Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I got my Ric last friday and I love it, it's a Jetglo 4003, but I have developed a problem with it. The saddle on the E string is loose when I attack too hard, this is the saddle that controls the intonation, the other night I did have to adjust it, but it moved smoothly and there were no issues, now it move form top to bottom ABOUT an 1/8 of an inch, maybe less but only if I hit the E too hard.

Any suggestions, right now I just have it shimmed with a business card to keep it form rattling around, I'll probably stop by the music store I bought it at later, but if I can fix it myself it would save me some time.

My G did that also - make sure the saddle is tight with the screw/spring - there can be a gap between the screw head and the bridge assy, and then the saddle will move like you are experiencing. If you can't get it resolved, call RIC customer service.

And Welcome the the forums!

how do I get the screw head back to having no gap between the bridge assembly?

Toss the whole tail piece and get a Hipshot replacement ! Sounds better , works better , is superior !

Travis, loosen the E string, push the saddle all the way towards the neck, then retighten the E string.

I've backed the screw all the out and moved the saddle all the way towards the neck, nothing has tightened this up at all.

WTF!!!

Well, doing it that far would screw up intonation (octave E at the 12th fretting position). What I meant was to just make sure the screw head was tight against the bridge housing when intonation was set right.

Could be that the spring is not long enough, especially if the saddle is way back. Have a look at the other springs. They may be longer. Change with the E string one. Just a thought.....

The bridge is easily the worst thing about 4003's. They are nothing but trouble and are inferior in design to most other bridge styles. I had many problems with mine, including the one you have described. My advice is to trash the whole thing. I replaced mine with a Hipshot at first. That thing stank too since the saddles would wobble all over the place whenever I played with a pick. So I finally put a Badass I on it. That thing rocks. Solid as a tank and great sounding too. Now my Rick is basically perfect. It might sound scary to do that to your new bass, but keeping the stock bridge is like asking for a never-ending series of bizarre malfunctions and annoying design flaws. Rickenbacker should have redesigned and replaced those things decades ago.

I once had this problem as I also have an extreme low string position too. In my case the solution as to enlarge a tiny bit the hole close to bridge PU that holds the screw in position and to file away a bit of square the saddle part under the screw, facing the tailpiece. Then the whole thing worked perfect and stayed solid in the adjusted intonation position.

The RIC bridge will usually work but sometimes they take a little messing around with by someone who has some mechanical aptitude in order to get them to work.

I take my bridges out completely, spend some quality time getting all of the saddles to operate smoothly and then pop the bridge back in.

Each saddle might have its own little problem. Sometimes the hole on the screw head side of the bridge needs to be drilled out slightly larger, sometimes the hole on the other side needs to be drilled out. Sometimes the slot needs to be filed a little. I put weak, long springs in my bridges to return the saddle when I back the intonation screw off. I also like to put in the new stainless phillips screws as they're stronger and sharper than the old screws. Some here like to use allen screws. Be very careful to only file or drill a tiny bit at a time and then re-check, because if you over-drill or over-file your saddles may become too loose and rattle/buzz.

Once you spend the time to get your bridge to work properly(which I agree, you shouldn't HAVE to do), it will continue working indefinitely.

One troubling thing I have noticed about the newer RIC bridges(just the past 3-5 years or so): The bridge has a radius to it to match the fretboard(like it always has), but the new saddles don't seem to match that same radius. So you have the curved bridge, and a straight saddle trying to rest on it. This inevitably results in at least one side of the saddle not being able to rest on the bridge. The saddle may rock back and forth and may buzz/rattle as a result. In this case, I don't know what to tell you to fix it. I wish RIC would figure this out and/or find somebody else to make the saddles. If you can find saddles or a complete bridge from maybe the 90's 80's or 70's(no older than '73 of course), that's my only idea.

Interesting post, Jeff. Next string change (dang, I just did one last week) I'm looking at the saddles and how they fit on my 11/04 4003. I've had the problem of the G string clicking when attacking that string - I'll bet it was teetering on the bridge. Maybe filing a bit under the saddle to match the curve is in order? Seems it would aid tone and sustain also.

I have a few extra 4 string bridges that I swapped out the phillips screws for allen screws and I installed springs on the ones without springs and I got them working so they adjust easily ...