Rickenbacker 4003 Bridge Saddles

[Norris]

Last night I looked at a mate's 4003 for him. The bridge appeared to be slightly skewed and the E & A strings are very close to the bits that stick up between the strings over the mute bar (do they have a name?).

So anyway I fetched the bridge off just to check the state of the woodwork underneath. All looked ok - 5 neat screw holes and no mashing. The screws are quite heavily countersunk, so I can't really see any way the bridge could be in any other alignment than how it left the factory.

Having re-fitted the bridge I then set about sorting the intonation. And that's when it hit me. The bridge looks skewed because the saddles are not cut in the centre. The strings sit slightly to one side of centre and so are quite close to the sticky-uppy bits (whatever they are called!). Having looked at my own 4003 the strings are also off centre on the saddles, but not to the extent of my mate's bass. His A string only has about 1/16" clearance from the "sticky-uppy bit" [size=2][sup](TM)[/sup][/size].

So if there are any 4003 owners out there, could you take a quick look and see if your saddles are cut centrally? Is this a common issue? Does anybody have saddles that are actually cut centrally (and that didn't buy a new set & have them cut "properly")?

(BTW, I've already found out that a replacement saddle is $5 from Rickenbacker excl. shipping)

[spongebob]

I've had a good few 4003/4001's and often the saddles are not cut centrally!

There's a lot of examples of the strings then sitting well off the pickup poles.

This is one of the reasons that I changed a few parts on my Ric - what the factory produce could be far improved upon IMHO. Previous Rics I've lived with how things were - but I decided that I just want the one bass, play it to bits, and make it my personal Ric. Now it sounds, plays, and feels better than any other one I've ever had!

[iiipopes]

Instead of looking at the bridge, look at the fingerboard. The saddles are notched for even string spacing and to have the proper inboard location from the edge of the fingerboard. I would not touch the bridge saddle notches.

[PigBass]

Does this help? It all looks quite central to me. Sorry if this is a real stoopid question but is your mate's bridge (the part with the saddles on it) fitted the right way around? Adjustment screws face the rear of the tail piece. I am not even sure that you can fit it back to front but might be worth checking.

[Norris]

The strings are fairly well aligned and no chance of wandering off the fretboard even with a bit of 'centering'. The bridge is the right way round. The A string especially is close to the sticky-uppy bit. Dunno if I can post a pic from my mobile

[Norris]

Hope this works...

[NancyJohnson]

I'm a recent Ric owner...the strings on mine sit pretty much dead centre of the mute cavities (as PigBass's photo). Do the strings align over the pickup pole pieces?
P

[TheSiberian]

If you buy new saddles from Rickenbacker they are not cut.
Instead of cutting them by yourself it is much wiser to let a pro do that.
Like this all will be aligned and checked.
Many of the bridge's problems come from an amateur kind of work.
Best

Edited September 29, 2014 by TheSiberian

[Norris]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1411902130' post='2563645']
Do the strings align over the pickup pole pieces?
[/quote]
Near enough. The saddle cut only seems to be about 1/16" off centre, but that's enough to make the string sit uncomfortably close to the "sticky-uppy" thing.

[quote name='TheSiberian' timestamp='1411971095' post='2564331']
Many of the bridge's problems come from an amateur kind of work.
[/quote]
The saddles are as they left the Ric factory as far as I know.

The strings don't actually catch on the sticky-uppy thing, but it's only a good "dig-in" away from it. I'm going to give the bass back to it's owner and let him decide if he wants to do anything further. I really just wondered if it's a common "factory" issue. Thanks for the replies.

[geofio]

Your E and A saddles are far too forward for correct intonation on a ric , the saddles also look squint have you checked underneath to see what is going on!!! the most important thing is to get the strings lining up with the poles on the pickups, or the bass will not sound right. i have attached a pic of my 3 Rickenbacker's, if you look the saddles are in the most part in the same position.

Edited October 1, 2014 by geofio

[Norris]

[quote name='geofio' timestamp='1412137387' post='2565982']
Your E and A saddles are far too forward for correct intonation on a ric , the saddles also look squint have you checked underneath to see what is going on!!! the most important thing is to get the strings lining up with the poles on the pickups, or the bass will not sound right. i have attached a pic of my 3 Rickenbacker's, if you look the saddles are in the most part in the same position.
[/quote]
Thanks for replying. If anything the A string bridge needs to move more towards the neck to get the intonation correct, but that would involve reversing the bridge piece. Having measured nut - 12th fret, the nut - bridge (height adjuster grub screws) is slightly more than double I.e. it's as if the bridge is very slightly too far away. The bridge hasn't been moved as I checked underneath - no extra holes or mashing.

My main issue though is that the saddles seem to have been notched off centre in the factory

[PigBass]

[color=#222222]Hello Norris, I just measured the saddles on my bass to see if they are centre cut, the D and G are pretty much bang on, the E and A are about 1 mm off. So not much in it. As far as I remember, the last time I took my bridge off, I noticed that the saddles had a fair amount of movement left and right simply because the slot they move in is wider than required. Slackening the adjuster screw initially moved the saddle to the left before winding back. Yours may just need a bit of lubrication to get them free.[/color][color=#222222] [/color]
[color=#222222]As far as intonation is concerned generally the G saddle (measured to the break edge where the string passes over) is pretty much the same distance from the 12[sup]th[/sup] fret as the nut is from the 12[sup]th[/sup] fret (it’s not exactly correct as it should be that distance + the string diameter, but the G string is small enough not to be significant for an initial guide). However each subsequent saddle break edge is set further back from the 12[sup]th[/sup] fret by the string diameter. Check the Intonation article on this rather informative website: [url="http://www.fender.com/en-GB/support/articles/bass-guitar-setup-guide/"][color=#0563C1]http://www.fender.com/en-GB/support/articles/bass-guitar-setup-guide/[/color][/url] So each successive saddle (moving from G to E) should sit further away from the nut, but yours do not.[/color] I really hope this helps.

Edited October 2, 2014 by PigBass

[Musky]

Of the three Ricks I've had, two of them had second slots in the saddles. The third needed them. I've seen plenty of older models with extra slots cut, although I've not really looked at any new Ricks for a good ten years so I've no idea whether this is something that still happens.