Rick 4003 Setup
 

Just got back from a trip to my luthier... after 2 hours setting up my RICK 4003, it plays like butter....

Had to adjust the neck (truss rods), set the intonation for flat wounds and set the action at about 1/64th.....

Wonderful, it is like a new BASS.

Jim

PS - he told me that when I brought it in that it is almost unplayable in the shape it was in.

2 hours to do the setup? Seems like a lot of time to spend on the procedure. Normally takes less than 30 minutes.

thio, well we put the pickup cover back on, had trouble with one of the bridge adjustments on the HIPSHOT, the screw wasn't long enough for the intonation, the replacement longer screw was too long, we had to cut the screw to size since the screw by itself was too long to set the intonation in the right place (I went from roundwounds to flat wound and the only string that didn't need adjustment was the E string). We had to file the nut down on the E and G strings.

So all in, 2 hours, probably took an extra 30 minutes for my questions as he worked.

Jim

Congrats. The 4003 sets up like any other bass, so it is easy enough to learn to do this yourself. Joey's Bass Notes details the procedure very well.

If you stick with the same strings, and if/when you replace them, you do it one by one, your 4003 should stay put indefinetly. Worth the effort, congrats.

Floyd,

But my luthier had all these cool straight edges to set the neck truss rods... we put a slight upward bow in the neck so when the strings went to tension, the neck would be straight....

I know I could probably do this myself but the truss rod adjustment frightens me... and Richenboogie, I agree, if I keep using the same strings, I shouldn't have to have this setup for a real long time.

It sounds so good with flat wounds!

Jim