Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello together,

I own a Rickenbacker 381 made in 1992. The string height was much too high, so I adjusted the truss rods a littlebit.
What then happened you can see on the pitures I've taken.
I did the adjustment this serveral times with other rickenbackerw, but never happened something likt that.

Can you give me any advices what I have to do now?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Yikes! Can't say I've ever seen that happen before. I suppose the pickup held it in place and kept it from being much worse maybe?

Andreas, I've seen this happen many times, but usually on the nut-end of the fretboard, usually caused by people tightening the truss rod nuts like a regular Fender/Gibson style rod (instead of pre-bending the neck into place and then lightly tightening the truss rod nuts on a Rickenbacker).

Assuming you adjusted the truss rods correctly for a Rickenbacker, it's unusual that it would happen on the end of the fretboard like this, but I can only assume the rods pushed upward, lifting the fretboard.

The guitar can be functionally repaired by pulling both truss rods out and replacing them, and injecting glue into the crack, and clamping the fretboard down (while supporting the neck and being mindful of the finish). Repairing it 100% with minimal visibility would require stripping and refinishing the fretboard, or even possibly replacing the fretboard altogether.

I had a similar disaster experience when I took a used Rickenbacker 12-string to a tech who came highly recommended, but who (apparently) did not know Rickenbackers. The action on the guitar was high, so he gave it a three-minute truss rod adjustment and sent me home with it. Within 24 hours the neck suffered total mayhem: no actual break, but high and low frets everywhere. Another tech, who had extensive experience with Ric 12's, told me the guitar would probably need a full refret.

It turned out that I was lucky, and a fret level did the job. However, I would urge anyone who has never set up a Rickenbacker before to first seek advice here or elsewhere, rather than assuming the guitar can simply be adjusted like a Fender or a Gibson. Also, I would beware of techs who are not Ric-savvy. Just to do a little math, maybe something like 7 or 8% of guitar players own Rickenbackers, so it stands to reason that very few techs know what they're doing when a Ric enters their shop. Unfortunately, some of us have learned this lesson the hard way.

A Rickenbacker truss rod does not adjust the neck, it simply holds the neck in whatever position you put it.

Horror stories like that are exactly why I learn to do this sort of stuff myself. It's not that technical, really..

Hi Collin !
I thought that holding the neck at the desired curve before tightening the nuts was only required for old models…
Am I wrong, or this technique always stands today ?
Anyway, even when I'm setting a Fender neck, I "help" it a little before screwing the trussrods nut.

This is quite interesting for me, because I just received last week my brand new 330JG, and the strings are slightly too high to my taste !

Andee, I hope you'll cure that problem very soon !

It's always good practice to hold/bend the neck to take stress away from the truss rod(s) when making adjustments (tightening), regardless of brand of style of truss rod(s). Loosening the rod(s) don't need this to be done, though.

Does dry winter weather effect it as well?