Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

well i got it, and theres good news and bad news. Good news is - i have set it up with a set of rotosound swing bass, and this bass plays and sounds really great!!!, No problems at all there, as the neck seems like one of the strong ones- no bow anywhere.

The bad news - The truss rods are screwed. I took the risk of buying on ebay,,, and i was prepared for this. The nuts are totally locked down against the wood and cannot be got at. There is a lot of thread showing too. The fretboard has seperated from the neck.all the way from nut to first fret. And its one of those "difficult to intonate" ones, i have to move the saddles WAY back, so that the E is half hanging off the saddle plate. But theres plenty of room for travel left so im ok.

Oh, might I add, that although i cant adjust it, the neck is EXACTLY where i need it, so its totally playable. I guess im lucky there.

I have read various posts here about how you can remove and reshaped the rods, and how you cant fix the fretboard separation by glueing and clamping

Owen: Please taken some detailed photos, before, after and along the way so that we might follow your progress.

Owen, the fretboard separation and the stripped rods should have been included in the description. This is fraud if you ask me and if I would have spent that kind of money on a bass in this condition I would demand my money back. But as long as your happy with it thats all that matters! Post some pics...

Will do Peter, however i am presently in PA, so i willhave to work on it when im back in the UK, in a couple of weeks.

Ive never attempted this kinda work on a guitar. But im pretty "handy" so im sure i can master it.

any advice/comments/opinions anyone?

Dan, the rods aint stripped! they are just bent out of shape so i cant get a wrench on.

Im not too bothered about it. `the description indicated this was an old fairly battered but perfectly playable bass. The bass was filthy, has powerdered rust everywhere (most gone now) Bridge pickup would not work until dust was removed from cavity..... has a tuner that the back pops off of - will need to be glued shut (these are the grover closed tuners). The rubber mute pad had caught some "diasese" and had decayed down to a gooey black mess

I got this thing for a BARGAIN - works out at £550--would be like £1800 in a vintage store.

I dont expect a mint/ perfect shape/flawless guitar, especially not from ebay. And im able enough with tools to deal with it.

OK, you had me worried! As long as you got a good deal and the repairs can be made it sounds like a very nice bass. Good luck and congratulations!!!

Congratulations on finally having her in your hands, Owen.
Hope everything turns out fine eventually.

Are the rods bent as bad as this?



Mr. Hall once posted that this happened because people tried to tighten the rods like the post-'84 ones. I wonder how many pre-'84 4001 fingerboards were popped that way. IMHO, all ebay sellers of old 4001's should include a shot of the rod cavity under the TRC.

I seem to have read around here that they could be bent back to normal. Maybe Bob can shed some light on this.

Hey Bob, we need your words of wisdom.

Hey Paul......that photo could almost be my new bass , yeah the rods are just like that. I have the proper Ric tool, and i finally managed to turn them. T'he rods are functioning, just bent at the end.

I think this problem is VERY common, i was once warned by a tech here in London: "when looking for a Rick - bare in mind that a lot of the old ones are trash because the rods are bent, the neck is still good, they are simply stuck in one place"

This is part of why I like the newer Rics ... 80's to present ... the truss rod system is improved ...

My '68 has a wonderful neck ... but there is no way I would ever adjust that thing ...

Thanks for the kind words Paul,
I don't know about wisdom, but I just bend them back with a 1/4 in. nutdriver very carefully, I'd do it with a clamp across the first fret with the fretboard separation so I didn't make it worse (don't tighten that too much either or you will mark the fretboard) and if I can't get it on, then I try whatever works, and IMHO rods bend because of too much tension, I have adjusted a 4001 neck, with the rods straight and opened it up again in two weeks to find that the rods have bent back down on their own because of heavy tension strings, another reason they bend I have found is that the nuts were tightened too much before and have dug into the aluminum block to much. I had to have a new block made for one of mine because it was just too far gone, and I would rather have a new block than use washers. I have never seen a 4001 truss rod bend up by itself, I think with too much tension they just naturally bend down. You also have to be careful as sometimes the threads are ruined at the bend, then you need to cut the ends off and re-thread them or have someone weld new ends on them.
As far as the fretboard separating from the neck I did that to a bass (pre Ric forum) on both sides (same bass, the poor thing) I took out the rods, and one side at a time used Elmers wood glue and a clamp, let it set for one day, put the rods back in, and it has been fine ever since, I didn't use a lot of glue either, just pushed in what I could. you can't even see where it separated unless you look very closely. You guys could see it, but the non-Ric person would never even notice, and you would also have to look specifically for it to see it. (it's a Maplglo, which I find very forgiving to dents, scratches, etc.)
I have found with 4001's (and 4003's I believe) if you have to really crank down on the truss rod nuts you are putting too much tension on the rods. I think they also vibrate and play better if they are not too tight. I believe there is a certain design tension these things were made for and if you exceed it, watch out. But then again the wood strength itself independant of the rods seems to be different in them as Owen says, some of them are a lot stronger than others.
I put TI's on this particular bass that had all the surgery as it does have a weak neck and will not tolerate high tension strings, and the thing sings now, it is one of my favorites.
I had a new block made out of steel, I glued the fretboard (which did not separate cleanly along the fretboard line either) and had new ends welded to the truss rods. You can definitely resucitate (sp?) these things, even if they are pretty far gone, as a matter of fact I enjoy doing it. It feels good to take a basket case and make a thing of sonic beauty out of it. (like I did to mine [and I'm the one that made it a basket case], LOL).
One more thing before you put the rods back in you should bend them up in the middle, or that's what I do anyway.

Oh yeah,
in an old thread JH said you can just take a pair of pliers and squeeze the Grover cover on and and it will be ok

5{ post some pics of my bass soon,,,its now fully cleaned up and looks real nice (although worn - this thing has character)

Bob - the grovers, the cover did pop back on snugly, tho it works its way open ever time it tune my D string. I think i can use a strong glue to clamp it together.

...one thing that has suprised me on this 73, is that its neck really dwarves that of my 4003. Its much BIGGER. Its wider across the nut (not much, but feels different) and its not so cramped when i play the higher positions. There is just more wood to grip which suits me, as i love my 4003's neck shape, but its a bit cramped higher up.

Owen, I have a '73 4001 and a '87 4003 which I have noticed the difference in the neck size as well. The 4001 is fatter, both in width and depth, at least to me it is. The neck on my '68 4000 is like a toothpick compared to both of them which I think is due partly to the fact that the neck has no binding.

my '68 4001 has binding ... and it is really skinny ...

I have owned a '73, '74, '82, '92 ... all had similar necks ...