Ric's Position On Their Bridges??

[1stnamebassist]

As long as you don't palm mute the stock bridge is fine. Takes a couple minutes longer to intonate than a stock Fender type bent bridge. Once you set it forget it, it isn't going to unintonate itself unless you make major string gauge changes. Same with the neck. Once you find your favorite strings, set the bass to them and it will stay that way for years. I'm a bit old school with making changes on my basses. If it ain't broke don't fix it! I have never done a bridge change on any bass and I've been playing since 1973.

 

[BAG]

Looks like a fake Ric to me

I agree. But my question still stands...... how could anything like this happen?

 

[1stnamebassist]

I agree. But my question still stands...... how could anything like this happen?

By buying a cheap knockoff with a poor quality bridge! Its probably a cheap powdered metal bridge. Even the saddles look like they have a poorly done chrome plate.

 

[Ric5]

The Rickenbacker tailpiece bridge assembly is one of the worst designs on a bass guitar

 

[Dluxe]

 

[Mosstone]

You mean lifting of the bridge like this...... oooops. How could anything like this happen??

Heh.. I've seen that pic before. I don't know why anyone would let that happen.

 

[Michael Eisenman]

...POS metal was used to make that tailpiece which only superficially looks like a RIC tailpiece.

Sure makes palm-muting easier, though.

 

[pbass2]

Not anywhere near the majority.

Yeah, I don't own one currently(learned to play on a 70's 4001 and played that bass for over a decade w no issues) but I do know quite a few folks with 'em, all stock. Never even seen one in the wild without the stock bridge!

 

[Ric5]

 

[stacker]

.

I'm hoping that a rep from Ric may see this post and offer to comment.

Thanks,

You have a greater chance of flying to the moon under your own steam than the above happening on here.

 

[electracoyote]

I agree. But my question still stands...... how could anything like this happen?

My question is, how gullible do you have to be to think this is common or anything but the ultra-rare anomaly that it actually is?

 

[BAG]

The Rickenbacker tailpiece bridge assembly is one of the worst designs on a bass guitar

View attachment 938716

View attachment 938718

Definitely, a fake. Lots of obvious signs to indicate such.

Your question was answered above, but to amplify on it, POS metal was used to make that tailpiece which only superficially looks like a RIC tailpiece.

Fair enough, and I did assume when I posted it that it was not a legitimate Ric and posted it as a bit of a laugh as it was so bad and I couldn't believe that any reputable bass manufacturer could design something so bad.

I've only heard about, and previous to now have never seen, a bridge lift like what has been described about Ric tailpieces and assumed it was only a minor thing..... like less than a millimeter.

I have to ask though, are any of those in @Ric5 post above legitimate Ric's? If so, what is the excuse there??

 

[stacker]

You mean lifting of the bridge like this...... oooops. How could anything like this happen??

That isn't a Rick: it's an Ibanez 2388B, I'd wager. The pickup is the giveaway.

 

[electracoyote]

I have to ask though, are any of those in @Ric5 post above legitimate Ric's? If so, what is the excuse there??

If I posted five pictures of two-headed snakes, would you think the majority of snakes in the world have two heads?

I'm sure some of those pics Ric5 posted are legitimate Ric tail pieces. Especially the black ones; something about the old powder coating process weakened the metal a bit.

Still, the truth is extreme lift is very rare over the decades. Most of the tail lift looks like the first pic Ric5 posted, a tiny fraction of an inch, and then it stops and stabilizes. A purely aesthetic issue, if even that.

 

[JMacBass65]

View attachment 938768

Brilliant. Was going to post the same thing, but decided to go play my bass instead.

You know, I was thinking just the other day "it's been a while without a Rick post turned poopie storm here on Talkbass. What's up w/ that?"

Glad that streak ended.

 

[Paul Boyer]

Some clarifications if I may. As mentioned earlier in the thread, RIC has modified the TAILPIECE design a few times to make it more resistant to "lift."

Nearly all of the photos that I have seen of GENUINE Rick tails that have folded so much that they've lifted the strings off the bridge have been the black powder-coated ones, and usually on the five- or eight-string models which, by their nature, have more string tension. About the time when these came out, the company countered the folding by adding two screws to the face of the bottom of the tailpiece to make a total of SEVEN screws (not five). The original cast-aluminum design had only three screws that were hidden underneath the bridge. When they changed to cast zinc, they needed two more screws which are visible just in front of the openings where the stings exit from the tail. This is still the case with today's tailpiece. "Lifting" to the point described above with the current tailpiece is unknown to me. Yes, they appear to "lift" a bit off the body at the far end of the tailpiece, but that may be more due to the body not being "level" or "square" at the end. There is one exception: When they came out with the 4001C64, they tried going back to the three-screw design and I believe there have been several cases of the tail lifting unacceptably. The three-screw/five-screw appearance is strictly a minor point, but I guess they were trying too hard to keep the vintage look.

 

[stacker]

If I posted five pictures of two-headed snakes, would you think the majority of snakes in the world have two heads?

I'm sure some of those pics Ric5 posted are legitimate Ric tail pieces. Especially the black ones; something about the old powder coating process weakened the metal a bit.

Still, the truth is extreme lift is very rare over the decades. Most of the tail lift looks like the first pic Ric5 posted, a tiny fraction of an inch, and then it stops and stabilizes. A purely aesthetic issue, if even that.

Out of the 8 Rick basses I've owned, most exhibited the amount pictured above. Two didn't: a '73 Fireglo with a bridge that sat flush and a 4001CS that had around 7mm of lift and that's why I flogged it.

 

[electracoyote]

Out of the 8 Rick basses I've owned, most exhibited the amount pictured above. Two didn't: a '73 Fireglo with a bridge that sat flush and a 4001CS that had around 7mm of lift and that's why I flogged it.

Right. The one I had with lift went about that far and stabilized. It stayed in tune for long periods of time for a couple of years. I'm kind of kicking myself for switching it out for a Hipshot, which really offered nothing.

 

[BAG]

My question is, how gullible do you have to be to think this is common or anything but the ultra-rare anomaly that it actually is?

If I posted five pictures of two-headed snakes, would you think the majority of snakes in the world have two heads?

What makes you think that I thought that this was common??

If this, and any other of the other reported well known issues (finish problems and crooked pickup installation for example) that are written about on this site by Ric owners were too common, they wouldn't still be selling them quicker than they can make them.

The fact is though, that i've read more threads about QC issues in regards to Rics than any other bass on the planet. Part of this may be that their owners expect more from a $2000 bass and are picky, but part of it is also that you should expect to have no issues in a $2000 bass. Part of it may be that when a rare issue strikes it's a crap fight to get it fixed by the Ric factory without jumping through hoops and paying for shipping yourself prompting the owner to start a thread here. Maybe we don't hear about it from other manufacturers basses so much as they fix problems without drama. I can't say for sure.

 

[BAG]

Heh.. I've seen that pic before. I don't know why anyone would let that happen.

I agree. Surely when it started you'd loosen the strings and do something about it. In saying that, once metal starts to bend it usually gets even weaker and will keep bending with even less force applied.