Ordered from Long & McQuades January 2020 with expected 12 month wait. Four months later this arrives. Sporting the newly redesigned bridge. I’m smitten. Marc
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Considering a Rickenbacker 4003
- Thread starter selowitch
- Start date
Ordered from Long & McQuades January 2020 with expected 12 month wait. Four months later this arrives. Sporting the newly redesigned bridge. I’m smitten. Marc
I recently got a 4003 after wanting one for 20+ years. I love everything about it except that the stock bridge doesn't allow for palm muting. Other than that I think its "issues" are overblown, and a small price to pay for one of the coolest basses ever made.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
I find Ric’s to be a collectors item Basses imo. Played one of them, nice tone but I don’t like the flaw designs behind it. Sounds too much work than a standard bass.
Considering a Rickenbacker 4003
(Disclaimer: I love the iconic look, and lots of guys get that 'Ric' sound out of them, but I'm NOT one of them)
Their quirks are well known, any of which would kill the deal for me. The world has moved on since the mid 50's, and to me these are 'new' vintage guitars, even more amazing as all the quirks are available in a brand new instrument. Here on these pages, Rickenbacker's customer service is roundly skewered time after time, but there seems to be a market for them, no doubt aided by them smartly limiting production. Evidently, even they've given up on that pot-metal, unadjustable by mortals bridge, so who knows, maybe the pickups by Marconi will go away sooner or later, and they'll put titanium or carbon fiber in a single truss-rod neck. Stranger things have happened . . . .
Nothing to see here, keep walking, please.
(Disclaimer: I love the iconic look, and lots of guys get that 'Ric' sound out of them, but I'm NOT one of them)
Their quirks are well known, any of which would kill the deal for me. The world has moved on since the mid 50's, and to me these are 'new' vintage guitars, even more amazing as all the quirks are available in a brand new instrument. Here on these pages, Rickenbacker's customer service is roundly skewered time after time, but there seems to be a market for them, no doubt aided by them smartly limiting production. Evidently, even they've given up on that pot-metal, unadjustable by mortals bridge, so who knows, maybe the pickups by Marconi will go away sooner or later, and they'll put titanium or carbon fiber in a single truss-rod neck. Stranger things have happened . . . .
Nothing to see here, keep walking, please.
Like the Danelectro bass, it has that sound!! Hey its a Rick. Not a great bass, for a lot of reasons already said but the look and tone... makes it special. Played a 4001 for years, but still a Fender snob .
You are lucky man. I ordered a Fireglo 4003 from Long & McQuade in October and I am still waiting for it.
You could probably get a brand new one from Wildwood guitars for not much more than that, and the new ones will come with new redesigned bridge that is a breeze to intonate, adjust string height, and adjust spacing
I’ve owned a couple 4003s and wanted so desperately to love them. They look and sound great, and I even loved the necks on mine, but the bridge, ergonomics, buzz, and overall construction just killed it for me.
I remember doing recordings with one Ric and couldn’t get over how buzzy it sounded. I eventually grabbed my P bass. To my shock and surprise, I was able to get a very similar tone to my Ric but with no buzz. I returned the Ric the next day.
I remember doing recordings with one Ric and couldn’t get over how buzzy it sounded. I eventually grabbed my P bass. To my shock and surprise, I was able to get a very similar tone to my Ric but with no buzz. I returned the Ric the next day.
I’ve owned two newer Ric 4003 basses, and they were both excellent and very stable once setup. The bridge is a PIA, but again once it’s set, leave it alone and you’re golden. There are a few shops on the web where you can find them new for about $1600– even though you will see used ones selling for more (just another strange aspect of the brand).
Newer versions have slightly wider necks than most other brands, but the thickness front to back is quite shallow (the whole “baseball bat” thing is nonsense, unless you have the hands of a princess and have never personally held a baseball bat...).
The body is rather small and overall weight tends to be on the lighter side. The tone will make you smile like a kid on Christmas morning
Naturally mine is just one opinion among many. If it wasn’t for the new Stingray Special, The Rick would be my #1 player. I never had to adjust anything on those Rics; just plug & play and have fun! For me though, the Stingray is home
Newer versions have slightly wider necks than most other brands, but the thickness front to back is quite shallow (the whole “baseball bat” thing is nonsense, unless you have the hands of a princess and have never personally held a baseball bat...).
The body is rather small and overall weight tends to be on the lighter side. The tone will make you smile like a kid on Christmas morning
Naturally mine is just one opinion among many. If it wasn’t for the new Stingray Special, The Rick would be my #1 player. I never had to adjust anything on those Rics; just plug & play and have fun! For me though, the Stingray is home
Has anyone seen this yet? Available for pre-order. I think it's the most beautiful instrument I have ever seen. I've been considering buying a Ric and now I have GAS worse than any other time in my life. Figured maple body (WOW!), single truss-rod, toaster in the neck spot, V2 bridge and checkerboard binding. At nearly $3k though, I may just have to settle on a run-of-the-mill 4003. This is from wildwoodguitars.com
I would say that's a fair price, how old is it? Play nice? You can get a new 4003S for probably only 50 bucks more and the bridges aren't that bad, don't let people scare you. For me dual truss rods are a plus. I take that silly cover off first thing any Ric I buy, takes about ten minutes to do.
Last edited:
They took out the cap in 1984, they didn't have one at all until they put the push pull control in about 10 years ago. I agree, the cap sucks the life out of them.
I played a Pbass for 10 years before switching to a Ric. I’m still playing it over 40 years later. In those 40 years, I can only recall adjusting the neck twice and have only adjusted the bridge once before switching to a Hipshot. The Ric only took me a few weeks to get used to and it feels perfect every time I strap it on. The workmanship on m two Rics are outstanding and they still look good after hundreds of gigs. I wish Rickenbacker would give me a reason to buy another bass from them with updated features like active electronics and different cosmetics
I preordered one a few weeks ago from Bruce at Wildwood. Hopefully I'll be hearing from him in the next week or so. Just give them a call, the price is less than listed on the website.
Exactly! I think about it the same way. Love the Rick, but she comes with a price to pay, especially if you want to play hard with a pick.
If you're a finger style player, she's not the most comfortable there either.
But the tone!!! Love my Rick, she's my #1.
Wildwood spec'd them out with a single truss rod, checkerboard binding, V2 bridge and the special color. This run is limited to 30 basses.
