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The Rickenbacker Club Part Eight

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#101
GG7,

So how does she sound and feel?? Is she as good sounding as you had hoped?? Paint damage aside, was it worth it?

I own a RIC one off 4004 in Trans Yellow with an ebony fret board. I had an RRF member make me up a VVT harness for it with a 1960 Ajax cap in the circuit and push pull pots for coil tapping. The 4004 is another beast altogether. The Humbucking pups are powerful.

Nothing beats the sound and playability of my 4002. Sweetest bass I ever played. When they are good, Rickenbacker basses knock it out of the park, every time.

Sepp
 
#103
Jaymi,

Blackstar #17 rocks!! But you already know that!! The guys in the band don't know what it is but they often ask, "When are you bringing the BLACK one to practice?" I've been on a jag with bringing my Shadow to practice. That one is no slouch in the tone department!! Pound for pound, my Shadow hangs with the best of the them.

Sepp
 
#105
GG7, did you make MF aware the third bass came and was cracked? If so, what was their response?

It is great RIC is giving you a full warranty and also going to refinish it for you. Stand up response.

I agree with you about the bubinga. I have a 2004 (old style partial inlays poured-in-place) with a fretboard that is just drop-dead gorgeous. Put a couple coats of Zymol blue wax on it and it looks 3D with shining honey highlights in it.
 
#107
Kopfjaeger said:
GG7,

So how does she sound and feel?? Is she as good sounding as you had hoped?? Paint damage aside, was it worth it?

Sepp
Click to expand...

Hey Sepp!

Definitely worth it in terms of the price I got it for. Could have done without all the hassle, but in the end , yes!

I can't tell you how it sounds yet because the neck has a serious under bow (Relief) in it at pitch and my 1/4 nut driver isn't coming anywhere close to fitting over these little truss rod nuts. The action right now is Dobro height! lol! I would say this neck needs at least 3/4 turn on the truss rods to straighten it out and make it flat without any relief. Thats still the way a Rick neck is supposed to be right? Flat? No bow in either direction?

Anyway... The bass is unplayed at the moment until I can get the rods to fight more against the string tension. The clearance between the nuts and the headstock is really thin. This driver I have has too big an edge around the base, and won't fit over the nut. It bangs into the base of the headstock under the two truss rod nuts.

Any suggestions on a nut driver brand that will fit on these? Would need to be a super thin walled nut driver tool, and not the kind I use around here. Can't say I have ever seen a nut driver that would be that thin to fit over the nut and not be too thick. They don't use an open wrench for these do they?

Have they planned it this way to force you to buy that $30.00 wrench they sell?
 
#108
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#109
2nd Wind said:
Yes, neck can be made flat or slight bow. Lowest action is with the neck flat and the bridge low. You might also need the nut slots cut a tad deeper to get low action - the factory leaves them higher than many like.

Nut driver - same one RIC sells:
http://www.amazon.com/Xcelite-Hollo...TF8&qid=1364526925&sr=8-1&keywords=xcelite+L8
Click to expand...

Beautiful! Thanks a million! I figured there had to be a tool out there somewhere that would work, otherwise how could anyone adjust these? If I had a bench grinder I could file down one of my old drivers, but this would be much easier.

Thanks again!

Now I just have to wait for the driver to get here before I will be able to play this thing. The action is much too high right now to be playable. The relief is pretty dramatic with the strings up to pitch, so I have loosened the strings back down until I can tighten those rods. It just doesn't look like it would be good for the neck to leave it at tension with what looks to be little or no truss rod tension on the neck at all at the moment.
 
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#110
2nd Wind said:
GG7, did you make MF aware the third bass came and was cracked? If so, what was their response?

It is great RIC is giving you a full warranty and also going to refinish it for you. Stand up response.

I agree with you about the bubinga. I have a 2004 (old style partial inlays poured-in-place) with a fretboard that is just drop-dead gorgeous. Put a couple coats of Zymol blue wax on it and it looks 3D with shining honey highlights in it.
Click to expand...

Thanks man!

My MF contact was VERY upset when I called him and reported the cracks. He made me such a good deal though that I still decided to keep it, and this one doesn't look nearly as bad as the second one did. I like the board on this one better than the last one too, so I'm fine with this conclusion.

It is nice to have MY bass finally! Now I just have to get the neck adjusted and whatnot so I can give it a spin. Wish that RIC made these more playable out of the box than this, or at the very least INCLUDED the dang wrench so I could adjust the neck!

Oh well... Amazon says the wrnch will be here sometime next week, so in the mean time, I just stuck it on a guitar stand and will admire it from afar! :D

JLY said:
Gg7. Congrats that it is all working out for you!
Click to expand...

Thanks JLY!

Not exactly the end result I was hoping for. It would have been better if this one didn't need to be sent to Rickenbacker, but between the huge discount on the price and another 100 bucks of store credit thrown in on top of that. I really feel like I came out on top in this deal!

MF may have their problems sometimes, but I really haven't seen a merchant make this huge an effort to please a customer in a very long time! They will continue to get my business, but not when it comes to Rickenbacker guitars! lol!
 
#112
I got this little guy on Amazon for like $7. Amazon is sold out, but it's made by Grover. ImageUploadedByTalkBass1364529217.048873.jpg PotR also sells it, but charges too much for shipping. This is the one they tell you not to buy (afraid of overzealous dummies over-torquing the truss), but I love it. The built-in Phillips head is great for on the fly pickup and intonation tweaks. I recommend it.
 
#116
GG7,

Yes, IMHO, Rickenbackers play best with near flat necks. Teh tool the RIC suggests was still way to thick walled to work on 90% of my basses. I ended up having to turn down the tool on a makeshift grinding rig, AKA belt sander while I turned the tool. Now it works perfectly.

Sepp
 
#117
I played a Ric 4003 at a store the other day, and part of me still wants to give one a go despite these problems that keep occurring.

What issues would you guys look for on a 2012/2013 new Ric? I'm in the UK so not as easy to swap it out without a wait.

What other things need to be done if I get one? I realise I should probably take the pickup cover off (watched guidance on this).

Cheers
 
#119
I bought a little Kobalt 1/4" nut driver from lowes. it fits just enough to get a good grip on the nuts. fortunately with dual rods, a little goes a long way so you may be pleasantly surprised with how much action you get from 1 or two quarter turn adjustments. I made sure to allow a day between tweaks. now it's virtually flat. it has the lowest action of any of my basses, but does buzz a little on the open d and g strings. I think I'm gonna need to have the nut shimmed or get a new nut if the buzz is audible with the full band.
 
#120
Kopfjaeger said:
GG7,

Yes, IMHO, Rickenbackers play best with near flat necks. Teh tool the RIC suggests was still way to thick walled to work on 90% of my basses. I ended up having to turn down the tool on a makeshift grinding rig, AKA belt sander while I turned the tool. Now it works perfectly.

Sepp
Click to expand...

Hrrrrm.

I bought a nut driver pack at Lowe's - the house brand of tools that has the blue packaging. . . forget the name. It works perfectly.

I think they're called Cobalt?
 
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