Rickenbacker Truss Rods

[Gregory Hites]

Hey folks,

 

Just had a Rick Bass in the shop with both of the (double) truss rods not working.  I took the nuts off and could actually pull them a little as if they weren't anchored.  I was assuming they were both broken and that to fix/replace them, the fingerboard had to come off. The customer took it back as is (not wanting to pay for an expensive repair).

In the mean time I see from Rickenbackers site that it may be possible to replace them?  Are the anchor-nuts accessible below the pickguard?  I currently don't have it in the shop, but the customer is planning on bringing it back next week for me to do some more investigative troubleshooting.  Anybody have some insight they'd like to share?

 

Thanks,

Greg

[Alexander López]

Hehe, yet another RIcky bass with bent truss rods... they are as common as the Gibson with a broken headstock.

Rickenbackers have a shitty twin trussrod design that cannot withstand high tension strings. Fortunately, they can be removed without ungluing the fretboard.

First, remove the pickguard. Right there, under the fretboard, you'll see two small holes. Once you extract both truss rod's nuts & shims, you can tap each truss rod out by inserting a tool in the exposed holes north of the neck pickup.

Take a look at these examples of Rickenbacker 4001 repairs and you'll understand it quickly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8903114@N07/sets/72157608359193882/wit...

This dude was kind enough to post a video of the procedure:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8903114@N07/5569164144/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8903114@N07/with/5569170016/#photo_556...

Have fun!

[michael mcclain]

i've never had to do one of these. thanks for the information. just hope i can pull it back out of the memory banks should the occasion arise! 

[Paul Verticchio]

Greg,

Although the linked tutorial doesn't address the double truss system, it may be useful, especially the "fix" they developed to keep the repair work, well....repaired (:

http://www.chicagofretworks.com/2013/02/20/1960-rickenbacker-360-tr...

Best of luck.  :-)

[Gary Fried]

I've had many Rick's come through my shop and almost all of the older ones had this issue. Honestly it is a pain to correct. On top of the inadequate truss rod design there usually isn't much room in the cavity to get a wrench in there. If you fix the rods or replace them be sure to clamp the neck in position. Don't expect the rods to be able to move the neck into position.

[Gregory Hites]

Thanks for the info gentlemen.  The customer decided not to spent the money to fix it.

 

Greg