Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So I come back home from work and I feel like playing on my 370...
I'm playing a solo and as I do a bend on my 1E I noticed that the sound would instantly cut if I raised my string to a certain point...

Now I figured out what it was... My poles on the high-gains are not centered with the strings for my trebble pickup, so when I would bend it would touch the top... Now the top of my poles are kinda scratched up a bit, doesn't bother me much but if you would look closely its not as appealing, but I don't care... What I want is to be able to play it again.
So I'm trying to figure out what changed, I doubt the pickup raised itself magicly overnight... or that saddles lowered themselves overnight...
Seems like it could be in need of a truss-rod adjusment.

Here's the deal, I bought it from a guy in Arizona last spring, so over there they were getting 90F temperatures while we were having -20C in New-Brunswick...
So the set-up must of changed with the climate, but I let it be since it worked fine for me.
Now we are getting 35C with the humidity so its like back to what it was over there...
Should I just wait to see if the neck adjusts itself into place or do I bring it in to adjust the truss rods? It's the old system since it's a 79 and I don't feel comfortable with doing it... Although I've done it a few times on normal rods...

There's no Ric dealers for another 1000km's so would just a normal guitar shop know how to work with it?

Sorry for the long unrelated bits, hehe.

Patrick, the humidity in Fredericton and Moncton has be a killer lately. This is at the root of your difficulty.

You have a couple of options. Leave it in an air conditioned environment for a few days and you will not a change for the better. Anything you do now to the neck, will likely need an opposite tweaking in the fall and winter when things dry out again. Or, make an adjustment to the instrument either by slightly raising the bridge or more likely adjusting the truss rods. I would favour the improved climate intervention first, but should it not settle down take it to a luthier who knows Rickenbackers. Steele's music in Moncton used to be a dealer.

Random thoughts:
- Why don't you just screw the pickup down more? Fret at the last fret, and measure the distance between the pole pieces and the strings. A good starting position is 1/8". Use the pickup mounting screws to adjust up or down according to taste and within physical limitations.
- If the top of the poles are already scratched, it would seem to indicate that this isn't a new occurrence.
- I wouldn't suspect that the truss rod has anything to do with this. Why don't you check the relief in the neck to verify?
- Nut relief, neck relief (truss rod adjustment), action (bridge height), and pickup height all affect the setup. Why don't you check them all independently? See this.

I feel so stupid...
I checked the bridge and it was all messed up, still I don't know how it got like that!

Anyways I fixed it, I also lowered the pickup a bit just so it doesn't get in the way at all...

Where's Steele's? Is that Moncton Music Center?

Do you ever visit Moncton?... With a Rickenbacker? Hehehe