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Rickenbacker help!!

Rich Treat

Rich Treat

Mar 29, 2010
564
97
#1
Hi, I have a friend who asked me to help him set up his Rickenbacker bass. I have a good amount of experience with doing set ups (adjusting the truss rod, setting the action, and setting the intonation) and don't need help there. The main problem that I need help with is the neck pick up.

It is a 4003 FL ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]) and the neck pick up has half of the output than the bridge pickup. After looking at the bass, it appears that the neck pup is quite far away from the strings (7 mm) where as the bridge pup is very close to the strings. It seems impossible to raise the neck pup because it is attached to the pickup guard, and one would have to cut the guard and screw the pup to the body instead in order to raise it with tubing and foam. Does anybody have experience with this bass who can offer advice on the neck pick up problem?

Thanks!
 
#2
Try lowering the bridge pup to match the neck pup volume.
I can't raise mine all the way (including the neck pup) without smacking the strings into the poles, but then I'm usually a pretty aggressive player.

I've owned Rick basses since 1986 and never had a problem with any of my Rick's pups except one: when I got my very used 4001 a few years ago the neck pup was shorted, so I had it rewound to 1970s specs.
 
#3
Remove the rubber grommets underneath the pickguard that cushion the pickup to the guard. This will buy you a little more height. I have also heard of people carefully removing some material from the underside of the guard to raise the pup higher. Myself, I wouldn't try it but it is an idea ;)
 
#4
Be very careful when tightening the neck pup adjustment screws, you can crack the guard fairly easily, especially after removing the rubbers.
The pickup cover is secured by a screw at each corner. The tension when over-tightening will crack the guard right at the adjustment screw hole.

If you look at a lot of ebay basses, many have these cracks.
 
#5
Some Rick basses have the neck pickup in a "canyon" those basses the neck pickup is too low, and it is hard to get the pickup high enough.

Remove the pickguard and unscrew the pickup remove the small rubber grommets. Then put the pickup back in and screw it up as far as it will go. This will raise the pickup about 1/8".

If that doesn't fix it then you have 2 options. 1 - You can put in a new 4003 high gain pickup with adjustable pole pieces. 2 - The pole on the existing pickup can be raised if the pickup is 1990 or later. The iron mushroom pole pieces can be moved with a pair of vice grips. You clamp on and pull up and twist. On the 1989 and older pickups this will damage the pickup. But on the newer ones you can adjust the pole height.
 
#6
Thanks for all of the feedback. I have done some adjusting to the bass and made a lot of improvement.

I saw the rubber grommets that everyone has mentioned, but decided to leave them. I'll tell the owner that if he wants to try it that way then he can take them out. The last person who did a set up on this bass had the strings WAY too high and didn't have enough relief in the neck. The strings were so high that you couldn't use the string dampeners. After getting a better set up for the action and truss rod, the sound was a lot better (plus you can now use the string dampeners). I also adjusted the bridge pick up and that helped as well.
 
#7
Because you mentioned neck relief, most Ric experts, including those who work at Ric, suggest setting the neck dead straight, absolutely flat, no relief. Don't know if this will help or not, but I always keep my Ric's set up this way, and have no problems.
 
#9
kcole4001 said:
Try lowering the bridge pup to match the neck pup volume.
Click to expand...

This is really the only way to do it. The bridge pickup sounds so much better farther away from the strings anyways. Up close like people like to set it, it sounds like a big angry fart.

The other thing to realize is that the neck pickup is hard to hear without good, hi-fi monitoring. A bass cab will not reproduce it even half as well as a full-range studio monitor or a good sound system. It has so much deep fundamental fatness it has similar problems to those basses with 5 strings, in my opinion. Don't believe me...? I can share some clips of a Ric neck pickup with you from my Myspace that, I think, show off how deep and fat it sounds when done right.
 
#10
kcole4001 said:
Try lowering the bridge pup to match the neck pup volume.
I can't raise mine all the way (including the neck pup) without smacking the strings into the poles, but then I'm usually a pretty aggressive player.

I've owned Rick basses since 1986 and never had a problem with any of my Rick's pups except one: when I got my very used 4001 a few years ago the neck pup was shorted, so I had it rewound to 1970s specs.
Click to expand...

Whoever had set up the bass before had also set the bridge pickup poles so close that the A and D strings would smack the poles, so I had to adjust that as well.
 
#11
Neck should be dead straight, no relief at all. Lower the bridge pup to match the neck, or remove the rubber grommets under the pickguard (you can use other materials for dampen, even a little foam around the screw posts works).
 
#12
Good information here. Wow. If the strings were hitting poles, I can see why it was putting out twice the punch of the neck. I ended up lowering my bridge pickup height from the factory setting on my new 4003. Now the volume doesn't jump when switching pickups. I also used the included wrench to lower the poles a full turn on both pickups for the A and D string. Factory setting was too hot IMO. Diggin' it! :bassist:
 
#13
RickenBoogie said:
most Ric experts, including those who work at Ric, suggest setting the neck dead straight, absolutely flat, no relief. Don't know if this will help or not, but I always keep my Ric's set up this way, and have no problems.
Click to expand...

In fact, the CEO of Ric feels quite strongly about this.

When I read his post on another forum, I went at my 4003 and set it straight (I was always not quite happy with it).

Made the other appropriate adjustments and BINGO - it's a dream to play now. Amazing.
 
#14
spiritbass said:
If the strings were hitting poles, I can see why it was putting out twice the punch of the neck.
Click to expand...

Yeah wow. Watch that, these pickups have very strong magnets, lower that bad boy! You will actually choke off the sustain and tone with them that close as the magnet will hinder the movement of the string.

I have felt the pull of the magnets while using a tuning fork, they are far stronger than my Jazz pickups.
 
#15
deliciouspesto said:
Neck should be dead straight, no relief at all. Lower the bridge pup to match the neck, or remove the rubber grommets under the pickguard (you can use other materials for dampen, even a little foam around the screw posts works).
Click to expand...

OK, a few people have mentioned that the neck needs to be straight. Why is the case for Rics? That is contrary to everything that I know about setting up a bass.
 
#16
Rich Treat said:
OK, a few people have mentioned that the neck needs to be straight. Why is the case for Rics? That is contrary to everything that I know about setting up a bass.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. That's what I thought too when I saw it mentioned a few times. Then I saw John Hall - CEO of Rickenbacker state the same thing in a forum, more than once.

I decided to give it a go, and presto. My Rick went from a decent playing bass that I goofed around on at home, to a bass that plays so well that I have been gigging it quite a bit lately (in two blues bands no less - I like to turn heads from time to time).
 
#17
Here is one of the quotes:

John Hall - CEO Rickenbacker said:
The starting point for our instruments is a dead flat neck. Most luthiers unfamiliar with our instruments will balk at that, because most other instruments need some "relief" since the adjustment is not capable of being done so fine or critical.

That would be the first thing I'd want to know for this instrument, as that would affect bridge height more than anything.
Click to expand...

The whole discussion is here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Setup
 
#18
62Jazzbass said:
Yeah, I know. That's what I thought too when I saw it mentioned a few times. Then I saw John Hall - CEO of Rickenbacker state the same thing in a forum, more than once.

I decided to give it a go, and presto. My Rick went from a decent playing bass that I goofed around on at home, to a bass that plays so well that I have been gigging it quite a bit lately (in two blues bands no less - I like to turn heads from time to time).
Click to expand...

It defies all the logic of Fender et al. They are designed to play flat...it's cool and once you dial it in, makes for a very easy bass to play. Keep in mind also, that the truss rods don't function like Fender.
2nd, if the bridge pickup was soooo close, it probably means also that the capacitor is still connected in the circuit which would make the back pickup "weaker" as well. That little .0047 makes a huge difference when you take it out or bypass it. I have seen a number of them with the back pickup hugging the strings because the owner was trying to get more 'uuumph' from it. With the right setup, most Ric pickup issues go away...there will still be someone fussing about it at some point but helps to do it right the first time....
 
#19
The first thing a Rick owner needs to do is realize that their bass IS a different design.
You shouldn't set up or EQ it as if it were a Fender.
It's not just hype.
Makes life a lot easier, I wish I knew this back in the mid 1990s when I got my 4001.
 

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