Rickenbacker 4003

[pablobrad]

Can NEVER get my bottom E string to 'ring' true like the other 3 strings. It gives a dull, dead sound. Any advice pls?

[JxBass]

What type/brand of strings are you using?

[pablobrad]

I've tried quite a few ranging from mid to high price but always the same thing

[pablobrad]

Ps: because I have the E string so high away from the pickup, that probably doesn't help either but I do angle the pickup to try to maintain it's effectiveness

[1stnamebassist]

Try tightening the truss rod closest to the E string about 1/4 turn. That may do the trick. remember the neck on the Ric should be as close to dead straight as you can get it also.

[Turlu]

Rics are common for the dead E string... I can attest to that personnally having owned one... I tried everything one could think of and still I declared forfeit, she just did not want to give me that punch !

[sneha1965]

You might check to make sure the string mute is not touching the string.

[NYCbassist]

I would try EQ settings. I like my EQ on the Bassy side and find in a live setting I get too much low end and Have to EQ for the High's. I use Stock strings. I would avoid having any string higher than the others to any extreme. It sounds like you need a Pro Setup on Your RIC.

[nightwulf]

Rick's are noted for having a "dead E"...you can help it out a bit with good eq....

[Srirachaglo]

I'm 99.9% sure that it has to do with your pickup and/or pole height:
Pole too close to E causes the string to get caught in the p'up's magnetic field and loses sustain and causes a warbly sound.
Poles too far away from string won't have enough output.
You have to find the sweet spot. I had a "distant" sounding E string that was cured by raising the E string pole higher than the rest (but not too high!). This also meant I had to lower some of the other poles too. Only new (200?-current) have adjustable pole pieces, so make sure this is a feature on your bass. This should fix the problem though. Also, you should read more into this at joeysbassnotes.com - he goes into better detail about p'up height and other common setup problems. Good luck!

[GIBrat51]

Originally Posted by nightwulf

Rick's are noted for having a "dead E"...you can help it out a bit with good eq....

Some do, and some don't. Neither of mine ('01 4003 & '73 4001) do - now. They both did have the Dead E Syndrome, after I got them off eBay and let them acclimate to Las Vegas for a couple of months. In both cases, loose screws were a contributing factor; especially the tailpiece screws. On the 4001, wonky bridge height screws and the mute touching the E string were the other causes. On the 4003, it was loose screws and pickup height adjustment; that came right after I had to redo them after putting the bridge p/u cover back on. I've also heard that the E string saddle can contribute to this.

Definitely refer to Joey's Bass Notes; lots of good stuff there. And, as for trying to raise the pole pieces; unless they have a hex wrench hole in them -Don't! The plain ones are not adjustable (unless you're very, very lucky). Generally, fixing this problem takes patience and lots of careful tweaking. Unfortunately, every once in a while, nothing seems to work; hope that's not the case for you!

[Floyd Eye]

Mine don't. You need to adjust the pickup(s).

[shameline]

Mine does it too!! (2012 4003).

Would replacing the bridge with a hipshot bridge helps?

I was wondering if maybe the stone holding the E string gets carved to deep, causing the E string to be muffled by vibrating into the stone...

Thanks!

[inthebassclef]

I recently replaced my bridge with the hipshot and it was a major improvement. All the strings have much more clarity and more sustain. Also the individual string height definitely made a difference.

[NYCbassist]

It's mostly about getting the Pole piece closer to the E string. You still need the action to be at an acceptable level. Then you can adjust the pickup height.