Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I've had an '83 4001 for about 6 months now and I absolutely love it, couldn't be happier. My only concern is that it's got the wavy Grovers, they are functioning just fine currently although one looks slightly tampered with.
I've read all of the exploding nightmare stories and I've decided if they do eventually blow, repairing or sourcing another vintage set is way out of my skill level, budget, and patience thresh hold.
Are there any tuners easily available that fit in without any extra routing? Do the other 4001 open backed tuners fit in? If no to all this then what's the closest fit with minimal damage?
Thank you Rick hive mind!

The Kluson tuners with black ferrules should fit just the post holes fine, although you will need to drill new screw holes into the headstock.

I have December '72 and April '73 4001 basses with original wavy Grovers and no problems. Yes, they can fail, but I get the sense that the rather extreme nature of the failure brings this issue to the fore more than its frequency of occurrence would dictate.

FretlessOnly wrote:I have December '72 and April '73 4001 basses with original wavy Grovers and no problems. Yes, they can fail, but I get the sense that the rather extreme nature of the failure brings this issue to the fore more than its frequency of occurrence would dictate.

...and when there is a failure, the fix is rather simple, for those mechanically inclined. If not, there are folks out there that can do the remedy, easily.

Besides that, it appears your are working okay, so you shouldn't, unnecessarily, worry about it until it really does become an issue.

jps wrote:

FretlessOnly wrote:I have December '72 and April '73 4001 basses with original wavy Grovers and no problems. Yes, they can fail, but I get the sense that the rather extreme nature of the failure brings this issue to the fore more than its frequency of occurrence would dictate.

...and when there is a failure, the fix is rather simple, for those mechanically inclined. If not, there are folks out there that can do the remedy, easily.

Besides that, it appears your are working okay, so you shouldn't, unnecessarily, worry about it until it really does become an issue.

I've actually lucked into bumping into someone I know who is a welder (and thus mechanically inclined) who has offered to fix them for me, but prior to that had drawn a blank in the UK, hence why I had been planning to send them across the pond to Larry. My most recent set - those that failed - have been swaged within an inch of their lives so are going to need the invasive screw treatment. It's a job I originally couldn't find anyone, anywhere nearby to take on.

Also, having had the first fail, I've realised that if one goes prior to a gig or, heaven forbid, in the middle of one, if you haven't got a spare bass (or a spare working tuner to hand) you really are screwed. I don't tend to take a spare bass to gigs and I can only count my blessings that it's not happened at a gig. As a result I've checked my other basses and 2 of the tuners on my main bass are ready to go, so I'm hopefully going to get my friend to do all of the tuners on all my basses. Failing that, I may bite the bullet and get a drill press (I've bought everything else required) and attempt them myself, although though having no metalworking experience at all I'm a little reluctant to take that path.

Yeah, I too, wouldn't try my hand at drilling/tapping the screw holes, as the walls are pretty thin (to us neophytes, anyway). Surely, the fine folks at the Jaguar factory could help you with this, right?

sfuentes wrote:The Kluson tuners with black ferrules should fit just the post holes fine, although you will need to drill new screw holes into the headstock.

Kluson tuners are not direct replacements for Grover tuners. In fact part of the A tuner will hang over the edge of the headstock, and be exposed from the front.

aceonbass wrote: Kluson tuners are not direct replacements for Grover tuners. In fact part of the A tuner will hang over the edge of the headstock, and be exposed from the front.

Nope.

What year is that bass? I've seen attempts made to put Klusons on early 70's 4001's, but Grovers were slso used on early 80's 4001/3's, which may have had a different layout.

Depending on the year, the A tuning key was up high on the headstock, closer to the cresting wave, or lower down, in line with the D tuning key, so that is probably the difference.

jps wrote:Yeah, I too, wouldn't try my hand at drilling/tapping the screw holes, as the walls are pretty thin (to us neophytes, anyway). Surely, the fine folks at the Jaguar factory could help you with this, right?

I'll get them to fix 'em while they're polishing my D-type.

Yeah, the (tiny) size of the task is a worry, to the inexperienced.

jps wrote:Depending on the year, the A tuning key was up high on the headstock, closer to the cresting wave, or lower down, in line with the D tuning key, so that is probably the difference.

I briefly had a '73 that someone had fitted Klusons to and there was definitely overhang, although I can't remember which tuner.

henry5 wrote:I'll get them to fix 'em while they're polishing my D-type.

Hmm, now I have to wonder about you.

You seemed more the XK120 type.

jps wrote:

henry5 wrote:I'll get them to fix 'em while they're polishing my D-type.

Hmm, now I have to wonder about you.

You seemed more the XK120 type.

Funny you should say that. just got mine out of storage: