I've just joined up and am fumbling through this site at this point. Any help would be appreciated. I am pretty old school in my taste, an old Rickenbacker player who owns 3 of them. I just love the sound that Squire got out of his.
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New guy
- Thread starter Jim McCoy
- Start date
Hello Rickenbacker club! Guess I'll learn as I use. I have 3 Rickenbackers, walnut, CS, and wine, I play through a 250 watt Hartke head into a 2-10 GK cab. I play wireless into these effect boxes: a Hartke chorus, a boss octiver, a electro harmonex Mel 9, and a DOD volume petal. Sounds nice!
Post the Chinabackers here:
Club RickenFaker / FakenBacker - Show Your Fake Rics!
Kind of a touchy subject on TB, particularly among genuine Ric owners! Don’t take it too seriously, whole lotta gas bagging on every conceivable subject, that one seems to rile people up.
Club RickenFaker / FakenBacker - Show Your Fake Rics!
Kind of a touchy subject on TB, particularly among genuine Ric owners! Don’t take it too seriously, whole lotta gas bagging on every conceivable subject, that one seems to rile people up.
I figured that much. I didn't get upset when I found that Chris usually played one of his limited edition basses on stage instead of his famous Rick. My walnut is a real one, and my first, a 1997 firestorm I lost in a fire. I just can't afford 5 to 6 thousand for a CS limited, so I went looking for something I could afford. If it weren't for Chinabackers I'd never have been able to own a CS. The candy apple was just an after thought, saw it, it was nice looking, so I got it too. I am a 66 year old Yes head who missed the opportunity to own a CS back in the 90's, because I had just gone through a divorce that crippled me financially. I've been kicking myself in the butt ever since. I grew up digesting Chris Squire's technique and trying my best to play like him. I adsolutely love Rickenbackers and the sound he pioneered. I wouldn't play anything else.
Interesting. I've only ever seen Chris play his RM1999 (many other basses, too), but never the SC as he wasn't really fond of the neck dimensions, IIRC. Actually, I have seen him holding a CS, but that was only on the RIC poster (of which I have a signed one). He did have a 4001CS, as a backup, on the guitar rack when I saw the Syn, but Chris never picked it up, only using the RM and his Electra MPC.
You mention your old "Firestorm" (Fireglo) that was lost in a fire. Sorry to hear that. Here is a photo of such a Fireglo that really is!
Holy cow! What year is that one?
I read about him using the CS limited in a post somewhere, written by someone who had met him. He was on tour and showed this guy his stuff. That is what he said. He had pictures to back up his story.
I was crushed when I lost my first Rick. I didn't play for several years and when I returned I bought a Spector at a pawn shop and played it for awhile. It sounded great but it wasn't a Rick. The first time I saw a pic of the walnut Rick I was hooked. In 2015 I sold my Spector to guitar center and bought one. I think it's the best sounding bass I've ever owned. I use Rotosound Funkbass strings and it plays like a dream.
I read about him using the CS limited in a post somewhere, written by someone who had met him. He was on tour and showed this guy his stuff. That is what he said. He had pictures to back up his story.
I was crushed when I lost my first Rick. I didn't play for several years and when I returned I bought a Spector at a pawn shop and played it for awhile. It sounded great but it wasn't a Rick. The first time I saw a pic of the walnut Rick I was hooked. In 2015 I sold my Spector to guitar center and bought one. I think it's the best sounding bass I've ever owned. I use Rotosound Funkbass strings and it plays like a dream.
Welcome! I’m still looking for my first Ric after wanting one for almost forty years. Lots of places on here for you to contribute to the knowledge bass about Rics.
That 4000 isn't mine. From the details of it I'd say it is around 1963-1964.
I first met Chris on November 15, 1974 when a friend and I hitchhiked to Indianapolis from Cincinnati to see Yes for my first time (Gryphon, a very cool band, opened for them). The arena was across from the Hilton so we figured Yes were staying there. Chris invited my friends and I up to his room to talk; we spent around an hour discussing all things musical.
The last time I got to spend time with him was at the, now-defunct, HOB in Hollyweird during the Rickenbacker 75th Anniversary Celebration weekend. Chris was at both the Saturday evening (Girls) acoustic show and museum exhibit at the Museum of Making Music (NAMM headquarters in Carlsbad, Ca.) He did not perform that evening but he was signing the above mentioned RIC posters for us, and we talked for a bit there, but we spent more time at the bar at the HOB. Chris performed there (as did a bunch of other great bands) with Spock's Beard as his backing band. 
The last time I got to see Yes perform was on August 7, 2013, at Evans Amphitheater in Cain Park (Cleveland Heights, Ohio). They did the complete albums of Close To The Edge, Going For The One, and The Yes Album, along with "Roundabout" for the encore. Chris pulled out lots of basses for that show, including the Ranney, his Jazz Bass, and a few others, including the copy of the Wal triple neck bass that Rick Wakeman commissioned in the mid 1970s (I saw the real, original one when I saw Rick during the King Arthur tour in 1975 in Cincinnati; we were sitting at the front edge of the stage in front of Roger Newell so we got a great look at that bass during the show. Gentle Giant opened the show (I have most of a roll of 35mm Ektachrome of GG, plus a couple of Rick when we visited with him at the Hilton in downtown Cinci).
Edit: wrong November date.
I first met Chris on November 15, 1974 when a friend and I hitchhiked to Indianapolis from Cincinnati to see Yes for my first time (Gryphon, a very cool band, opened for them). The arena was across from the Hilton so we figured Yes were staying there. Chris invited my friends and I up to his room to talk; we spent around an hour discussing all things musical.
The last time I got to spend time with him was at the, now-defunct, HOB in Hollyweird during the Rickenbacker 75th Anniversary Celebration weekend. Chris was at both the Saturday evening (Girls) acoustic show and museum exhibit at the Museum of Making Music (NAMM headquarters in Carlsbad, Ca.) He did not perform that evening but he was signing the above mentioned RIC posters for us, and we talked for a bit there, but we spent more time at the bar at the HOB. Chris performed there (as did a bunch of other great bands) with Spock's Beard as his backing band. The last time I got to see Yes perform was on August 7, 2013, at Evans Amphitheater in Cain Park (Cleveland Heights, Ohio). They did the complete albums of Close To The Edge, Going For The One, and The Yes Album, along with "Roundabout" for the encore. Chris pulled out lots of basses for that show, including the Ranney, his Jazz Bass, and a few others, including the copy of the Wal triple neck bass that Rick Wakeman commissioned in the mid 1970s (I saw the real, original one when I saw Rick during the King Arthur tour in 1975 in Cincinnati; we were sitting at the front edge of the stage in front of Roger Newell so we got a great look at that bass during the show. Gentle Giant opened the show (I have most of a roll of 35mm Ektachrome of GG, plus a couple of Rick when we visited with him at the Hilton in downtown Cinci).
Edit: wrong November date.
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Never had the pleasure of actually “meeting” Chris, rode an elevator with him and Steve Howe at a hotel in Boston, too starstuck to speak! Chris didn’t have a lot great to say about the CS, “sounds nothing like it” as I recall the quote, referring to his bass. A nice collector item, but I’ve NEVER seen one gigged in the Wild, the sad fate of many valuable basses. You can get a decent V63 tone out of any modern Ric with push/pull switch that brings the tone cap in or out, I wouldn’t get hung up on missing a CS for the tone. I’d love to own one, but I think the brand new 4003 are overall better made. The cream finish had a tendency to yellow, @NealBass has one that turned bright orange! (Kinda cool in a demented way!) If you go new, check out Wildwood Guitars or Pick of the Ricks. Some recurrent finish problems lately, so if you have a local place that miraculously stocks more than one Ric, look it over very carefully before buying. Plenty of nice near mint used ones available online or even here on TB classifieds. People seem to either flip them quick or hang onto them for life, not everybody’s cup ‘o tea.
More, like a dark muddy orange/brown (IIRC; it's been a while since seeing photos of it), going by my color correct Eizo monitor.
The Original Orangepeelglo! @NealBass i hope you don’t think I’m making fun of your CS, you earned every scratch on that bass, it got PLAYED, no Case Queen , unlike most CS basses. Some freaky finish chemistry there, can you post a photo for the New Guy?
No prob, bud. I make fun of my 4001CS colour all the time (I call it UrineGlo). Here's a pic and a thread:
Chris Squire signature Rickenbacker. To restore, or not to restore? thread.
I decided not to restore it and instead purchased these:
There was another OrangeGlo listed on GC last month:
Ha! That bass is too cool, a worry free instrument. There are people paying $$$ to fake something like that. I like Sweat Equity.
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