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Brothers,

Help!!!

As the E and A strings of my '98 4003 FG go flat even with their saddles pushed all the way towards the neck,
I had to reverse the 2 saddles like this for proper intonation:



But then the strings would go out of alignment with the pickup polepieces. String spacing became uneven too.

The new (post-2000,2001) saddles available from RIC can't fit the '98 bridge as the distance between the thread hole's center and the saddle triangle's bottom is greater than 6/32" whereas the '98 saddle is 5/32".



Does anybody have spare uncut saddles of the 5/32" spec. to sell or trade? Please let me know.

P.S. The E and A saddles in the 1st picture are new ones that can't sit tight in my '98 bridge as the 6/32"-7/32" distance disables the screw's grip to the other inside wall.

Take them out and reverse them ....

Jeff,
Yes I did, as stated in my post above.
The E and A strings would go out of line with the polepieces and string spacing became uneven as the saddles' string grooves were not cut at the center by RIC.

That's why I need uncut pre-2001 saddles.

That is very strange, I have heard of rics that were still sharp adjusted all the way back but never flat, and that was usually due to high action.

Paul: Just curious. What type of strings and what gauge of strings do you use on this bass.

yeah, what strings you got?

My set up is what i would guess as being typical, 4003 with rotosound rounds (45 105)

there is plenty of room for adjustment, flat and sharp

do people here intonate by comparing the 12th fret harmonic to the 12th fretted note using an ELECTRIC TUNER???

I find this only leads to frustration, you have to use your ear. Paul - has your bass always been this way, or did u try new strings and it happened?

Peter and Owen,

The strings presently on her are the Dean Markley MedLite roundwound set (45-65-80-105). The problem was there with the original (even lighter) RIC 45-55-75-105 roundwound set too when I got her new.

I suppose my setup is quite "conventional":
-Neck relief: .015"-.025" at the 8th fret when strings are pressed at the 1st and last frets.
-Action:E--- 3/32", G--- 5/64" at the last fret.

As a matter of fact, in order to get proper intonation, I already filed off 3/32" of the front ends of my E and A saddles and set them as close to the neck as possible. The intonation is pretty good now but the 2 shortened saddles don't make a decent-looking scene.

I'd like to have a slightly lower action than what I have now and put TI flats (which are even lighter) on her, but I can't file off any more of the 2 saddles as I'm sure the tone and sustain will be sacrificed by any more filing which will also make them even more unsightly.

Oh by the way, yes, I tune and set up by comapring the harmonics and fretted notes at the 12th fret with both my ears and my Korg DT-3 ditital tuner.

Maybe RIC installed the tailpiece assembly of my baby just a little too far from the neck...

Paul, i cant see that your set up would cause any problems, as those strings sound like the norm. Even on a fender of mine with its easy to adjust saddles, i rarely needed to adjust more than a fraction when changing between very different gauges.

I dont know much about it but it would seem unlikiely that the bridge was placed wrongly. It is really that flat?

ps, in your photo the distance looks normal but i guess i cant really tell.

Well, before filing the 2 saddles, the E and A had been 5-10 cents flat with their saddles pushed all the way towards the neck.

With hand made guitars, I suppose this problem can happen sometimes. Some of the RIC 330 and 360 owners had to have their bridges moved back or foward because they had been installed a little "off' at the factory, or because of the wood's shrinkage through time and dryness.

Not a big problem, as long as I can find 2 proper saddles...

Paul, one possible problem may be the amount of relief you have. A 4003 intonates best with the neck dead straight, unlike other brands.

The tailpiece location doesn't vary on these, at least nothing you're likely to measure. The rout in the body is done by CNC and places the tailpiece quite precisely, in fact to about .01 mm. The wood shrinks and swells more than that every day!

So John, Am I assume that 4003's are not supposed to have any relief in the neck? What is the proper setup for these basses, perfectly straight neck and just raise the action to where there are no buzzes and it is comfortable?

Paul, while I always like a wee bit of of relief, I'll second John Hall about the amount of relief you have. I consider .015" way on the high side for any bass, and .025" is really far too much. I suspect that reducing it to under .010" will solve your problems.

Thank you Mr. Hall and Dave.

Following your suggestion, I set the neck to literally dead straight ,re-adjusted the action and the intonation problem got better. I was able to pull back the E and A saddles for about 1/16" and maintain the correctness of intonation.

Still looking for proper saddles to replace the 2 little ugly ones...

John or Paul, does that go for 4001's also? no relief? I have two of my 4003's with virtually no relief now after reading your posts, and they both sound great and play much better.