Ltd. as budget Rick replacement?

[Jeff Scott]

^^^^
He is very good at the sort of "claw" method. Much better use of his middle finger than I can do.
Is it an odd way of playing?

Not really; it's just a variation on fingerstyle guitar playing.

 

[Lefty Joe]

Why would a keyboard player influence my bass decision?

Good question ... The column in question was a tutorial on the bass line in Clapton's "Forever Man" which Wikipedia tells me was done by Nathan East. Phillinganes isn't listed as playing on that song, so maybe it was East's article. Or perhaps Phillinganes was the author, with the main purpose being an example for those aspiring toward pro session work. Whoever the author was, he flat-out declared five-string necessity for modern (1985) session work, with "Forever Man" given as a detailed example.

Which isn't really germane to my original topic, despite my avatar being a photo I took of a cheap (left-handed) 5-string bass I no longer have. But as long as we've strayed this far, I'll tell this: it was given to me by someone at a church, who somehow had it lying around, unused ... and they didn't know any other left-handed bassists, so would I like it? Well: what's not to like about a free bass?

FFWD a year or two, and a guy posts on Facebook (back when FB was fun): a left-handed bassist from a metal band who needed a bass. He'd had one, you see, but it was stolen or something (I forget exactly). He had no money; really, it was a cry of desperation. Arguably he needed better friends or a different living condition, but that wasn't for me to determine. I responded, telling him it was only entry-level quality but it was in pretty good condition, and he was welcome to have it.

Maybe he's still playing, maybe not; maybe it too got stolen just like his previous bass. But - at least for one day - it was exactly what he needed.

 

[Lefty Joe]

Not really; it's just a variation on fingerstyle guitar playing.

Yes, exactly what I found myself thinking -- that I was essentially adapting fingerstyle guitar to electric bass, and feeling guilty about it ... like I'd lost my 'real' bass-playing skills. But if it's good enough for Gary Willis ...

 

[Lefty Joe]

As a fellow lefty; yeah, I feel your pain... But, regarding the "Rick tone" thing? Well, I have 2 of them; a '73 4001, and a COY '01 4003. Ricks sound the way they do, because of two things, IMO. Their hand-wound single coil pickups, placed where they're placed; and their multi-ply Maple neck/main body, with (traditionally) Maple body wings. Yeah, I know there are Walnut body-winged ones; I've noodled around with a couple of them. To MY ears? Very nice, but... not quite the same as the "Classic" 4003. My "Tone Twins" do sound very similar, but... the 4001 has the neck pickup in the old 4001 position - right up under the end of the fretboard. It does not sound "just like" my 4003. They do sound very similar, but... back-to-back? You could probably tell them apart. I certainly can...
So... other than getting a Rick, how to get the sound? Rickistas don't like to admit it, but... a Jazz Bass, with the right strings - and some amp tweaking, - can get pretty close. There's a switch position on my EBMM 4HH Stingray Special that runs the outer halves of the pickups; with the tone controls set flat, and the same strings as my 4003? It's pretty "Rick-ish", to my ears. Not a dead ringer, by any means; but, in the ballpark. I also have an '06 Carvin LB-20 that was expressly built to sound like a Rick (long story). It's a 3-ply Maple neck/main body, with Maple body wings (sound familiar?). It's 2 Carvin HB-50 humbuckers have an "Option 50" switch (Carvin's term for any option that wasn't on their build option sheet) that splits the pickups, with the 2 outer halves active. They're very close to where a Rick's pickups are. Does it sound like a Rick? I've A/B'd it against my 4003 a couple of times; with the same strings? Well... the 4003 has a little more sustain, and the Carvin is a hair brighter - with the tone controls set flat, but... otherwise? If you weren't looking, IMO you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. I had no idea what it was when I bought it in 2011; it has just a really cool-looking Lexus Pearl White bass, with an Ebony Fretboard (probably where the brightness comes from) and black hardware - and I wanted it...
Other than that? Don't know what to tell you. Other than that I use Optima's 4440 RB Flats on my 4003. Their near-clones of the original Maxima 4440 Flats that Rick used to put on their 4001's. They might help a little...

Ah, muchas gracias, as they say in swahili (or one of those languages)

I'm reminded that a certain bassist named Geddy said much the same: that he could get the same sound out of a Jazz that he got from the Rick -- at least, the sound he wanted, which may not be the same sound as Paul McC or that guy from Spacehog. (Although - come to think of it - The Ged's sound around 1980 seems to owe as much to the amp/processing as the instrument itself). So I heartily welcome the suggestion that a Jazz can get fairly close - particularly since my other bass *does* sound right to me, and is a Yamaha Jazz-type from which I pulled the frets and upgraded the pickups (Seymours).

The other potentially major aspect of the Rick which comes to mind is the long scale, but perhaps that's just because my previous bass had been shorter, so the Rick's long scale seemed huge.

Of course, tone is often like a MacGuffin: hard to define/describe, easy to chase. In last week's session, the sound out of the Ltd suddenly *did* hint at the Rick's presence: a result of different attack, I think .... plus possibly finding the right compression setting. While I've never stopped playing bass, I haven't been focused on it in years - so I have to wonder if it isn't just that I'm more relaxed, more practiced ... which of course just leads us back to the old truisms: the fingers are more important than the gear, so if it isn't sounding good > more practice.