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Need help with a 'RICK purchase ... ASAP
- Thread starter David Sutkin
- Start date
Yeah man, 48th street, NYC back in the day (as a teenager) was like heaven. You could spend an entire day JUST at Manny's .... and watch whoever was playing at Madison Square Garden that week also at the shops looking for new gear. GREAT memories!
I'll probably hold off on buying a 4003 until a crazy deal comes my way ... I'm in no rush.
I'll probably hold off on buying a 4003 until a crazy deal comes my way ... I'm in no rush.
I bought my G&L LB100 at 48th Street! That place really was amazing. Manny's was great too.
I'm sure everyone has said this on this thread, but Rics really are pretty strange. I would wait until something good comes along that you can play first. I remember shopping around for a Ric and maybe 1 in 5 felt good in my hands or didn't have something pretty serious wrong with it.
I played in a bunch of big cover bands on the Long Island circuit (Huntington village) for many years back in the 90's and then I got into Reggae and dub and did some international festivals every now and then with some friends from Germany. Now I basically just write and record out of a small studio I have in Greenpoint / Williamsburg .... I'm always looking for a cool project though or other local musicians to jam with / hang with. I'd say let me know if your bass player ever needs replacing but I also assume YOU are the bass player, ha! .... so never mind
I'll let you know when I need replacing! ha ha haI played in a bunch of big cover bands on the Long Island circuit (Huntington village) for many years back in the 90's and then I got into Reggae and dub and did some international festivals every now and then with some friends from Germany. Now I basically just write and record out of a small studio I have in Greenpoint / Williamsburg .... I'm always looking for a cool project though or other local musicians to jam with / hang with. I'd say let me know if your bass player ever needs replacing but I also assume YOU are the bass player, ha! .... so never mind
I remember musicians hanging out on 48th watching for players to bring trade-in's to the shops to sell and they tried to intervene before the cats ever made it into the stores .... "Hey man, what do you have there? looking to sell it"
That was back when Times Square WAS NOT for tourists, the good old days, ha!
That was back when Times Square WAS NOT for tourists, the good old days, ha!
Actually, since I have been looking to buy one I have read countless reviews and the "inconsistency" issue seems the be the general consensus. Read the review pages on MF and other gear selling sites.
well, that might be slightly exaggerated, but not by much! they were all used and had varying degrees of horrible set-ups. But also, some necks were not good, I remember one with a lifting bridge, more than one with necks starting to de-lam and just a bunch of random weirdness that turned me off.
Those were two of the main issues / problems I read about .... "lifting bridges" and "orange peel" on the finishes.
That sounded funny to me too.
Are we talking Rics before or after CNCs? New or Used? (ah, used)
The 4003 I bought 2 years ago (new) was set up very well. There was nothing weird about it. No lifting bridge. It's needed one truss rod adjustment in that time.
As far as customer ratings on MF, the 4003 gets 4.8 stars out of 296 reviews. That's exceptionally high customer satisfaction for basses.
they were mostly 4001's, all used and maybe close to 10 years ago. there were a lot of questionable Rics floating around NYC. ha ha ha. the one thing i noticesd more than anything was how different all the necks felt.
Sigh. Once again, old impressions of a brand based on old (the 4001 was discontinued in the early 80s), used basses are trotted out as if they defined it today. What you remember from ten years ago, about basses that were 20+ years old then, is a terrible metric for what new basses from that brand might be like today.
Ah, OK. I think you'll find the new Rics very consistent and set up well. They transitioned to CNC a few years ago.
Vintage instruments are different. And yeah, the necks have varied quite a bit over the years.
Yes. and I was looking at 4001's. And I was really referring to buying used basses. That may not be the case now, but it definitely was then. And so much so that it left quite the impression. and not just on me! Look, I love Rics. But even today I wouldn't buy one sight unseen whether that's currently logical or not!
