I just bought a new 360/12C63, minted in June of this year. I absolutely love the thing. However, I'm a natural worrier, and had a bad experience with a Gibson Flying V that came from the factory with a bad neck angle. It eventually required a neck reset to be comfortably playable. Since then I've over-scrutinized every guitar I've bought, to make sure there's plenty of room to adjust the bridge lower.

Anyway, my new Rickenbacker (my first one) plays great, with an action of 5/64ths bass side, and 3/64's treble. The bridge has 2mm on either side of adjustment left. Neck has slight relief on bass side, almost straight on treble side. The neck-angle has a slight upward pitch, but nothing extreme.

With the new design, how stable are these things over time? Will it begin to fold in on itself at five years and one day from its birth? I emailed customer service, asking them if this is within spec for a new guitar, but haven't heard back yet.

My instinct is just to forget about it and enjoy the incredible sound. At least for the next five years. What do experienced Rickenbacker owners/repairers think?

Absolutely stable. Quit worrying and enjoy the guitar.

Thanks iiipopes. I have managed to chill out over the neck thing and the guitar is just amazing.

However, I'm still intrigued about this issue in general. My understanding is that the body and neck structures of these guitars are built with CNC machines. The neck tenon is quite long, and these designs are old, with plenty of time to work out the tolerances, and such. So why is it that there is such variation in the neck angles on various guitars of the same model?

I base the above on many lost minutes of playing time surfing for photos of Rickenbackers. It seems that the bridge heights vary greatly. What could account for this degree of variation?

Just curious.

Travis

Personal playing preferences can't be a part of that, for sure.

Yes, I'm sure folks wanting higher and lower action could be a part of it. But on an electric 12-string, I assume there's a reasonable "highest setting," beyond which the guitar becomes very difficult to play and the intonation starts going dodgy.

Mine is set up for 5/64ths bass, and just over 3/64ths treble. The bridge is down about as low as it will go, without the bottoms of the cover screws hitting the bridge plate. On-line I've seen them all the way from about where mine is, to sitting so high that it looks like there is almost a half-inch from base of the bridge to the bridge plate.

I don't think playing preference accounts for the wide range of bridge heights. But who knows . . . Perhaps only Mr. Hall.

"So why is it that there is such variation in the neck angles on various guitars of the same model?"

Because they're made of wood.

Even when milled on a CNC machine wood parts can shift slightly in dimension - a few degrees either way in temperature or percentage points of humidity can cause very slight changes. And some major "cuts" such as neck "roughs" maybe done months before the parts are actually used.

A very slight dimensional change can result in a more significant change in the angle of fit in some cases. And although parts may be milled on a CNC machine final fitting is done by hand, with "feel" adjustments by the assembler. This is why you'll see different bridge heights (from the guitar top) yet identical action.

It's also why some guitars "feel" better to certain players, or sound slightly different. It'd part of the whole "mojo" of playing wood guitars.

If parts were made of steel...or concrete... they'd all be the same!

Don't worry about it.