Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My 4001FL developed a rattle a while ago. It never came through an amp when playing it, but when just playing without an amp, the buzzing/rattling drove me nuts! I also thought it could play a little better so I took it all apart to find the rattle and did a setup.

The 4001 trussrods come out through the headstock side of the neck.


I tape the headstock and use a cotton cloth to protect it from the truss rod.
I also clamp the fingerboard during trussrod removable because you do have to pull up on it a bit as you pull it out.


I checked the trussrods, made sure the tape was on the two inner side of each rod.


I also made sure the arc was even across the length of the rods and gave a little extra to the arc.

This truss rod which was on the treble side had a blunt end, I was given advise by a very knowledgeable man to give the end of the top half, a shape a more a chisel.

I didn't have a piece of steel rod handy, so I carefully fished an old E string through the truss rod channels to make sure there was no debris like tape loose in there.




After checking all the hardware and wires, I found that the spring under the E string side of the mute must have been the culprit. I gave a tug on each of the springs to spread them.

Of course when I had parts off, I took advantage of the easier use of Scratch-X and Zymol.

I reinstalled the truss rods, put the plate back in place all the way to touch flush against the wood and put on the nuts and turned them until they were just against the plate and then a little more.
Then the strings are tuned to pitch before the truss rods are adjusted.

My possible unique setting of a 4001 neck. The arms of my Rickenroom chair are cushiony and covered with leather. I put cotton cloths over the arms for extra padding and softness. I set the 4001FL down on the arms. The far end of the arm that the neck lays on goes to about where the 6th fret would be. I clamp the body to the other arm. Then I either get another clamp for the other side or use the assistance of someone else, in this case, Diane.


Then I pull back on the neck, so that the strings are touching the fingerboard and hold it like that as I tighten the trussrod nuts.

No more rattle, ready to rock or for some blues or jazz!

Nice work, Joey!!

Thanks for the tutorial Joey. The photos really help illustrate your process of discovery and correction.

I put a converted higain toaster in my 4001 the other day. Perhaps I should have taken pics of each step from the conversion of the higain through to installation and setup and sent them to you. Too late now of course.

So was it the spring Joey? My 4005WB had a terrible rattle that I just could never isolate. One day I decided to man up and just give the rods a small turn. Rattle gone.

Wow Joey--your attention to detail is wonderful. I hope you make a page for this on your web site. Very nice!! I love a freshly set up bass.

Great thread, Joey!

Great tutorial! Great pics! They help understand the process a lot. Oh, and I still love that Burgundy. Nice to see a few more pictures of it...

cjj wrote:Great tutorial! Great pics! They help understand the process a lot. Oh, and I still love that Burgundy. Nice to see a few more pictures of it...

Nice Joey, I'd NEVER have the guts to do that myself!

winston wrote:I put a converted higain toaster in my 4001 the other day. Perhaps I should have taken pics of each step from the conversion of the higain through to installation and setup and sent them to you. Too late now of course.

I have a video of E r i k and I swapping out a higain pickup for a toaster pickup in his 4003 Blue Boy. It was one of two vids that E r i k and I made, that I was going to bring with me when I visited Tony so his daughter could help me edit them. She's a video editing master! But I forgot them!
I also have sound clips of that 4003 done before and after the pickup swap.

sloop_john_b wrote:So was it the spring Joey? My 4005WB had a terrible rattle that I just could never isolate. One day I decided to man up and just give the rods a small turn. Rattle gone.

I didn't expect the rattle to be one of the mute springs because when I would use the mute, the rattle still didn't go away.

Excellent stuff, Joey. You most certainly did some surgery there, and to a good end, which is even better.

not that I need to do that to my Ric but I wish I had the guts to try if I had to....lol

ricnbacker wrote:not that I need to do that to my Ric but I wish I had the guts to try if I had to....lol

I know what you mean, Christopher. The first time is always the toughest.

Recently, I had to clean the quadrupole probe on the GC-MS (gas chromatograph - mass spectrometer) at work, a task I had not performed before (the instrument manual details the procedure well). Everything went fine up to the reassembly point ... I was distracted and inadvertently put a part in an incorrect position, and when I went to correct the error by unscrewing the part, one screw froze in the probe body. Wound up having to buy a $300 replacement part, plus two $15 screws. But, lesson learned! It won't happen again.

BTW, the reassembled probe is working absolutely fine.