Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi, I have just received my brand new 4003JG this week (after a 2-year wait) and noticed the neck pickup is not aligned with the strings (or neck), i.e. the pole pieces of this pickup are not directly under the strings, but are shifted towards the top end of the body, so that only the outer edge of each pole piece is under its corresponding string. The bridge pickup seems better aligned, though not perfectly so.

Basically, after such a long wait for my prize, I am unsure how to proceed and I wondered if anyone has seen any other examples of this model with this characteristic, how common it may be, or even if it a flaw at all. I don't know anyone with the same bass to compare with, and obviously they are rare even in stores. However, every picture I can see of 4003's has the pole pieces aligned under each string, when viewed directly from above. The neck pickup is also noticably quieter than the bridge pickup.

I would be really grateful for anyone's help and advice?

Thanks

Mike

Can you show us a picture of the situation?

I tried to attach a picture with my message, taken with a digital camera, but the message came back that it was invalid. I could send by email, if its ok with you, my address is [email protected]

Thanks,

Mike

It's a new bass; I'd send the picture to Rick customer service first, and see what they say.

He is apparently in the UK. I think Rosetti is the local distributor.

We had a thread about this before. A couple of my basses are like this also. It is fairly common. My '75 4001 and my '04 4003 both are/were that way. The first 3 basses I just looked at in the registry had it.

That's a quick fix. Tony at Pickguardian can make you a new pickguard with the cutout in the correct place.

You can do a small experiment - remove all pickguard screws except one near the pots, and slide the guard a little so that the pickup is where it should be, and back to where it was. If you don't notice a volume drop, then nothing needs to be done. If you hear a difference, get a new guard.

In any case I'd call RIC or your local distributor.

carthaqprfc wrote:Hi, I have just received my brand new 4003JG this week (after a 2-year wait) and noticed the neck pickup is not aligned with the strings (or neck), i.e. the pole pieces of this pickup are not directly under the strings, but are shifted towards the top end of the body, so that only the outer edge of each pole piece is under its corresponding string. The bridge pickup seems better aligned, though not perfectly so.

Basically, after such a long wait for my prize, I am unsure how to proceed and I wondered if anyone has seen any other examples of this model with this characteristic, how common it may be, or even if it a flaw at all. I don't know anyone with the same bass to compare with, and obviously they are rare even in stores. However, every picture I can see of 4003's has the pole pieces aligned under each string, when viewed directly from above. The neck pickup is also noticably quieter than the bridge pickup.

I would be really grateful for anyone's help and advice?

Thanks

Mike

Did you buy it in the UK Mike?

Thanks for your reply. I bought the bass in the UK, from a store called Anderton's, in Guildford. My reason for choosing them was that I live in the UK (about 200 miles from Guildford) and Anderton's had already placed their order with Rosetti 7 months before I placed my order with them, so I figured I was 7 months ahead in terms of delivery leadtime, compared to a brand new order. Anderton's order was made with Rosetti in December 2006 and I placed my order with Anderton's in July 2007. The bass arrived last week.

In terms of moving the pickguard, the whole pickguard would need to be slid downwards (at 90 degrees to the neck) rather than rotated around a screw near the pots. This is because the pickguard is already placed tight up against the end of the neck and so would not rotate. However, the pickguard would only need to be slid down by a distance of aprroximately half a pole piece width, to align the neck pickup correctly with the strings and neck. The problem would then be making new holes for this new pickguard position, as they would share part of the body space already taken up with the existing holes.

What to do?

www.pickguardian.com

If you can supply accurate measurements, Tony will do what you need.

Mike, you got ilan wrong there. What he suggested was that you move the pickguard/pickup so the poles are aligned correctly. If it does make an audible difference to the way it is now, you could have a new pickguard made with the cut-out for the pickup moved to the right place. If you don´t hear a difference - then you could just leave it there.
In any case if you have a bad feeling about this you should contact the shop and/or have them contact Rosetti and let them have their say.

Just received delivery of the replacement for the earlier 4003JG mentioned in this thread, 2 months after I eventually returned it to the dealer, for the quality reasons described in this thread. Quick turnaround for the replacement was due to UK importer Rosetti shipping the next 4003JG they received from RIC to my dealer and my dealer had placed me at the top of their list, after the disappointment of having to return the previous model.

This replacement is definitely an improvement in quality. There are still some slight issues, such as bridge placement not centred with the binding strip breaks at the rear of the body and the neck pickup poles pieces not quite aligned under the strings. However, it sounds fantastic and I think I can learn to live with what I think is simply hand-made variation from model to model.

I'd still be interested to know does anybody else see these two issues on their 4003's?

I've seen all sorts of variations, which would of course not exist if these basses were made by robots or robotic drones. They are, however, made by humans; the process is complex and as most processes tend to, it has a cumulative error upon final assembly that must be controlled and, in the end, balanced out across the entire instrument.

It's handmade, in a small facility, and wonderfully human. An artifact, a machine, and a playing experience, all rolled into one.

I'm with you on that one up to a point - and that is that 4003's didn't used to show obvious quality issues. Look at any pics of older models and these problems don't show up. As far as I know, these basses have continued to be fabricated and assembled to the same process, so I'm thinking something has changed in terms of quality control?