Hello everyone I'm new to this forum. I have a couple questions about my 4003 model and I hope I can get some help here.

My fourth string seems to have much little sustain and lass treble punch than my other strings; besides, when I slide to higher positions, my bass would go out of tone...

Does it mean that I need to replace my strings or should I have my baby readjusted? Thanks for responding!

First of all, welcome!
When you say the you lose tone and treble punch, what do you mean? Less volume? Less attack? If so, 1st change your strings. I'm a Rotosound Swing Bass (stainless steel) string player. I get a whole lot of treble punch out off all the strings.

Second, check the height of the pickups. Is the pickup farther away from the 4th string than the 1st? Even out the pickups. If you like attack, adjust the pickups as high as you can without getting that nasty clank from the strings smacking the pickup studs.

Third, check the foam mute in the bridge. Is is touching the string when you are moving up the fret board? That could be the problem also. Check out all 3 and let me know what you find.

I'm sure that you will also get great ideas from some of the other guys here. These are the only ideas I can come up with, unless you have a minor neck adjustment issue.

do you mean out of tune? do you need to adjust the intonation of the bridge?

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Sweata,

Rickenbacker2112 has covered it all very nicely, but I have just one question - by out of tone, do you mean that the higher frets give less treble than the same notes played further toward the nut? If so - this is just a normal phenomenon - as you go up the neck, you lose overtones (treble tone)as the effective string length is shortened. A simple example is that D played on the tenth fret of the E string is a lot less treble-laden than the same D played on the open string.

If you mean that you are out of tune up high on the neck, but in tune on the open strings, you will need to check intonatation - first checking that the neck is as straight (or relieved ) as you want (and adjusting it if it isn't right) and then adjusting the saddles at the bridge. Check out www.joeysbassnotes.com for a great guide to set-up.

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As I get older, my music gets softer and my shirts get louder....

I have the same problem!
I got my brand new ric 4003 just yesterday, but i just loose a lot of power on the g-string. It's kinda hard to explain (I'm Norwegian), but the bass is kinda growling beautifully, but the volume gets lowered and no twang when i play on the g- and e-string. It sucks, cause the sound on the a- and d-string is just perfect... I've tried to lower and heighten the pickups, but it won't help. Do I have to get new strings? They are brand new.. :S But maybe they got bad after staying on the bass in the store for too long..?

Sweata and Grey, read the post by John Hall in this thread. It's the 8th one down on the page:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/forum_view_ ... 0wimpy%20E

Follow his advice and you should have plenty of power great tone from your strings.

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Throw that piece of firewood where it belongs and get yourself a Rickenbacker!

Rickenbrother, I was unable to get to this link. I get an error message.Has anyone else made it? Maybe I can run a search by date or phrase? I would like to read what JH says. Thanks.

I got to the link OK. Be sure you have the whole bit of text copied correctly.

I had some loss of punch on my E string. Adjusting the PU height and making a minor neck adjustment fixed the problem.

Good Luck. You should have no trouble getting it straightened out. Don't panic!

OK, I got to the link. I didn't Know that you can "raise the pole-pieces" other than adjusting the screws on the PU as he stated earlier. How?

bassmedic, individual adjustment of the polepieces is a feature that is available on pickups of RIC instruments that were made in the past several months. The newer pickups adjust with a hex key.

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Throw that piece of firewood where it belongs and get yourself a Rickenbacker!