Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

...after the first year of joyful use.

Well, a Rickenbacker is already quite easy to play.
- But why not a whiff better?

I read that after about the first year the wood of a new guitar/bass always has moved a bit. An effect that seems to concern every guitar. So mine did it, too.
Additionally, the accuracy of fit is very high at RIC, a perfect base for the final finishing touch by a luthier - done with a lot of time - makes a big difference, though!

Now was the right time for that. Today I received her back:
Before that procedure the space between the low E string and the 12th fret was about 2,2mm. Now it is 1,5mm with a dead flat neck. No buzz or something like that. Every string stays perfectly in tune (less space=less tension that raises the tone when playing). The feeling is just amazing!!!

In the end I payed for six carefully filed frets, improved saddles and one filed slot of the nut 50,-€ (actually ~61,-$).

Worth every penny!

Is there somebody with similar experiences?


PS: Rickenbacker in Germany is a nearly unsupported brand. So I went straight to a "free" and real luthier (a lady!). Normally she builds small runs (2-5) of spanish acoustics she developed. I saw a few of these guitars, some in the middle of the production process. Wow! Must be a careful and circumspectly person that is able to build such guitars!

So after opening the case the 330 appeared a bit rough in comparison to her guitars. - A block of wood!

She never saw a double truss rod system personally. Asked if she can handle it she only said that it is quite logically to go RICs way and it should be easier to adjust than a single rod system. Her guitars do not have rods. But when using them two are better. That answer convinced me! And her work, too.

Tag, Hotzenplotz,

In English, this procedure is called a "level" or a "fret level." Some say "level and crown" (and polish). It is indeed a very important procedure to have done to any guitar, and will improve the playability of any guitar dramatically - even brand-new guitars. Most guitars need this done badly. I just had one done to my '76 Les Paul, and I need to check and see if I should have one done on my '09 Rick 360. I haven't ever tried it myself, but there are many who do this alone. There are a few things you must make sure of before you do it - (1) get a straight leveling tool (usually a metal beam), and (2) make sure the neck is straight and all tension is relieved from the neck.

Viel Spass beim Gerademachen!

Danke , John!

Well, I am not a native speaker...

Normally I use a (computer) dictionary to improve writing here, but this does not offer words for "Bünde abrichten", e.g..
I am sure the headline sounds very funny/ confusing.

Did You use a dictionary, too, or do You speak german?


@ admin/ mod: Could You edit this for me, please?


BTW: A lot of terms I learned in english by visiting the RRF very often. - Sometimes I talk to other musicians in Germany and I do not know the german words for these.

I do speak some German, but I didn't know the German word for this procedure, so I made the joke about "Gerademachen." I studied German for 2 years in college, and I lived in Germany for two years working as an English (Englisch als Fremdsprache) teacher. I lived there between the ages of 25 and 27, from 2000 to 2002. I still have a few friends there with whom I try and keep in contact.

For a while, I even had a band for a while, and the bass player was German, and the Schlagzeuger was German, too. In fact, he spoke only German, so we had to communicate in rehearsals in German. We had a Klavier player who was British, but he spoke perfect German. It was very good for my German - I learned phrases like "Dreiviertel Zeit," "von Vorne," and "ich habe mich verspielt" - I needed that one more than I'd like to admit! I also learned about the note "H" (and how B is not the same as B here) and things like Gis and E-moll. I also learned words like Verstaerker, which I probably wouldn't have ever learned otherwise.

Great story!

Yes, the H/ B thing is very strange. Usually I use B instead H when talking about chords/ notes - because since the world is connected via the WWW the most chords I use are not from german pages.

Very funny when I do rehearsals with my band. I say very often "B" instead "H" without noticing it. Then they play Bb what we just call B in Germany - and it sounds terrible when the others play another chord.

I hate this typical German special treatment ("Extrawurst") in music.

I learned that this is why German composers can write in a homage to their favorite composer by including the phrase B-A-C-H (Bb-A-C-B).

Never thought of!!!

The swedish could use it, too: ABBA.

Hotzenplotz wrote:Before that procedure the space between the low E string and the 12th fret was about 2,2mm. Now it is 1,5mm with a dead flat neck.

What should the ideal spacing of string<->fret be in mm anyway? I can only find the spacing in US units online...

Might be my 360 needs some levelling to get rid of some buzzing... I only wonder whom to turn to in Holland. Is Rosetti also the importer for mainland Europe? If so, they never bother to answer any email!

Sascha, hilarious!

Canada too, AAAA.

The use of "H" in European musical lexicon for what in English musical lexicon is B-natural dates from the middle ages, supposedly from the Pythagorean Greek derivation of melody, and modes when keyboards were first being developed and did not have all the semitones. The most common mode, the aeolian mode, started with what was defined as "a" and went from there. As other starting notes came to be used, and the modes were developed and later the concept of transposition evolved, the first additional semitone required was the "H," so that some transposition could take place. Later as the keyboard filled in with the rest of the semitones, the B, written in lower case, became the "flat" sign, H became stylized as the "natural" sign, and the "sharp" sign was developed as the keyboard completely filled in with the rest of the accidentals and as modality evolved into tonality, and modes evolved into major and minor scales and modern notation and harmony.

admin wrote:Sascha, hilarious!

Canada too, AAAA.

ABBA was a very famous group in europe in the '70 (for those who do not know them), btw.

admin wrote:Sascha, hilarious!

Canada too, AAAA.

And for the U.S. we can have BEACH B... um... oh wait... there's nothing for 'O', 'Y', or 'S'...

Never mind...

Wildberry wrote:

Hotzenplotz wrote:Before that procedure the space between the low E string and the 12th fret was about 2,2mm. Now it is 1,5mm with a dead flat neck.

What should the ideal spacing of string<->fret be in mm anyway? I can only find the spacing in US units online...

Might be my 360 needs some levelling to get rid of some buzzing... I only wonder whom to turn to in Holland. Is Rosetti also the importer for mainland Europe? If so, they never bother to answer any email!

I read sometimes about 2-2,5mm is a good measurement (for Fenders?!). As long as it does not buzz less is more. 1,5mm is brutally low. I can not imagine less than that because the string needs some space for oscillating.
Chording now is soooo easy. Actually I play 011 TI flats. They feel like 008 rounds now.

Measured in inch it is 0,059. ( 1 inch = 2,54cm = 25,4mm)

If You have buzzing You can not get rid of, levelling could solve it. A luthier knows what to do to find the reason for this annoying noise. One of the first things he will do is to look at the neck and the frets.

The importer for Holland is AB Music. Look here for details:
http://www.rickenbacker.com/distributors.asp

Hotzenplotz wrote:ABBA was a very famous group in europe in the '70 (for those who do not know them), btw.

Surely they're still a household name these days, especially with Mamma Mia! on stages everywhere and in movie form.

Hotzenplotz wrote:

Wildberry wrote:What should the ideal spacing of string<->fret be in mm anyway? I can only find the spacing in US units online...

I read sometimes about 2-2,5mm is a good measurement (for Fenders?!). As long as it does not buzz less is more. 1,5mm is brutally low. I can not imagine less than that because the string needs some space for oscillating.
Chording now is soooo easy. Actually I play 011 TI flats. They feel like 008 rounds now.

Ah, .011 TI flats is what I use as well - there's just some buzz on two frets though with a flat neck and fast action low set-up... I'll have to check at how much it measures though. Thanks for the tips though!

Hotzenplotz wrote:The importer for Holland is AB Music. Look here for details:
http://www.rickenbacker.com/distributors.asp

Ah, thanks! I completely overlooked that page