NBD! Ricky 4005V

[jmjbassplayer]

@Bass4ThePublic I feel you on all that. I'm afraid what you're describing is exactly what I'm experiencing.

I have a Rascal HH. Great little bass. A surprisingly thick bridge pickup sound.

 

[jmjbassplayer]

UPDATE (potentially very boring to all except die-hards):

Had the bass gone over by my tech, and also talked at length with Brendan who takes care of customer service at Ric - super cool guy and a real head. Here's the findings:

- The truss rod and neck are fine. It's the frets/fingerboard. Some of the crowning (or lack thereof) is inconsistent and it needs a heavy dress or potentially a re-planing and re-fret. More specifically, some of the frets have a square-ish profile like Ric's often have, and others are rounded like a traditional fret dressing would do. So it needs a big overhaul and a finer touch. This is Brendan's take as well as my tech's.
- Saddles possibly need to be swapped out so the A & D have a more radius-conforming profile. Those are the buzzy-est strings by far.
- The base of the nut doesn't actually conform to the angle of the headstock, and therefore doesn't properly support the strings over the slots or make full contact with the surface of the headstock...this is probably why what glue was previously there just snapped off. Only the front edge of the nut nearest the end of the fingerboard is really touching. Both these guys say a new nut is in order, obviously.
- Because my experience with other modern Ric's has revealed that things can be inconsistent, I'd rather have this one dialed than go on an interminable search for another one with "less issues".

So all this leads me to opt for Ric warranty repairs rather than a return/hunt for another one scenario. Hopefully this path will be the right one. Anyway, just thought I'd share all this minutia for the purposes of science and nerdy-ness.

 

[Wood and Wire]

UPDATE (potentially very boring to all except die-hards):

Had the bass gone over by my tech, and also talked at length with Brendan who takes care of customer service at Ric - super cool guy and a real head. Here's the findings:

- The truss rod and neck are fine. It's the frets/fingerboard. Some of the crowning (or lack thereof) is inconsistent and it needs a heavy dress or potentially a re-planing and re-fret. More specifically, some of the frets have a square-ish profile like Ric's often have, and others are rounded like a traditional fret dressing would do. So it needs a big overhaul and a finer touch. This is Brendan's take as well as my tech's.
- Saddles possibly need to be swapped out so the A & D have a more radius-conforming profile. Those are the buzzy-est strings by far.
- The base of the nut doesn't actually conform to the angle of the headstock, and therefore doesn't properly support the strings over the slots or make full contact with the surface of the headstock...this is probably why what glue was previously there just snapped off. Only the front edge of the nut nearest the end of the fingerboard is really touching. Both these guys say a new nut is in order, obviously.
- Because my experience with other modern Ric's has revealed that things can be inconsistent, I'd rather have this one dialed than go on an interminable search for another one with "less issues".

So all this leads me to opt for Ric warranty repairs rather than a return/hunt for another one scenario. I sure hope that I'm not being crazy. Anyway, just thought I'd share all this minutia for the purposes of science and nerdy-ness.

I mean, to be fair, Rickenbacker haven't made the 4005 for decades, and lost the original tooling / plans, so they're a bit out of practice...

 

[jmjbassplayer]

I mean, to be fair, Rickenbacker haven't made the 4005 for decades, and lost the original tooling / plans, so they're a bit out of practice...

Haha...true...but these are model-agnostic, fundamental, assembly/QC issues, so...

 

[nixdad]

UPDATE (potentially very boring to all except die-hards):

Had the bass gone over by my tech, and also talked at length with Brendan who takes care of customer service at Ric - super cool guy and a real head. Here's the findings:

- The truss rod and neck are fine. It's the frets/fingerboard. Some of the crowning (or lack thereof) is inconsistent and it needs a heavy dress or potentially a re-planing and re-fret. More specifically, some of the frets have a square-ish profile like Ric's often have, and others are rounded like a traditional fret dressing would do. So it needs a big overhaul and a finer touch. This is Brendan's take as well as my tech's.
- Saddles possibly need to be swapped out so the A & D have a more radius-conforming profile. Those are the buzzy-est strings by far.
- The base of the nut doesn't actually conform to the angle of the headstock, and therefore doesn't properly support the strings over the slots or make full contact with the surface of the headstock...this is probably why what glue was previously there just snapped off. Only the front edge of the nut nearest the end of the fingerboard is really touching. Both these guys say a new nut is in order, obviously.
- Because my experience with other modern Ric's has revealed that things can be inconsistent, I'd rather have this one dialed than go on an interminable search for another one with "less issues".

So all this leads me to opt for Ric warranty repairs rather than a return/hunt for another one scenario. I sure hope that I'm not being crazy. Anyway, just thought I'd share all this minutia for the purposes of science and nerdy-ness.

Justin -
Good to hear that this is being addressed in the best way possible. Yep, Brendan is a good guy, and it's great that Ric is being accountable and have agreed to rectify what fell short on your bass. I'm also happy to hear that you're willing to see this through so they can get this right.

Rickenbacker is truly doing some amazing work, and Ben and Team have made some terrific improvements over the past few years. Hopefully, they'll look at your experience and realize they can do better on fit and finish and final setup.

I look forward to hearing your update and that you're totally blown away with your Wide Bodied Tone Machine like most of the rest of us knuckleheads.

Please keep us posted.

Chris

 

[jmjbassplayer]

@nixdad thank you. Yeah, I'm also one of those romantics who feel that I need to act as a "steward" of the instruments that come into my possession, and if/when they ever leave my hands, they go on to the next player in better shape than they were when I first got them. And I have a lot of instruments (60-70)...all of which I feel that way about.

 

[nixdad]

@nixdad thank you. Yeah, I'm also one of those romantics who feel that I need to act as a "steward" of the instruments that come into my possession, and if/when they ever leave my hands, they go on to the next player in better shape than they were when I first got them. And I have a lot of instruments (60-70)...all of which I feel that way about.

What a wonderful attitude, Justin.
However, I can't say I'm surprised with the way you carry yourself. The world would be a better place if everyone had your outlook.

 

[Wood and Wire]

Haha...true...but these are model-agnostic, fundamental, assembly/QC issues, so...

Yeah, I was being sarcastic - I'm baffled as to how so many fundamentals, which have been acknowledged by Brendan, got past QC in the first place.

There was no need for you to have this experience, or for them to court bad publicity / reduced customer confidence.

QC should have picked up all of these things, and remedied them before signing off.

Anyway, glad you're sanguine about the whole affair, and that Rickenbacker are taking care of it.

 

[Wood and Wire]

they go on to the next player in better shape than they were when I first got them.

I think that a given with this particular bass.






QC!

 

[Jeff Scott]

View attachment 7144152

Love the "logo"! Can you make one with a WB body in Jetglo?

 

[Gilmourisgod]

- The truss rod and neck are fine. It's the frets/fingerboard. Some of the crowning (or lack thereof) is inconsistent and it needs a heavy dress or potentially a re-planing and re-fret. More specifically, some of the frets have a square-ish profile like Ric's often have, and others are rounded like a traditional fret dressing would do. So it needs a big overhaul and a finer touch. This is Brendan's take as well as my tech's.
- Saddles possibly need to be swapped out so the A & D have a more radius-conforming profile. Those are the buzzy-est strings by far.
- The base of the nut doesn't actually conform to the angle of the headstock, and therefore doesn't properly support the strings over the slots or make full contact with the surface of the headstock...this is probably why what glue was previously there just snapped off. Only the front edge of the nut nearest the end of the fingerboard is really touching. Both these guys say a new nut is in order, obviously.
- Because my experience with other modern Ric's has revealed that things can be inconsistent, I'd rather have this one dialed than go on an interminable search for another one with "less issues".

The 'square" fret tops are a result of the neck laquer. They spray the neck AFTER the frets go in, so you get little "ramp" meniscus of laquer climbing up the fret sides. They just scrape the laquer off the tops of the frets in the act of leveling them. They seem a little rough and unpolished from what I've seen on some new ones. If they did a real hemispherical fret crowning and polish job, they'd cut into the laquer "ramps", so they just leave them flat. In theory, this makes the hairline edge of contact for the strings on crowned frets into a kind of "schmear", but it's not something the average player can hear. You could probably quantify it with something like a Peterson strobe tuner. The long-term problem with this approach is that the laquer tends to separate from the frets at the "ramps", as the wood board and metal frets expand/contact differentially, resulting in the whitish lines you see either side of the frets on a lot of older Rics. It takes a while for this to happen, long past the warranty, of course. I think that was why they tried unlaquered necks for a few years, but most people prefer the shiny board. The "right" way to do this would be laquering the neck first, letting it fully cure, level sand and polish the laquer, and then to cut the fret slots, but that would add a lot of time and complexity to the assembly line. Does anyone know how Fender does it on their maple necks? Haven't seen the same laquer separation on Fenders.

 

[nixdad]

Love the "logo"! Can you make one with a WB body in Jetglo?

Jeff -
I'm glad you liked the logo!