Calling Light

[Clive Hugh]

Light,
I got in today a Rickenbacker Bass, mid 70's manufacture. It has a double truss rod and with this model you don't use the rod to take out the bow (weird) it warns you that if you do you will pop the fretboard off.
What you do instead is clamp it and carefully press out the bow, then nip up the nuts to keep it in place.
The nut appears to have locking nut on top of it (a good idea).
Now the problem, can you direct me to a supplier in the USA who can supply the correct socket for this. I have tried all my small sockets and they have too much wall thickness to fit in the gap between the recess in the headstock and the nut and don't want to remove wood, I have thought of machining it but don't have the time as we had a horrific accident at work last week, one of our guys was burned to death and 2 are still critical another was released from hospital on Friday, I am organising a benefit concert/auction/appealathon of my own inititive, and have been given as much time as I need to do it by my supervisor, so I don't have time to machine, the concert is in 3 weeks, I can get a part out from the USA in 8 -10 days and the guy is my bass player.
Anyone you can recommend who ships internationally would be appreciated.
PS using Rickenbacker would only involve their Aus. agent and would take forever.
Clive

 

[Light]

Well, first of all, don't worry about popping the fingerboard off. It is not going to happen. Truss rods adjust neck bow. That is what they do, that is what they are for.

As for the tool for the job, ours is one we got from Rickenbacker, so I am afraid that I can not help you there. Sorry. You might check with Allparts or WD, but I think it is unlikely they will have it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Clive Hugh]

Light,
I fully realize that is what truss rods do, however, if you go to the Rickenbacker website it states that on guitars and basses manufactured before September 1984 that this can occur, after that they altered the rods.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that the owner had been to the website and downloaded the info and printed it off I would have proceeded to adjust in the normal way.
Even old buggers can get caught out.
I will ring Rickenbacker tomorrow and see if there is some way to speed the process up.
Clive

 

[ausrock]

Clive,

I'm guessing here as I don't know what size socket or what clearances there are in the bass but would it be possible to grind a socket sufficiently on a bench grinder to get it to fit? It is way quicker than trying to machine them down to size............I recently inherited my late father's workshop (he was a retired engineer) and I hate to think how many sockets there are that have been ground down to fit in tight places over the years.

Alternatively, contact Rickenbacker direct ASAP and see what they can do to help and of course it's a long shot, but Ric's Aust., distributor may carry this item as a supplementary part.

 

[Light]

Light,
I fully realize that is what truss rods do, however, if you go to the Rickenbacker website it states that on guitars and basses manufactured before September 1984 that this can occur, after that they altered the rods.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that the owner had been to the website and downloaded the info and printed it off I would have proceeded to adjust in the normal way.
Even old buggers can get caught out.
I will ring Rickenbacker tomorrow and see if there is some way to speed the process up.
Clive

Well, we have been treating them as normal truss rods for 30 years without problem. And we have seen a fairly high number of those instruments.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi