Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi,


I had My January '73 4001 refretted. The Guy did a good job (especially since it was butchered with an amateur fret job and another -lets get the paint off the fretboard attempt- before), but ever since I got the bass back I'm not as happy with it as I was before. To my feeling the bass sounds far more metalic and less warm than before. Offcourse I made a mistake to order a vintage nut which had a wider spacing than the neck of my vintage bass. But that should'nt be hearable I guess, except for the G string sliding off sometimes.

As far as I can see there's not much changed execpt for the new frets to interfere with the sound. Could this be why I like my '73 less than I did before? Or is it the new lacquer on the fretboard which did this? Or?

Bert: My guess is bad seating on the old fretwire. This spoils the clarity due to poor energy transfer to the wood of the neck. Now you've got clearer sound and it's not what you're used to having. Work with your vtone controls a bit and see if you can dial in a bit of the old sound.

Second thought: Are the new frets bigger or taller? We tend to play more agressively with jumbo or taller frets.

jingle_jangle wrote:Bert: My guess is bad seating on the old fretwire. This spoils the clarity due to poor energy transfer to the wood of the neck. Now you've got clearer sound and it's not what you're used to having. Work with your vtone controls a bit and see if you can dial in a bit of the old sound.

Second thought: Are the new frets bigger or taller? We tend to play more agressively with jumbo or taller frets.

Thanx for answering and sorry for me not reacting sooner. The frets are smaller now. a Previous owner did a most amateurish job of putting big frets in it. Now they are smaller Rickenbacker like frets again.

I was not aware of some (knowing now) ovbious reasons for more clarity. a) the sadles are unevenly cut which makes the A and D string buzz more (while I adjust string heigth to E and G). I wasnt aware of this as this is not a normal thing for me (and before string height on this bass had to be very high because of uneven frets) but this buzz sounds more trebly than I am used to. b) I bypassed the tone control function. I know I have read it many times, but I am surprised how much more clarity this gives. I have to get used to this, but I think I like it.

So all I need now are '73 saddles.....