Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

One says adjust with strings in tune, one says slack, unless I am misunderstanding.

So which is right?

You should always adjust the rods tuned to pitch as Joey says. I'm gonna take a quick look at Paul's book but I really don't think that he said that the strings should have no tension as you adjust the rods...

Yeah, I don't think I said anything about slack.

bassduke49 wrote:Yeah, I don't think I said anything about slack.

You didn't...

As for the OP...adjust the truss rods when your bass is tuned to pitch...it's even in the manual: http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/manual.pdf

Boyer vs. Joey Trod adjustment philosophy: which is correct?

I was hoping this was a thread about seeing them in the ring, together.

Oh BTW, who is Joey Trod?

jps wrote:

Boyer vs. Joey Trod adjustment philosophy: which is correct?

Oh BTW, who is Joey Trod?

Joey's evil twin!

Oops...my bad.

I re-read and may have found where I got confused.
Boyer recommends manually moving the neck and then tightening the trussrods on both the olde and new rod systems.
I may have assumed that means detuning to do that.
My bad.

I guess the moderator can just remove the thread. Sorry for any trouble.

lumgimfong wrote:I guess the moderator can just remove the thread. Sorry for any trouble.

No worries...just trying to help!

lumgimfong wrote:on both the olde and new rod systems.

Really? Paul? I thought the manual "hold, then lock" method was only for the old ones. New ones, I've always just popped the cover, given 'em a 1/4 turn, and been all set.

Sure. But you could do it by manually forcing the neck and tightening to nuts. Either way with the modern truss rods. But only one way with the old hairpin rods.

jdogric12 wrote:

lumgimfong wrote:on both the olde and new rod systems.

Really? Paul? I thought the manual "hold, then lock" method was only for the old ones. New ones, I've always just popped the cover, given 'em a 1/4 turn, and been all set.

On any instrument that has a compression style truss rod it is a good idea, when tightening the truss rod, to pull back on the neck to relieve the rod from having to do all the work while tightening them. Only on instruments that have a double acting rod do I not do this as their design precludes any stress on the end of the neck where the rod is anchored.

Yes, the current type of truss rods in Rickenbacker instruments are easily removable compared to the usual type of compression rod (Fender, Gibson, et al), but they still have the star washer and hardware at the heel end biting into the wood.

I wasn't even aware that there WAS an adjustment philosophy I just did the 4001's one way, and 4003's the other!