Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi

I've bought a 1996 4001 V63. When I received it, it seemed to have a bad setup, but nothing serious. High action, upbow from the 10th fret or so towards headstock. It also has a light twist, if you look along the neck (from headstock to body), the G-side is "lower" than the E-side.

I started with fastening the truss rod nuts, but nothing really changed. I needed some (but not excessive) force to turn the nuts. Having no success, I decided to loose the nuts all the way to see what the neck does.
The upbow slightly increased. The neck is not straight at all.

Next I tried to fix it using "old style setup", manually push the neck into position and then fasten the truss rod nuts. This seemed to do the trick, but the next day the upbow was back again Not as serious as before, but very obvious. Even worse, the truss rod nuts now point upwards, out of the cavity of the headstock. The TRC does not fit anymore. At this point, I gave up.

I showed the bass to a luthier today. He thinks that it can't be done without replacing the fretboard. The neck has an upbow, is twisted and somehow wavy. Anything, but not straight.

Question: Could this still be caused by the truss rods? Could they be bent that bad, causing such neck deformation? Would it be a good idae to remove the truss rods and check/replace them?
Or do you agree that it can't be done without replacing the fretboard? I'd like to avoid that, it's pricey and taking into consideration what I paid for this bass, it might not be worth it

Thanks!

Welcome Chris,

I had a VERY SIMILAR issue with my V63....

My luthier said there was TWO ways of approaching this issue. I had a back bow in the same place.

He said we could TRY the least expensive of the two options....He said it would take about 3 weeks to know if it works.....He headed and wrapped the neck and used some kind of clamps. Each day, he'd apply heat, and crank the clamps another turn.

After 3 weeks, he took it out of the clamps, and did a setup....IT WAS LIKE NEW! He said IF id didn't work, we could go the new fingerboard way...but I wanted to keep it original..

It's been 2 years, and I've NEVER had to adjust it again. It's been perfect, nice and low and a joy to play.

Make SURE your guy KNOWS how to work on Rics....best of luck, I'm sure you can get it worked out.

I'd try removing the rods first. Inspect / straighten them as needed, then reinstall and see what happens. Remember that tightening the truss rods is a several day process. No more than half a turn to each, then wait 24 hours, repeat as necessary.

The good thing about Rick necks is that they are quite responsive and flexible. (Some people say this is what's bad about them, but what do they know?) This means we have to be a bit more cautious when adjusting them and setting them up, but it also means that methods like clamping/heating have a better chance of success than with real baseball-bat necks.

One more thing: I tend to want to err on the conservative side, so once I feel the rod beginning to tense up, I stick to 1/4 turn increments, as 1/2 turn can get real tight real fast!

I echo what Kris said. I've had 2 basses I had to pull and straighten the rods on as the necks were wavy and all other measures failed to correct. I also would look at the body end of the truss rods - are the acorn nuts receding into the neck further? From what you said about getting the neck straight using the move-and-hold method then the next day having some upbow again, I suspect the rods are eating into softer maple and moving up into the neck itself. Worth the look before you pull the rods.