Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all,

I'm planning to do my first setup (just waiting for the hex socket wrench to arrive), and I've been reading the Rickenbacker maintenance article on Joey's Bass Notes. I think I understand most of the other stuff so far, but the part about keeping the bass in tune while adjusting the truss rod is a bit confusing.

For your information, I own a 4003 that was made around 2013 or a little later. Joey says that I should make sure the bass is in tune before I adjust the truss rod, and wait a day in between if I want to turn the truss rod more than 1/8th of a turn. I have two questions about this:

1. Why is it important to keep the bass in tune before adjusting the truss rod?
2. Adjusting the truss rod will probably put the bass out of tune. How long after adjusting the truss rod should I tune the bass again? After the 1-day wait, or immediately after the truss rod adjustment, and why?

Also, I have another unrelated question regarding the action (I don't want to make another thread and crowd the board). When the bridge is properly set up, should the strings be parallel to the fretboard? If yes, would this mean that there is one bridge height that is 'correct,' since we can't adjust the nut height, and so there is only one specific bridge height that allows the strings to be parallel to the fretboard?

Thanks in advance.

The strings need to be at the correct/desired tension on the neck in order to accurately adjust the truss rods. The TRs are counteracting the force of the strings' tension on the neck, if the strings were not tuned to pitch you can not set the TRS to where they need to be to provide the desired neck relief. Once you make an adjustment of the rods check that the strings are up to proper pitch.

The strings should not be parallel to the surface of the fingerboard for correct action set up. If this were the case, then the strings at the nut would be way to high and cause various problems, and the strings would be rattling against the frets such that the bass would be unplayable, unless the strings are so high off the fingerboard that the bass would be very difficult, if not impossible, to play without fret rattle. There needs to be a slight amount of relief in the fingerboard to account for the arc a string makes when plucked, without hitting the frets. Ideally, the height of the strings at the nut would be set so that the space between the top of the first fret and the underside of the strings are the same as the space at the second fret when you hold the strings down at the first fret, and so on up the fingerboard (although there will probably some variation in the real world).

As an aside, Joey's 1/8 turn per day rule may seem conservative, but 1/8 turn can result in a significant change in relief. It also takes time for the adjustment to settle in, and a little recklessness with the rods can easily result in overshoot and, in extreme cases, truss rod or even neck damage.