Hi,
Just bought a 1971 – 4001 rick for 1000,- euro.
It’s in perfect condition and I’m really happy with it.

I do have a question that someone might be able to help me with.
I play down tuned metal.
What I want to is tune the strings and the rick like this: B E A D.

Down tuning the bass makes the string to loose like spaghetti. So that doesn’t work.

Using thicker string (from 5 string pack) doesn’t fit the nut.
So the string keeping popping out if they fit at all.

I can replace the nut however I can’t find any that will fit standard.

I can also try to make the nut opening bigger. But I don’t really know how.

Any advice anyone???
THANKS ! ! ! !

Yep. Take a nut file, which are available here,

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Files ... Files.html


and carefully widen the slots. You probably won't have any trouble with the neck, but almost certainly it will have to be adjusted via the truss rods. For information on how to do that, go here.

http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/Rick%20maint.htm#tra


Just watch the tailpiece. They have a tendency to "Lift" though it is highly debatable whether or not that actually affects anything other than appearance. There are about a million threads on "Tail lift" here. I suggest reading some of them.



Good luck.

I don't know why bigger strings tuned down would cause lift. As long as you don't exceed ~45 lbs tension per string (very little chance of this tuning BEAD) I don't know why it would happen.

verry helpfull ! ! ! !

Thanks guys...

Get a set of strings for a 5 string bass with a 125, 128, or 135 B then string your bass BEAD and hold the G string in the package as a spare.

Remember BEAD puts less tension on your neck than EADG does. In other words the low B puts less stress on the neck than the G string does. This is counter-intutive because the B is so fat it looks like it would put a lot of stress on the neck. I strung an old 73 4001 BEAD and it buzzed like crazy until I raised the action. So I re-strung in EADG. If I was going to keep it BEAD then I would have had to re-adjust the truss rods.

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You are right ...

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Reckon I didn't think of that.

The reason is flexibility, and therefore tone. If a low B string were actually made to have a similar tension as a G or D string, it would be about 140 diameter, which would thump really badly, instead of the 125 or 130 which is pretty standard.

Is it absolutely necessary to go all the way down to B? That's a lot of floppiness and not much tone down there. Grind, yes, but not necessarily tone.

Oh yeah! Gotta get down to that lowest freq. that's actually discernible... ;-)

Gotta agree - they call the instrument a "bass" and not a "tenor" after all...

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