Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was looking at an '83 today, which has the truss adjustment in the body, but having never seen what these should look like, I'm wondering if this guitar is a good one or not.

There are two heavy aluminum pieces that the rods go through, but on both rods, these seem to stick out beyond the end of the fretboard, and are angled down into the cavity, both by the same amount. If you were looking from playing position, I'd say these are maybe 5-10° off square with the butt of the neck. Is this right?

The nuts don't look stripped at all, but whoever put the last set of strings on this used too heavy a guage, as there is a definite bow and the action sucks as is. If it weren't for the Azureglo finish, I probably wouldn't even be considering tis one, but...

Also, the neck pickup is well off center due to the factory positioning of the split pickguard. It's possible this could be corrected, however...

It's been a long time since I had one, but all I can remember is that I thought this truss rod design was a lot stronger than the 4001 design. The two rods on mine were straight, with I think 3/8 nuts on them. They were a pain to turn but very strong. Unless the neck is really bad I wouldn't think you would have much trouble straightening it out. Have you tried turning the nuts? I don't remember any aluminum pieces in mine which indicates to me that something is not right though. I could see the nuts and the threaded rods they screwed on only. I had two of these, both 84's.

On this one, there are two pieces of aluminum, about a quarter inch thick, which look to me like they should be in the neck itself (they aren't, they are what are angled), flush with the end of the fretboard. I haven't tried turning the nuts. Nothing looks distressed in the cavity, but I suspect those rods aren't seated right. I don't know how much of an issue that would be, or how easily it could be fixed if it were wrong.

Also, I'm wondering if the bridge is period correct. It looks aluminum (I could be completely wrong on that), and has the extra two bolts in it. It is not lifting, which is a good thing.

Any further insight would be welcome.

One of my 84's had two extra screws to keep it from lifting I guess, there is a thread here about that, I forget if they were stock or not, and that was answered in that thread, it was this year I think.

Jeff, I have a '81 4003s and the truss rods are just as described. The aluminium blocks look like they are not siting just right, but it adjusts fine and plays great

Thanks John. The action on this one is horrid, and the neck is way out of adjustment, so if there was an issue with the rods, it helps to know this is normal.

I still haven't made a call on this one yet. The neck pickup is about an eight of an inch out of position, either this was a factory issue or the guard was replaced by one with different screw locations.