4001 setup...... myths?

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

I took my beloved new_to_me '74 4001 in for a setup and service a few days ago. My techie of choice is a highly regarded luthier who's been building guitars, basses and mandolins for over half a century. I knew from previous discussions that he'd never worked on a 4001 so given the horror stories about working the truss rod I decided to print out the respected advice from joeysbassnotes.com and leave it with him.

When I picked it up he was chuckling about a couple of things he read. Firstly that the Ric neck should be set flat. In his words: The thing still has to obey the laws of physics- a certain amount of relief should stay (we set it to about 0.4mm).
But he LOVED the bit about the fretboard popping off- he thought that was over the top. So does anyone know of this actually happening?

[HeavyDuty]

Fretboard - yep, I've seen the results. Search for "4001 fretboard separation" and you'll probably find info.

[fenderhutz]

Not myth, not a laughing matter. Find a new "techie".

[lawsonman]

Your tech knows nothing about Ric's it seems.

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

How about the relief thing? Do you guys set em up dead straight? or with a slight (0.4mm in my case) relief?

[Atoz]

Yes... set the neck pretty much dead flat.

With the 4001 the fretboard can pop off if you don't "help" the neck into position before tightening the truss rod nuts. This issue has been fixed with the 4003, but I still treat mine like a 4001 out of habit.

[darth-bass]

Caution!!!!

This luthier is now on the official you dont know what you are doing with Rickenbacker bass's watch list.


Remove your bass from this persons care immediatly! Read that joeybassnoteswebpage throughly yourself and set that neck dead straight yourself or go to another luthier who does have experience working with ricky's. Those duel truss rods seperate the men from the boys and most "techs" are lost when it comes to properly setting up a ricky.

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

He was not lost at all- my '74 is sitting next to me with a set of beautifully levelled frets. He just disagreed that the fretboard should be dead flat.

And he couldn't see the truss rods exerting enough pressure on the board to "pop" it. He thought it would be more likely to destroy the threads or the nuts.

[darth-bass]

aaahhhh, I thought that "beautifully leveled frets" was not the issue. Any tech worth the moniker of "tech" can do that. -I thought you were trying to ascertain if a ric's neck should be dead straight or have some relief. Your Ricks got some relief cause your tech told you "all basses should" because "they have to obey the laws of physics". XXXXX! wrong answer! One of the major issues with setting up those older 4001's is how that relief is acheived. How was that relief achieved I ask you? Do you know? Was the neck/fretboard physically moved into the proper position? Or was it done soley through tweaking the truss rods? (dual truss rods are not something tech's see everyday-some have never seen it all!) Everyone who has responded on this thread suggests that you proceed with caution when handing your new ric over to this particular tech for set-up.

[Vin_MM_Sabre_79]

He says its quite common for him to set guitars up this way. ie: setting the neck in pos'n before tightening trusses. He even had a jig for it. And no he's no stranger to the dual truss rods either.

We didn't know that the frets needed levelling until he took all pressure off the neck and checked it in the morning.

[Metal Mitch]

Originally Posted by Vin_MM_Sabre_79

I decided to print out the respected advice from joeysbassnotes.com and leave it with him.

When I picked it up he was chuckling about a couple of things he read. Firstly that the Ric neck should be set flat. In his words: The thing still has to obey the laws of physics- a certain amount of relief should stay (we set it to about 0.4mm).

Your tech is right. The "dead flat" thing is 100% MYTH. Joey has some good setup tips but he doesn't explain HOW a Ric manages to defy the laws of physics. Short answer - it doesn't.

First, what is "dead flat", and how can you measure it? When I asked John Hall about relief of .010, he said that was "close enough" to dead flat, and I was quibbling over a few thousands of an inch. Ok...

Clearly, this guy has never measured relief with a feeler gauge and doesn't know how close his definition of "dead flat" comes to standard Fender spec.

Second, I've seen a shim under the fretboard on several Rics. This slightly raises the first two frets so they are playable with less relief. Interesting how Joey (and every other "Ric specialist") neglects to mention this fact. Flatten your neck and enjoy your fret buzz on frets 3 thru 8.

Third, I have several basses including Fender, Ibanez, and Dean that play great with as little, or in some cases, even less relief than a Ric.

Unlike most manufacturers, Ric does a very good job of leveling their frets at the factory. So that may be where some of the myth is generated. The bottom line is, ANY neck can be made to play well *as long as the frets are level*. And if you use the Gary Willis setup method, you'll get the same relief on a Ric as on any other bass with level frets.