Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Mark,
I own a 1980 4001 and have been using Roto-Sound
Swing 66 for as long as I can remember(probably 15 years). I didn't realize until the advent of the internet & all of the discussion forums that these were not good for the 4001 neck. Although my bass plays great all the way up the neck,and the intonation is perfect, when and why are fret jobs performed ? Are they a part of normal maintenance ? Is it to late to try Pyramid Flats ?
Thanks ,
Pete

RUBBISH!

Use Rotosound strings ..why not? Chris Squire did /does...what about Geddy Lee?
They wear frets out just as fast on Fenders,Alembics ,Tobias,Roscoe,MTD ,etc.

Now ,when do you have this done ....?

There are some players that I refret every two to three years,They play 5 nights a week and are hard on their instruments.

Some people never need fretting done ...they don't play enough.

How do I judge that you might need a refret?
When 1/3 of the height of the wire is worn into ...that is a sure sign.

I generally do not like the narrow fret wire .I prefer larger stock .
For basses I use Dunlop 6110 or Dimarzio's wire-DMZ1600U.Both are not too large yet wear very well and can be dressed and recrowned many times .

The Rick wire is about .085 wide and .042 tall when brand new ... if 1/3 of the wire is worn away or the wear marks are over half the width of the wire ...you need new frets.

With really worn frets intonation is never perfect.

Thanks Mark ,
I play an average of twice a week(giging)but have been rotating my 4003/5 (which I use RIC strings) and my 4001.I'm really not that rough on the guitar, so I'm glad to hear that the frets are OK. (less than 1/3 worn)In your opinion, would it be OK to check out some Pyramid flats on the 4001 ?

If you are showing signs of any fret wear ,get them dressed and recrowned.This will maintain your intonation/scale length and actually make the frets last longer .When the strings have a definate place to go to ,they start sawing away .

Better to dress the frets and remove the marks before you end up with a notch.

Check out any kind of string .I don't know of any really bad bass strings.If there are Black Diamond Bass strings (I hope not ) that would be the only ones to stay away from.

Try some La Bella strings too,anything.

I am with Mark: Try La Bella, especially if you want to put flat-wounds on your instrument. They are sweet, and VERY smooth. Outstanding on Hofner basses.

Thanks Lefty & Mark ,

I'll give it a shot and report back.

Pete