First time Rickenbacker owner! (review)

Do you Rick?

  • Yes! My main squeeze.

    Votes: 35 14.1%
  • Sometimes, they're great! Definitely useful in some settings.

    Votes: 76 30.6%
  • Never, they're awful.

    Votes: 18 7.3%
  • Tried, not my bag. Don't hate them though.

    Votes: 57 23.0%
  • Never have, would like to try one.

    Votes: 57 23.0%
  • My tiny lizard brain can't move beyond P basses.

    Votes: 15 6.0%

  • Total voters
    248
Build quality varies of course, but the vibe I've gotten from their supports complete lack of assistance and knowledge of their product and the issues that have persisted for decades without even an attempt to correct them is what comes off as arrogant to me. YMMV on if the build quality is "efficient" where it can get away with it or just "cheap".
There is some truth to that, they had a 10 year long bubbling finish issue and just totally stonewalled it. They appear to have finally solved it, and have made some incremental improvement like changing to a single modern DA trussrod and upgrading the bridge. They still have a "warranty" that requires the Owner to eat one-way shipping to CA for ANY warranty repairs, there are no regional service centers. The QC on the newer basses seems to have improved a lot, and the arrogance factor isn't as blatant with John Hall gone, so hopefully any future customer service encounters will improve too, that's been pretty abysmal over the years. When you sell every bass you can make, often on backorder, their isn't much incentive to cater to customers. The best route to buying a Ric these days is to get it from a reputable dealer like Wildwood or Sweetwater who will accept returns on a dud bass.
 
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There is some truth to that, they had a 10 year long bubbling finish issue and just totally stonewalled it. They appear to have finally solved it, and have made some incremental improvement like changing to a single modern DA trussrod and upgrading the bridge. They still have a "warranty" that requires the Owner to eat one-way shipping to CA for ANY warranty repairs, there are no regional service centers. The QC on the newer basses seems to have improved a lot, and the arrogance factor isn't as blatant with John Hall gone, so hopefully any future customer service encounters will improve too, that's been pretty abysmal over the years. When you sell every bass you can make, often on backorder, their isn't much incentive to cater to customers. The best route to buying a Ric these days is to get it from a reputable dealer like Wildwood or Sweetwater who will accept returns on a dud bass.
I'd been hearing a lot of these things. You know, I'd be more apt to trust a single truss and upgraded factory bridge Ric, but paying 3k+ for the privilege that it might be a more enjoyable experience is a hard sell to me. For me it's the 40+ years that the truss and bridge problem were basically left as they were. It's also that last year I reached out about the '05 I had having had the head of a rod snap. I didn't want them to fix it, didn't expect them to even offer. The surprise was that they couldn't tell me anything about the truss rod dimensions, part number, replacement information at all.

Yeah, I know, I can go to my buddy who works on cars and have him use his tools to get the measurements. I'd have felt more comfortable instead getting an exact part number and knowing I was getting a 1 to 1 replacement. The fact that it was "meh, we don't know. Ask facebook" (because our fanboys know more than we do about a part we used for like 30 years) was absolutely wild to me. I get it though, they're a luxury brand. It's all part of the steeze of what they're selling.
 
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I got a 2023 4003s that’s pretty much snuffed out the competition, if it’s sounding muffled there’s probably something you can do with the pickups and or strings to get it to have that clank and bite. My pickups are pretty even and relatively high up, there’s a pretty obvious sweet spot where when you start to dig in they start choking a little and it gives them a really sweet dynamic feel with how hard you play and hand position. Too far away and they don’t come to life and too close and they sound anemic and choked out.
It’s hands down, head and shoulders, the absolute king of dirt pedals with how dynamic the pickups are you can coax out the coolest sounds
 
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I'm a lefty and have never come across a lefty Ric "in the wild," and I'm interested in them generally but not so much so that I want to order one without at least briefly trying one first.
That's been my experience, also (yes, I'm also a lefty). I bought both of my Ricks at the height of the "No lefty Ricks anymore" period from 2006 until... 2011? (I forget). I paid an outrageous price for my '73 4001 and an '01 COY 4003. I guess that it's true that God looks after idiots and small children, 'cause there was nothing wrong with them. All I can say is; either buy a new one from a company with a very good return policy - or buy used, pay your money like I did - and take your chances... :cool:
 
I have a 2015 4003S and of course = weak neck pup => solution: Nordstrand RIC pup - the Nordenbocker / all good now =)
One of my Rics has a pair of Nordstrand pickups and the other is completely stock. Neither of my basses have weak pickups, but they do sound different from one another. The Nordstrands are incredibly bright pickups, so I strung my Ric that has them with flats to tame the brightness. My Ric with the stock pickups has rounds.
 
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OP here, some updates:

Ok, I did some work on it last night. Very happy with the results.

I did the RWRP mod on the neck pickup to cancel out hum when both pickups are in. This was fairly easy and worked like a charm. There absolutely no reason I can think of for Rickenbacker to not do this at the factory.

I also did a complete shielding with copper tape. HUGE difference. Again, no shielding on a $2400 instrument is just lazy and unacceptable IMO. I stated in my OP that this was the noisiest bass I'd ever played. Not anymore.

I also put the stock bridge back on, had to see what all the fuss is about. Well, I don't mind it. Yeah it took a bit of extra time to get the strings where I wanted. Now that it's dialed in I don't feel it plays any different.
Also, someone suggested I raise the pickups. They are at max height now, and sound glorious.

It seems that a lot of the horror stories about Ricks really just come down to user preference. I once heard the comparison of Ricks to Jeeps. They're high maintenance, not suited for every situation, look amazing, require more attention, have impractical features, and are incredibly polarizing. Sounds about right.
 
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That's been my experience, also (yes, I'm also a lefty). I bought both of my Ricks at the height of the "No lefty Ricks anymore" period from 2006 until... 2011? (I forget). I paid an outrageous price for my '73 4001 and an '01 COY 4003. I guess that it's true that God looks after idiots and small children, 'cause there was nothing wrong with them. All I can say is; either buy a new one from a company with a very good return policy - or buy used, pay your money like I did - and take your chances... :cool:

Oh yes, I have played the online lefty instrument roulette many times, I just typically focus on instruments that I either have at least some experience with or am so obsessed with that I need to buy it even without -- always after checking the return policy first, of course.
 
Hey TB, the day has finally come. After 30 years of playing bass, and owning at least 100 instruments in that time, I now own a Rickenbacker. Being a huge Geddy fan I've always lusted after that huge, snarly tone he got out of his Rick.
Here are my thoughts:
It's a satin black 2019 4003.

Fit/finish: No complaints and no surprises. I knew the finish would be super fragile (and it is), I knew the pick guard would be a cheap 1 ply piece of plastic. Everything feels high quality and super solid. Look like a million bucks. The finish/binding/inlays are a stunning package in person. It came with a Hipshot bridge, so you won't get any complaints about the stock one. Construction is as solid as any USA Fender I've owned, and they're basically the same price these days.

Feel: As a lifelong FSO player I was worried about the comfort of playing/holding/wearing the bass. The neck reminds me of my old Spector Euro, maybe a bit less rounded. It's definitely not a jazz, but also not unwieldy. I've sold said Euro and a few early 2000s Warwicks because of the huge necks, this one feels much better IMO. Starts thick and stays pretty consistent. The body binding surprisingly doesn't bother me. Maybe it's the smaller, thinner body, but I found that my arm doesn't come into contact with the sharp edges. It came with a treble bezel so thumb placement was easy. On a strap there is slight neck dive, but nothing that would keep me from playing it out on a gig. Setup is flat and medium low, plays great. I'd like to loosen the truss rods a bit to raise the action but when I went to adjust them the nuts came right off. Uhh. I guess I need to do some more homework before I give that another go. Seems unusually difficult and non-user friendly. Overall it plays pretty great as is.

Tone: This is the thing that surprised me most. I'm not in love with the sounds this beast produces. It can do Geddy 100%, but I've yet to find another satisfying tone. The neck pickup soloed is anemic and muffled, the 2 pickups mixed sounds muddy. I'm really surprised at the lack of high end. It's like it needs higher pot values. The exception being when you pull out the tone control which makes it super thin. Also, this is, without question, the noisiest bass I've ever played. I need to play it with my band to get a true assessment on this but so far, so meh.

Overall I'd say I'm happy. It's not the most versatile bass and has it's issues, but nothing that would be a deal breaker. I can't see a scenario where it would ever be my #1 but that's ok, I'm happy having it in the stable. If I keep it I'll definitely shield it and possibly replace the noisy pickups.
Back in the 70’s I had a 4001 with a killer ROS rig. When that band broke up ( yeah I know that sort of thing is unusual), I sold the ROS rig and a lot of the magic of the 4001 went with it. At the same time I started recording and couldn’t get what I was looking for out of it and for a while borrowed a Fender PB when I had session, and the Rick basically went into the case for the next 30 years until I sold it.

My thought on the 4001 is that in 34 years of owning the bass it never needed anything, like neck adjustment. The only thing I had to due with it was clean a piece of lint out of the pickup selector switch that got caught in the contact points. As for the bridge, yeah, there was a little gap shear the strings went through, but the bass stayed impeccably in tune. But whenI was playing it, which was a lot more time than I spent looking at it so I didn’t care about that.

My main issue was that fake horseshoe pick up design. Totally ridiculous. The first thing that went was that (palm rest?) Covering the bridge pickup as I was a finger plucker and needed that pickup for a thumb rest. AND from a few years of touring I came away with a slightly deformed thumb joints from stuffing my thumb down that hole routed the body. LOL!

Several years ago I played a 4003 at a Sam Ash and was totally underwhelmed compared to the 4001 I had. Comparatively speaking it looked like it was made in a 3rd world country. Actually, that’s an insult to 3rd world countries, and I apologize. Hopefully Rickenbacker’s QC department stepped up their game since then.
 
I love the look of my 4003SW and tolerate the ergonomic challenges for a FSO fan. I thoroughly recommend the Hipshot aluminium replacement bridge which transformed the tone of my bass. The previous bridge design looked great but is hideous to adjust and sapped sustain in my experience. Tail lift was an issue to some degree for many too. You can slip a card under the back of most 4003 bridges that I've seen. Rickenbacker should be embarrassed for leaving such a poor original design uncorrected for decades.
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OP here, some updates:

Ok, I did some work on it last night. Very happy with the results.

I did the RWRP mod on the neck pickup to cancel out hum when both pickups are in. This was fairly easy and worked like a charm. There absolutely no reason I can think of for Rickenbacker to not do this at the factory.

I also did a complete shielding with copper tape. HUGE difference. Again, no shielding on a $2400 instrument is just lazy and unacceptable IMO. I stated in my OP that this was the noisiest bass I'd ever played. Not anymore.

I also put the stock bridge back on, had to see what all the fuss is about. Well, I don't mind it. Yeah it took a bit of extra time to get the strings where I wanted. Now that it's dialed in I don't feel it plays any different.
Also, someone suggested I raise the pickups. They are at max height now, and sound glorious.

It seems that a lot of the horror stories about Ricks really just come down to user preference. I once heard the comparison of Ricks to Jeeps. They're high maintenance, not suited for every situation, look amazing, require more attention, have impractical features, and are incredibly polarizing. Sounds about right.
How do you feel about their bridge system? I heard it's a real PITA to use to set up and intonate the way it's built.
 
Tone-wise I'm not a big fan, and I have the impression, based on an admittedly limited set of information, that the build quality can be iffy.

But, what I really hate is their "Call for Price" and "Email For Price" policy, which strikes me as being a bit arrogant.

No Ricky for me, Lucy can have him. :)

Like Gibson Rick seems to be a charmed company who’s reputation exceeds the actual experience of people who own them.

They do look nice though.
 
There is no other bass which varies so much from one bass to the next, IMHO. I’ve had six or seven over the years. Three were spot on, one dog, the rest nice, but not exceptional. Absolutely a try before you buy bass.
I find the exact opposite. I set them up the same way each tome and the results are always nearly identical. Fit & finish have always been spectacular except for the years of finish lift which my current Rick has some of.

I can't speak to the new single rod models and I will avoid them...Not for me at all.
 
I love the look of my 4003SW and tolerate the ergonomic challenges for a FSO fan. I thoroughly recommend the Hipshot aluminium replacement bridge which transformed the tone of my bass. The previous bridge design looked great but is hideous to adjust and sapped sustain in my experience. Tail lift was an issue to some degree for many too. You can slip a card under the back of most 4003 bridges that I've seen. Rickenbacker should be embarrassed for leaving such a poor original design uncorrected for decades.
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That tailpiece bent at a right angle is on an Ibanez faker, so it’s not a fair comparison to an actual Rickenbacker part.
 

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