Rickenbacker 4001 '77 tuner replacement?

[gregouille23]

Hey there,

I posted an NBD thread about my lovely 77 Rick a while back (the one in my avatar). Love this thing: play phenomenal, sounds brilliant and versatile (yes yes a Rick with flats can be very versatile ), and it sits in the mix like no other bass I own...

Now the issue is that I woke up the next 2 times after band practice with a lovely case of neck pain/soreness with limited mobility for a few days that I can only attribute to playing this lovely Rick for 3-4 hours standing... In my NBD thread I already mentioned this Rick had some slight neck dive. I like my bass to stay at a nice 45 degree angle and this Rick does not want to comply... I use a wide strap but feel the weight on my left shoulder and in turn it causes the neck strain I think...

The bass is quite light (around 4,2 kg) and I ve had heavier basses... so it is just a case of not so ideal balance I think with a light body and heavy headstock.

Now... should I try to change the tuners? If so, are there any lightweight tuners which would be a direct replacement? Does anyone have any idea if Rick tuners from that era are notorious for weighing like a dead horse? On another bass I would just check myself but this bass is so noce I don't even want to do that out of fear of breaking something

Cheers

 

[GIBrat51]

Well...
Those tuners look like the Schaller BM-4 tuners that are made for Rickenbacker; no "Schaller" on them, and the tuner posts are a smaller diameter than the regular BM-4s. Swapping them out will be fairly easy - as long as you can match the tuner bushing's outer diameter to the ones you have now. My '01 4003 has those tuners; my '73 4001 still has it's original "Wavy Grovers"; which are much smaller than those. I don't have neck dive problems with mine; but, I play pretty much all my basses - except the T-Bird - with the neck only elevated maybe 10 degrees. They're happy there - and so am I... I think that taking your tuner swap question to the Rickenbacker Owner's Club here, would get you the answers you're looking for. I'm happy with my Ricks just as they are, but I'm sure more than one member there has done what you want to do...

 

[Bloomfield]

Those do look like smaller posts than the standard Schallers. Gotoh GB528 might be a good fit, although the plates are a different shape with two screws. They also have screw-down bushings like a sealed tuner, but are open-gear themselves. They need about a 16mm hole in the headstock. Very nice light tuners though. There is a dimensioned diagram here JAPARTS : Gotoh Bass Tuners - GB528