tvickey

We're taking pre-orders for vinyl here (vendor is now making the master disks for our LP, with delivery of the records expected by end of June): https://shredshc.bandcamp.com/album/step-back

Today is April 15th, so our album has been released on Bandcamp. You can listen for free, so be sure to check it out! https://shredshc.bandcamp.com/album/step-back

And the CDs have already come back from pressing. These look amazing!

My band 'Shreds.' are playing at the Star & Garter in Manchester with 80's hardcore legends NEGATIVE APPROACH on May 28th. The guitarist in my band is a huge NA fan, so this is basically a bucketlist gig for him (my bucketlist gig is our show with the Subhumans in Lincoln at the end of April). Anyway, this is pretty awesome especially considering the recent death of the licensee at the S&G, and the fact that my band has real difficulty playing anything other than weekend shows. We knew it was a bucketlist gig for our guitarist, and everyone went out of their way to help fulfill his wishes. Hurry up and get your tickets though! I heard that more than 50% of the tickets have already been sold!

Our studio work has finished, and the tracks are finally ready! My band Shreds. (punk / hardcore) is releasing our debut album on April 15th. You can pre-order it (digital download and vinyl) on Bandcamp here: https://shredshc.bandcamp.com/album/step-back

Early or late 70s Ric?

All excellent comments! I did apply some graphite, but that was not sufficient enough to prevent the glue break. I became convinced that a small bit of glue is needed between the nut and the edge of the fretboard (and when the nut first broke off, there was evidence that Ric had put a bit of glue there too). The nut on the Ric is very tall and narrow. Anyway, it's holding now and the bass that we recorded for the album sounds massive.

This is certainly true on my Warwicks, but has not been my experience at all with this recent Rickenbacker 4003. When the nut breaks loose, the string tension tends to pull it away from the fretboard (you can see what I mean in the photo).

Update: The CA glue that I used the second time around held... This time I did put some glue both on the nut bottom and on the side that faces the fretboard. Perhaps that was the key... I took the bass into the studio this morning with strings added, but not fully tensioned. We made sure to track guitar first today in order to give the glue as long as possible to cure. By the early afternoon it was time for bass and I tensioned the strings up... and I managed to record the bass tracks in the studio without any problem. Those were the last tracks for the album. Yay, all done!

I have to confess that the A and D string gauge difference bit me the first time that I had the nut pop off. So, it is very likely my fault and I probably precipitated this following that mistake... However, I widened the grooves prior to gluing the nut back on that first time. The nut stayed on just fine, until the next time that I changed strings (same gauge). As I wrote, I've used CA glue again but this time putting it on the bottom as well as the fretboard-facing side of the nut. I put strings back on this morning, but have not fully tensioned them into tune... I'm trying to buy as many hours of cure time as possible before hitting the studio this morning. Fingers crossed that the stays in place! The entire point of going back into the studio this morning was to re-record bass on a few tracks specifically for the Ric sound... the studio time was booked months ago. Argh! My GAS is saying, "You know what this means? We have to buy another Ric... you know, to have on-hand as a back up." 🤣

I'd pay myself just for the opportunity to play with some of the headliners at the shows that we've got lined up this year... but don't tell the promoter that!

Okay, I have a complaint about the 2023 4003 Rickenbackers (and maybe earlier versions too): The nut keeps popping off! This happens basically every time that I change the strings. Is this a known issue? Has anyone else encountered this? The first time it popped off, I noticed some glue residue on the SIDE of the nut that faces the fretboard, in addition to the bottom of the nut that face the neck. However, when I re-glued it I only used a small amount of CA glue on the BOTTOM of the nut. That seemed to work well, or so I thought. The next time I went to change the strings the nut popped off again! I've glued many a nut on my Warwicks (e.g., replacing plastic tedur with brass) and as far as I can recall I only had one pop off. This evening I glued the nut back on the Ric but now with CA glue on both the BOTTOM and the SIDE. Hopefully that does it... I also used slightly larger dabs of CA. I'm supposed to hit the studio tomorrow with the bass(!). Argh!

Yeah, my son plays guitar (but not with us). He's nearly 16 years old and is looking to form his first band... all he needs now is the ever-elusive drummer.