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Poll: Which bass to add next to collection

Next bass in the collection?

  • Gibson Thunderbird

    Votes: 45 29.0%

  • Rickenbacker 01/03

    Votes: 72 46.5%

  • Horner 500/01

    Votes: 5 3.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 33 21.3%
  • Total voters
    155
JSandbloom

JSandbloom

Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2004
1,763
3,032
Redding, Ca
Disclosures
Lakland Basses
#1
I have a healthy stock of basses that I use when I play out which include Lakland's and Sadowsky's and some one offs. I've always wanted to have a collection of all the iconic basses. Just would like to have them to tinker with for fun or to have their textures when doing tracks. I have Precision, Jazz and stingrays. I'm looking at either older Thunderbirds or a Rickbacker. I'll eventually have both but funds allow for only one now.

Which one is more useful and which one is flat out funner to play?

If I get a Rick what are your opinions on the 4001 or 4003. I've read the differences and they mean very little to me.

Other icon basse I'm looking at includes the 500/1. But that's probably going to be the last one to add.

Which should I get next to play with?
 
#3
I'd go for the Ric, most unique of those 3, in my opinion, and I'd get a 4003 just because they're newer and more available (and generally in better shape for a more reasonable price).
 
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#4
I voted Rick also but the T-bird is also a nice bass, don't know what a Homer is (haha! need new glasses). I, like a lot of players that play Ricks have my favorite years and models but I would probably go for a 4003S if I were going to get another one. The 4001's have the more iconic sound, the necks are usually thinner but you have to learn how to adjust the truss rods and you have to make sure that if you do get a 4001 that if the neck has been popped it was repaired well. I don't mean to say there are a lot of them with popped necks just that they do exist. The early 4003's are pretty much just a 4001 with different truss rods and with the real early ones (!980-84) they have the same truss rods, they are turned around but for ease of maintenance I would go for the new 4003 or 4003S if I were you unless you are adventurous. I don't mean to scare you away from 4001's if that's what you want but if you do decide to get one make sure you learn how to as I said adjust the truss rods correctly. If you are looking for that 70's Prog sound though I'd go for a 4001. I would say that 4003's from 1980 until sometime during the mid 90's the necks are nice and thin for the most part, 4001's are mostly thin but they were hand sanded so there are some out there with fairly thick necks but those are in the minority. The earlier they are the more likely they are to be thin. I would like a Hofner also although (just my opinion) the other two are more useful in a band situation and they are damn expensive for what they are, you need to have a very light touch with a Hofner and McCartney's the only bass player I've ever heard that actually got a good sound out of one, only a joke, don't shoot me!
 
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#8
Another vote for Rickenbacker, though I'd say that you should look for one with the "Vintage Circuit" on (post 2006?) to give you a bit of variety.

I was going to vote for the Thunderbird as well, but it won't let me. But I still think you should get one anyway (after the Ric).

Currently hankering after a Thunderbird...
 
#10
66Tbird.jpg
 
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#13
You know, until recently I would have picked the bird or the Ric. After seeing/hearing the Wood brothers play, and what Chris Wood did with a Hofner, I think you should give it a try.

The rest, although all very cool, would simply be other styles of long scale solid body basses. The Hofner would be so different from anything else you own in the way it handles and sounds that it would either force or inspire you to take a different approach to playing it. It might even teach you something in a weird way.
 
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#16
T-Birds have never been more affordable - unless one is looking for a 60s NR or Bicentennial edition - and if I were interested in acquiring one I'd be shopping for it right now. There are some nice deals to be had out there.

Having said that, a 4001/4003 is a choice that one really can't say much against IMO. Nothing looks or sounds like a Ric.

Happy shopping.
 
#17
I have a Ric 4003 in my little collection of 6 basses. It is very unique and sounds great live. (The 4003 can sound like a vintage 4001 with the pull pot on the treble tone.)

After hearing a recent Band of Heathens show where a Hofner was played, I was surprised how cool it sounds live and mixed correctly. I just think they feel like toys. I want to like but can't.

Thunderbird looks cool but the sound is a little too dark for me. Just not much of a Gibson guy anyways, but I'd get a Les Paul bass over a Thunderbird. It has the thumpy Hofner sound I think but in an adult-sized instrument.
 
#18
lug said:
Ric. The major diff between the 4001 and 4003 is neck size. If that's not a big deal, go with a 4003. If it is, the older 4001's tended to have a noticeably narrower neck (but not always).
Click to expand...
The major difference between the 4003 and the 4003 is the neck size ;) In my Ric search, I never played two with similar feeling neck profiles. I tried a few 4001 and 4003 models, and every one was different, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot. The one I ended up with (2015 build date, purchased new in 2016) is my favorite. I stumbled into that, since I ordered online.
 

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