Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

it has been said that the bridge assembly on the 4001/4003 basses have an inherent problem of raising in the back due to on 2 porly positioned screws.

how true is this statement?

seems like they could have put a few extra screws in the ver back of the bridge but i dont see a problem with mine

featured in a different thread.

are you talking about the 5 screw vs 7 screw assembly?

pretty much any Ric built after 1972 has a chance of the bridge pulling up .... some Rics come with 2 extra screws from the factory and if not this is an easy mod if you have a screw driver and a drill ...

I just look at the the rear of the tailpiece pulling up as part of the "vintage aged" well played and broken in look. LOL

The early 80's 4003's had 7 screws, I have an 81 now with 7 and had an 84 with 7. I don't know when they discontinued them. When I had the 84 I thought it was a mod, it was one of the reasons I sold it.

my question is.... when the tailpiece lifts does it bend? would I need to straighten it back out...if so How?? or would adding the two screws do it??

I have 6 now and have owned many in my life, I have never had to to replace a bridge because of uplift, I think there is one person here who has.
Depends a lot on the tension of the strings you use, and they don't all do that either. I wouldn't worry about it. there is also as Jared mentioned a whole thread on this in one of the archives.

Actually the 4001/4003 tailpiece is best left alone. It looks as though it's lifting up, but it isn't, believe me. It is quite well designed and solid and it will not yield to string pressure.
There are a couple of myths surrounding Rickenbacker basses. The tailpiece pulling up is one of them. Some day I'll start a thread on this subject. Anyone caring to support me on that one? Hm?

I have owned 9 ric basses ... my 68 tailpiece is fine, the 74 I owned has a bad ***, the 73 I had was pulling up so I put a new 4003 tailpiece on it, my 87 4003s5 was pulling up badly so I added 2 screws, my 90 4003s5 was pulling up badly so I put a replacement 4003s5 tailpiece on it that had the 2 extra screw holes, my 86 2030 has a different bridge that won't pull up, my 93 4004 again has a different bridge that won't pull up, the 94 4003 that I had was pulling up a little so I added 2 extra screws, my 98 4003s5 came from the factory with the 2 extra screws ...

with all due respect ... it not is a myth ...



This is a tailpiece that I removed off of a 4003s5 ... I drilled 2 extra holes so when it is reinstalled it would have the 2 extra screws to hold it down flat ...

My 90 4003s5 pulled up more than 1/4" .. it curled to the point that the black finish began to crack and chip off and the tailpiece dug into the bass and caused the finish crack and chip up ...

In fact the ONLY Ric tailpiece that I have seen with zero pullup is my '68 4001

Oh I didn't mean it was a myth, I just meant it usually isn't a problem, many of mine have lifted a little, nothing more than a 1/16 of an inch though. I've never had one lift like yours did. My 72 is a three hole and hasn't lifted at all either. My 7 hole tailpieces didn't lift either. Maybe yours did that because of the extra tension from the fifth string.

interesting....

so part of the bridge that i see has other screws under it?

ok, i just looked at the parts list on the RIC site, it looks like there are 3 screws under the actual bridge and 2 in the tailpiece. i think that there should be 2 additional screws on there like for the 4003/8

My '73 is lifted up about 3mm. I have tried to push it back down, but no way is it moving. I don't see how adding those two screws will pull it back down in place.

My 4003 had a badly lifted one like Jeffs photo.

I started a huge thread here when i joined, and John Hall finally came in and said that it was often an issue and that heavy strings pull up the tailpiece on certain era basses. Also he said the modern tailpieces are of a stronger casting.

In the end i bought a new one, it looked perfectly straight/flat, but once on the bass was not totally - lifted about 2mm. Maybe due to the sanding of the body? Anyway i doubt this one will lift anymore.


So....thats all i have to say about that!

Jeffery ... pushing down won't fix it ... but the screws will ... trust me I've tried it ...

on most basses this is a comestic problem and not a functional problem ... on 5 and 8 string models the 2 extra screws are mandatory ...