Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi there,

about a month ago i changed strings on my 4001 from DR Roundwounds (i know DR are rather low-tension) to D'A Chrome Flats (being flats i guessed they were low tension too, but maybe i'm wrong).

I noticed that the bass developed a little relief, so i put the bass in a desk and compared the line of the neck to te desk plane. I noticed that the neck is not perfectly straight with the desk (i'm not sure if this means something, but i guess that the neck line should be the same as the body and so of the desk).

I'm throwing away the idea of making a homemade setup mainly because lack of tools (clamps wrenches etc ..), so i guess i'm calling my luthier, but since he's a guy in demand, he will tell me for sure to wait some weeks.

[EDIT]
Some photos to show the situation :

http://coea77.altervista.org/1.jpg
http://coea77.altervista.org/2.jpg

The main question is : what is better to do meanwhile ?

- put back DR's
- uninstall the strings and keep the bass without strings
- search for another luthier doing the job asap
- .... other ?

Thanks a lot

Mattia, it sounds like you are a bit apprehensive about doing your own setup on your 4001. If your luthier is that good, it will be worth that wait, unless you find another luthier that you can trust to work on Ricks at the good advise of another Rick owner.

Hi Mattia!

I can't get your photos to come up. But I do have a couple of suggestions: I've had D'A Chromes on a 4001 and my 4005 and they were too high tension for the necks. If you want to go with flats on a 4001, I'd say TI Jazz Flats are worth a try. They're the lowest tension string on the market today as far as I know. Some people love that they're loose and floppy, some people hate them for the same reason, but they will be kinder to your neck.

Where do you live? Does your luthier have experience adjusting the old Rickenbacker truss rods? If he doesn't and he assumes that they work like Gibson, Fender, etc., he might pop the fretboard off and crack the neck. It has happened over and over again, so make sure the guy knows that they work differently. If he needs instructions on how to adjust them, direct him to joeysbassnotes.com! What year is your 4001?

rickenbrother wrote:Mattia, it sounds like you are a bit apprehensive about doing your own setup on your 4001.

yes you're right ... i'm veeeeeery apprehensive, but since this is my first rick (and i hope not my last !!), i prefer not to set it up by myself, at least unless i'll understand fully how the procedure goes (my main concert about the procedure is how to understand that both the truss are giving the same tension).

rickaddict wrote:If you want to go with flats on a 4001, I'd say TI Jazz Flats are worth a try.

yeah, already ordered, can't wait for them ...

rickaddict wrote:They're the lowest tension string on the market today as far as I know. Some people love that they're loose and floppy, some people hate them for the same reason, but they will be kinder to your neck.

ok, and what about pyramid gold (flats) ? are they low tension ?

rickaddict wrote:What year is your 4001?

1975

cangaroo wrote: ok, and what about pyramid gold (flats) ? are they low tension ?

They're pretty high tension. Probably even higher than the D'A's.

Q- ok, and what about pyramid gold (flats) ? are they low tension ?
A-no,they definitely pull pretty hard. they sound great,though,if your bass neck can take the higher tension. i just put a set of 60's maxima flatwounds on my 4000, which sound and feel great,and according to mr hall the ti jazz flatwounds are very similar.

haha jeff you and i are in sync!
hmmm....actually i just didn't see your last post,oops....

Ok so now i guess that pyramids are not the best choice for my bass ... even if i saw in some recent post in this forum the guy who's using in his 4001FL, maybe FL basses have stronger necks ?

I've switched to flats mainly because i want to obtain a fatter sound like the one you can hear on this clip (i think this is one of the best sounding ricks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el77mHz2xpU

if you listen carefully at 2:04 (when you can hear the bass alone) you can notice how fat is the sound, expecially on the E string ... very fat, very warm sound. ok the guy has a great rig also, but i guess that starting from the right strings you can obtain a similar sound.

cangaroo wrote:Ok so now i guess that pyramids are not the best choice for my bass ... even if i saw in some recent post in this forum the guy who's using in his 4001FL, maybe FL basses have stronger necks ?

I've switched to flats mainly because i want to obtain a fatter sound like the one you can hear on this clip (i think this is one of the best sounding ricks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el77mHz2xpU

if you listen carefully at 2:04 (when you can hear the bass alone) you can notice how fat is the sound, expecially on the E string ... very fat, very warm sound. ok the guy has a great rig also, but i guess that starting from the right strings you can obtain a similar sound.

TI's should get you a sound pretty close to that.

Rick bass necks are funny (and a lot of other brands are too, I'm sure!) I've had 9 of the old truss rod Rick bass necks. Some are stronger than others. Some could handle Pyramids. If yours is having trouble with D'A's, then I'd save yourself the high cost of Pyramids...because your neck won't handle them either. Maybe if your luthier can figure out how to adjust the truss rods and it turns out that the bass does in fact have a very strong neck...but that has never been my experience. I've been able to take a little relief out with a truss adjustment, but have never been able to work miracles.