Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

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This bass was bought from a guy who writes on an Italian forum for bass players.
I worry by truss rod nuts,
what are your opinions?
In my opinion the price was too high: 1600 € (no original case)

Ciao Mario!

Looks like a nice, original example to me. There is more truss rod exposed from the nut on one side than the other, but some of them are like that. It doesn't look like those rods were abused to me. The thrust block looks to be nice and square. One thing that does look odd is that the side of the thrust block is a little chewed up. I think the reason why is that the screw hole for the truss rod cover was not drilled properly at the factory. It looks like as the hole was drilled, it was too close to the truss cavity and the drill bit slipped into the cavity. As a result, this bass has had that one TRC screw wedged in and rubbing on the thrust block all these years. So the the thrust block and the truss cavity look a little imperfect, but this is a minor issue IMO and the bass might still be a great bass.

For what it's worth, I sold this nice 1976 4001 FG for $2300 about a year ago:

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... lebrity%3D

Kind of hard to tell but from this one pic it may appear that the fretboard has lifted slightly.

ken_j wrote:Kind of hard to tell but from this one pic it may appear that the fretboard has lifted slightly.

P21595321.jpg

Yes. Good point, Ken. I saw that too, but it looks so minor I didn't mention it. I've had a couple that looked worse and it ended up not being a problem.

Other issues that I think are minor are the nut and the bridge. If it were mine, I'd have a new black nut made (probably from graphite). I'd also want to put new string saddles on the bridge and new screws as well. It might set up just fine as-is, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Looking at that side shot above; it may just be a trick of the light, but a re-fret might be in the near future. That first fret looks like a roller-coaster. The only other fret shot is from the body end and the upper frets appear to be fine.

Also, as Jeff mentioned about the saddles. Replacement needed for sure; there appear to be two used slots on some and what also concerns me is that all four saddles are flipped the same way. It should be two and two unless there are some odd intonation problems. Just looking at the saddle stagger pattern suggests something odd with the intonation - if indeed it was intonated properly with the saddles in those relative positions.

Wow! I'm asleep at the wheel (again) today! I meant to mention the frets as well. Yes, it looks like a fret leveling/dressing would probably be in order. But the frets do appear to have some life left in them, so none of the above work should be very expensive.

What else did I miss?!

ken_j wrote:Kind of hard to tell but from this one pic it may appear that the fretboard has lifted slightly.

P21595321.jpg

Good catch, Ken...and that Rick doesn't have strings installed which gives it another red flag in my eyes. Though the lift can be repaird by a talented luthier.

rickenbrother wrote:

ken_j wrote:Kind of hard to tell but from this one pic it may appear that the fretboard has lifted slightly.

P21595321.jpg

Good catch, Ken...and that Rick doesn't have strings installed which gives it another red flag in my eyes. Though the lift can be repaird by a talented luthier.

Tough to say for sure if there is separation or it is just a finish issue. This photo does not seem to show separation, but even if there is it is very minor, nothing to be concerned about.