Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi Everybody,

I have owned a '94 (if i remember correctly) 620/6 for a few years now, and love playing it.

Recently, I noticed a buzz on the 6th string from about the third to the fifth position, and I decided to take it to a tech to be set-up (I hadn't had it set since purchasing it from a friend).

Anyway, he did some adjusting of the bridge, and then adjusted the truss rods and sent me off. When I played it later that day, the buzz increased. It moved, but now it was starting at the fourth position and continued until around the tenth. I took it back and he told me that I play too hard, and that it doesn't buzz when he plays (fyi- he also works for Gibson). After trying to convince me that I am the problem, I asked him to keep it overnight and fix the buzz.

Today he called me and said that he got most of the buzz out, but while he was adjusting the bridge, he snapped the head off of one of the screws that adjusts the height of the bridge. At that point I went and got the guitar. It still buzzes.

Now, the sixth string is the only string that buzzes, and it only happens in the middle of the neck. It is true that the guitar doesn't buzz when strummed softly, but honestly I'm not a soft picker; and I never noticed the problem before. Has anybody else here had a problem with buzzing when aggressively picking?

I have a few more questions that hopefully can be answered (sorry for the long first-time post):
Can somebody tell me exactly which spring from the Rick boutique is for the bridge height, and which is for the string saddle?
I need to replace the screw (I'm pretty sure I know which part that is), and I figure that I may as well order those parts as well to meet the $20 minimum purchase required.

One more: How about a good Rickenbacker tech in Los Angeles or the LA area?

Thank you for taking the time to read (and hopefully respond to) my post. I've long looked to this site as an extremely useful resource for all questions Rickenbacker. I appreciate your time.

Welcome to the forum. RIC part number 06113 is the saddle spring, and 06114 is the bridge height spring:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/gbridge.pdf

Part number 05302 is the screw.

Thanks for the part clarification, beatlefreak.
Care to weigh in on the buzz issue?

Another example of a non-Rick tech applying meatball force to "correct" a minor problem and making things worse.

Guitar techs, before working on anything, but especially Ricks, should take something resembling the Hippocratic Oath. Perhaps we should call it the "Rick-O-Cratic Oath":

Above all, do no harm.

This should be extended to state that anytime somebody brings him something to fix, that thing should leave his hands in better condition than it arrived. It's only common sense (lots of techs are lacking in this, judging from some of the abuse I've seen in my short time working on Ricks) and if somebody pays him for this (which would make him a "professional"), this should be engraved in granite somewhere on his premises.

Leaving your Rick with him so he can use your precious instrument as a learning device means that HE should be paying YOU, and IMO he should be learning on his own time and his own instrument.

1. He did the usual non-Rick-tech thing and cranked down too far on the truss rods, too fast. Your neck will continue to go out of adjustment until it finally settles in somewhere in pretzel-land and plays worse than it did when you brought it in. Your initial experience bears this prediction out.

2. The bridge height screws are among the easiest to turn screws on any Rick. I have never heard of the head snapping off of one of these! Your "tech" is a Master of High Torque and Low Patience.

I'm sure one of our LA people can give you a referral to a sympathetic, good-guy, non-lizard-brained tech to fix stuff up on your 620.

First off,when raising a RIC bridge, it's best to take at least some of the tension off the strings, I haven't snapped a screw head off, but I have stripped the threads off the bridge body on one of the height adjustment screws by trying to raise the bridge with tension on the strings of my 325V59.

as for the fret buzz issue, I think I would loosen the truss rods and start from scratch. Truss rod adjustments are easy enough to do yourself. Between the owner's manual (available online at www.rickenbacker.com and a search of this forum, you can find out everything you need to properly adjust your truss rods yourself (and save a few bucks).

The important thing when adjusting truss rods is patience, and proceeding slowly. In between small tweaks of the rod or rods, you need to wait at least a day with the instrument tuned, for the neck to compensate and settle in. Sometimes it takes longer than that! But, getting it close with several small tweakings and then waiting a couple of weeks after you think you've got it finalized, and checking it again at the end of that time for another possible, final, adjustment, assures success in 99% of cases.

Now, unfortunately, because yours has been seriously disturbed, I'd remove all string tension (detune all the way, as Kris mentions), loosen the truss rod nuts until they have no torque on them, and let the guitar settle for a week or two. Then, tighten the nuts about a half-turn, tune to pitch and let it settle in. Any subsequent tightenings or loosenings should be done 1/4 turn at a time, allowing the guitar to "rest" for a day or more in between. You can, of course, play it during this time. In fact, playing it will help the neck to settle in and get used to your style.

Use only a RIC truss rod tool or a nut driver with a thin-walled end and a 1/4" socket--NEVER a ratchet, breaker bar, or anything that allows you to develop any real torque--it's how you snap rods or pop fretboards off the neck.

Timothy, I've done pretty much what both Paul and Kris recommned on a friend's Gibsom Les Paul that was in a similar bad shape ... after a few days' of patiently waiting for the incremental adjustments to take, I got it into fantastic playing condition. As mentioned, patience is the key to fixing the situation.

BTW, welcome to the forum. Jingle_jangle is the man. Follow his advice and you can't go wrong.

I want to thank everybody for all the advice on the adjustments.

I followed your advice, jingle_jangle, and I actually got most of the buzz out; the only problem is that in order to do so, I had to raise the bridge as high as it would go, so it doesn't play as nicely as I would like. I've gone back and forth with it, but I can't get the results that I desire out of the guitar.

I'm considering finding a professional, since most of my efforts have just pushed the guitar either toward more buzz or higher action.

I compared the action to my 360/12, and the strings are much closer on the 12 string, without any buzz. Could it be possible that the neck is that off on the 620? I tightened the truss rods a whole revolution and it just got worse. I didn't want to go any further because I didn't want a more serious problem with the guitar.

What do you guys think?