Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I bought a 4001s sometime ago which has the neck sitting crooked in the body. I noticed this because there was no adjustment left in the bridge and it needed to go further down for easy playing. When I took the pickguard off I also noticed the neck was crooked left to right (e to g).

The neck itsself is certainly not the worst I've had sofar and the bass sounds awesome and the color AZG is still my favorite. In other words; I do not want to get rid of it but I want it fixed. In my humble, and in my luthiers less humble, opinion this could be done best by removing the neck and then put it in right.

Now he wants to know how the neck sits in the body. He wants to know things like is it a dovetail (or something). Any idea's on this? I allready sent him photo's of my MG 4000 with the pickguard removed so that he is able to see how far the neck reaches. (Are all 4000's equal to 4001S's in this?)

And the pictures I send him of the 4000:

45 times seen, no answers.

Just to better myself as a RRF forum member, why is this?

- No one knows an answer?
- Is my explanation not good enough? (I am not native english speaking, so this could be a reason...)
- are we all shocked this came through QC in '81?
- My photo's are not good enough?
- I give too much information and photo's which makes reading more difficult?
- I'm too impatiant?
- Should have been posted in the basses section?
- You are yealous I have such a beautifull bass?
- .............................

berth wrote:45 times seen, no answers.

Just to better myself as a RRF forum member, why is this?

- No one knows an answer?
- Is my explanation not good enough? (I am not native english speaking, so this could be a reason...)
- are we all shocked this came through QC in '81?
- My photo's are not good enough?
- I give too much information and photo's which makes reading more difficult?
- I'm too impatiant?
- Should have been posted in the basses section?
- You are yealous I have such a beautifull bass?
- .............................

In this section most defer to Paul (since it is his section). My guess is he is busy as usual and may not have seen the post yet. Maybe send Paul a pm to nudge him to your post? Nice bass and good luck.

Isn't the neck the same piece of wood thru to the tailpiece, with the body wings glued onto that? Meaning more that the body wings are glued on crooked to the neck, but that it should not affect what going on in that center piece of wood? Could the truss rods be twisting the neck affecting the set up? I'm not a luthier, just my uneducated observation/guess.

chrisdski wrote:Isn't the neck the same piece of wood thru to the tailpiece, with the body wings glued onto that?

No. This is a 4001 S model wit a gluid in neck.

Well, your's is almost identical to my 4001S AZ, which started life as a 4000. Your other 4000 is one of those that is a "true" 4000, in that it never had the routing put in for a neck pickup, whereas your 4001S is routed for a neck pickup. Many 4000 series basses were routed for that pickup, presumably to have more common components to the 4001 series. My 4000 was routed, making the conversion easy. Therefore, the necks, and the stresses upon them are different on the two basses that you have, so using one to diagnose the other isn't going to be too helpful to a luthier that isn't very familiar with the two different construction methods. Even amongst similar 4000 models, there seems to be a large difference in neck styles.

Having said that, I think that they all extend a similar depth into the body, as shown by your 4000 picture. I would however, be very leery about letting a luthier unfamiliar with the 4000 series start to saw away at it, no matter how good they are. I'd wait on Paul W to take a look at your pictures......

gareth wrote:Having said that, I think that they all extend a similar depth into the body, as shown by your 4000 picture. I would however, be very leery about letting a luthier unfamiliar with the 4000 series start to saw away at it, no matter how good they are. I'd wait on Paul W to take a look at your pictures......

Thanx for your answer Gareth. He initially does not want to saw. He wants to get the neck out with steam. I think I will give hem permission to remove the lacquer under the pickguard so he is able to see where he can heat the glue. I allready warned him that my 4000 picture will not give a guarantee that the 4001s is the same.

I btw completely forgot it is Namm now. And I even told a friend of mine to score Rickenbacker folders there.

tmossman wrote:

berth wrote:45 times seen, no answers.

Just to better myself as a RRF forum member, why is this?

- No one knows an answer?
- Is my explanation not good enough? (I am not native english speaking, so this could be a reason...)
- are we all shocked this came through QC in '81?
- My photo's are not good enough?
- I give too much information and photo's which makes reading more difficult?
- I'm too impatiant?
- Should have been posted in the basses section?
- You are yealous I have such a beautifull bass?
- .............................

In this section most defer to Paul (since it is his section). My guess is he is busy as usual and may not have seen the post yet. Maybe send Paul a pm to nudge him to your post? Nice bass and good luck.

Isn't Paul at NAMM?

HAH, just read your last post.

johnallg wrote:... Isn't Paul at NAMM?

HAH, just read your last post.

Yes, Paul W. is at NAMM. I will tell him about this thread when I see him later today, and maybe he will be able to respond before your luthier starts on it.

berth wrote:45 times seen, no answers.

Just to better myself as a RRF forum member, why is this?

- No one knows an answer?
- Is my explanation not good enough? (I am not native english speaking, so this could be a reason...)
- are we all shocked this came through QC in '81?
- My photo's are not good enough?
- I give too much information and photo's which makes reading more difficult?
- I'm too impatiant?
- Should have been posted in the basses section?
- You are yealous I have such a beautifull bass?
- .............................

For some bizarre reason, I never got a push notice of your initial post, Bert. My apologies.

No need to saw. There is no dovetail or any fancy business going on--the tongue that you see protruding from the neck is square-lipped and simply fits into a square-lipped relief in the body. To remove it, the lip--which is rather thin--simply needs to be heated to soften the AR glue which holds it in place. A small electric heater used to remove acoustic bridges is the correct tool. The only glitch is doing this without disturbing the finish on the bass' body. The bass was clearcoated AFTER painting and painted AFTER assembly, so when you pop the neck off, you'll find the clearcoat and paint has been disturbed around the joint. To minimize this chipping and/or flaking (and possibly keep from having to refinish the joint area--a tough proposition), score the inside corner of the joint with a SHARP Exacto knife. This will give the finish a nice, straight line to crack to.

Hi Bert,

- I had always thought that "routed 4000" basses (to make a 40001s) would have a propensity to weaken at the neck joint - this is analgous to the problem Eden McKenzie has recounted re "overrouted" mid '70s 4001 basses. It is possible the"front to back" problem may return unless the joint area is strengthened by partially plugging the neck pickup rout so that there is just enough room for the pickup to sit properly.
- Is the misalignment of the neck the result of a slight shift in the joint over time? Hard to tell from the pics and maybe hard to tell first hand without a luthier's eye. If this is the case, the repair operation may be a little simpler but "plugging" is again probably worth a thought in order to avoid the issue in the future.

antipodean wrote:Is the misalignment of the neck the result of a slight shift in the joint over time?

I.m.h.o. it is not. You can see it is lower in the pocket on the E string side than on the G string side. Length wise I find this higly unlikely also. In my humble opinion the neck pocket was routed wrong.

B.t.w.: Thanx for answering Paul! I forwarded your answer to my luthier (who worked on my Ricks before) and hope he will make nice-playing bass out of it.

The Luthier's answer:

"Prima info!!!
Het bevestigt wat ik al dacht."

Which translates to:

"Great info!
It confirms what I thought."

He also gave me a quote which I find very reasonable so it looks like this 4001s started a new life. Even unamplified It has a sound which somehow is heavier than my other Rickenbackers. It lends itsself perfectly for downtuned Stoner-rock. I think this one will get the 2 HB-1's I still have and maybe even get black trim and or black hardware.