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Ric 4003 NBD Letdown

#201
thiocyclist said:
That's a lot more expensive than what my tech charges, and he's great. Plus, I generally do my own nut work until I need his expertise brought in--it's not hard. $50-75 is something people will charge if they know they can take advantage of someone,
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I disagree.


or that's my assessment at least.
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Yes.

There isn't a tech local to me that would do it for under 50.00. The main reason being that you are not only paying for a new nut, you are paying for a setup as well. You can't really slot a nut and not set it up at the same time. And if you want to talk expensive: If I were to take it to Mike Lull's shop I'd be looking at 150.00 for a new nut and setup.

And although making a nut isn't difficult per se, it is time consuming and tedious. I've made a few from scratch and it's not hard to screw up.
 
#202
Wait, I think we are talking about two different things. You're talking about a whole new nut--I'm talking about filing down/repairing an existing one, which sometimes takes less than 10 minutes. Let's compare apples to apples at least.
 
#203
I am sure Chinese are reading this topic carefully. In a couple of years, we will talk about different things here.

It is arrogance of the company that is selling bass worth $500 for $2000. If they want $2000, they should make it perfect or get out of business.

BTW, I am not "hater" of RIC. I owned it once before in the time when you could buy it blind and be sure it's going to be perfect. These days, I do that with Squier not with Ric.

I am sorry. But, times are different.
 
#205
Addison said:
I'm sorry, but these pictures I'm seeing are not "non-issues."

It's a $1500 bass coming from a company with one of the deepest, richest, and most important legacies in musical instrument manufacturing.

That kind of sloppy manufacturing and the following shoddy QC that let that bass go out the door is simply unacceptable in my opinion.

$300 Indonesian bass? Yeah, OK... I can deal with stuff like an off-center bridge install and a poorly set/cut nut on a bass like that. Those basses make great project basses.

A $1500 USA-made Rickenbacker bass IS NOT a project bass... and, if they're having so much trouble keeping up with orders that they can't set a nut or align a bridge properly, then they need to raise their prices so they can start spending more time on their manufacturing and quality control processes.
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They already did raise their prices. It obviously didn't help the quality problem.
 
#206
electracoyote said:
During what time period was every Rickenbacker produced "perfect?"

I'd greatly appreciate you substantiating that claim in some meaningful, tangible way.
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I got mine in the fall/winter of 1978 in London. Perfect set. Had it for a 2 years and never even changed strings on it. It has been in freeze weather and hot Summer. Never had an issue and I got it as a last item on the wall of the store. They had a just one and I was not even checking what I was buying. In that time, any brand-name bass was perfect set (or I was idiot)... Before that one I had Aria 1540 copy jazz bass, that I was disgusted with. I see, they are selling it now for around $500 on ebay. I don't want that Aria even as a gift! It was piece of crap, I can tell you.
 
#208
Tvrtko said:
I got mine in the fall/winter of 1978 in London. Perfect set. Had it for a 2 years and never even changed strings on it. It has been in freeze weather and hot Summer. Never had an issue and I got it as a last item on the wall of the store. They had a just one and I was not even checking what I was buying. In that time, any brand-name bass was perfect set (or I was idiot)...
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Well, I won't go so far as to call you an idiot, and I'm glad you got a good Ric (I have several myself), but you're far from proving to me that every 1978 Ric was "perfect," or that Ric ever had any substantial-length run of nothing but perfect basses and guitars, with not one QC issue among them.

I feel reasonably certain that quality control issues are something Rickenbacker has had to deal with throughout its entire existence, just like nearly every musical instrument manufacturer.

And I've played a couple of Squiers that weren't fit for firewood.

I know you made it clear that you're not a Ric hater, but this is exactly the kind of turd-stirring exaggeration that brings any productive discussion to a screeching halt on these threads.
 
#209
electracoyote said:
Well, I won't go so far as to call you an idiot, and I'm glad you got a good Ric (I have several myself), but you're far from proving to me that every 1978 Ric was "perfect," or that Ric ever had any substantial-length run of nothing but perfect basses and guitars, with not one QC issue among them.

I feel reasonably certain that quality control issues are something Rickenbacker has had to deal with throughout its entire existence, just like nearly every musical instrument manufacturer.

And I've played a couple of Squiers that weren't fit for firewood.

I know you made it clear that you're not a Ric hater, but this is exactly the kind of turd-stirring exaggeration that brings any productive discussion to a screeching halt on these threads.
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Call me whatever you want. I don't give %$#%#$. What I am saying (and I might be lucky in that meaning) IS that while I was buying (almost blind purchase), I got perfect bass that did not need even bridge adjustment (well, the store maybe took care of that...). But, I had a TRUST, that was proven right. Last winter around Christ,mas, I went to GC and got me one Squier VM 77 without opening the box (return policy works, so why to bother). I opened it, set it to my liking and had no problems whatsoever.

What to say guy who opened this tread? He got 2 different (so called "high class, high price: bass) and both were crappy at the day one? Yeah.! He might be one of those "unlucky people". But, as we can see, there are, kind of consistency in bad QC with Ric.... So, why bother with purchase?

I've got myself something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TUNE-Hatsun...d-/181044488206?pt=Guitar&hash=item2a2717a80e

...and it's PERFECT in every possible level or meaning.

One more time: I am not spitting on RIC. They are doing it themselves by allowing such things to happen. It happen to GMC for a long time and you see what is the business of car making today... I don't think anyone will bailout RIC in the case of things that should happen after such errors. At the other hand - you never know what might happen...
 
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#213
Whenever I get sucked into reading these Rickenbacker threads, I usually get angry because it seems like a lot of the problems don't just come from the "RIC hating trolls", but sometimes the fanboys themselves that can't seem to get along...

OP - I'm sorry to hear about all your Ricky woes. I want to make you an offer since you're local...

I live in Brooklyn, and when I'm finished with this post, I'm heading to Fresh Meadows to spend the weekend with my girlfriend. A few weeks ago I went on a hunt to try a few decent Rickys in Manhattan while I had time off. I went to Sam Ash, and their Rickenbackers were either poorly set up, or had a pickup issue. I also went across the street to Rudy's and tried their 4003. A much better specimen, but still left something to be desired. Finally, I went to 30th street guitars...

They had several used Rics, but I found this 4003 from the late 80s in the natural finish with the black guard and truss cover. I felt like it was the best Ric I'd ever played in a store. No push-pull, it was old school. I couldn't put it down for a good 15 minutes.

If you are still unhappy by Monday, I would personally meet you at 30th street guitars to show you the Ric I liked a lot. I always like to help with instrument purchases, would like to meet some of my TB brethern, and I really wanted someone to have this Ric (hopefully its still there)...

Lemme know if interested!
 
#214
thiocyclist said:
Wait, I think we are talking about two different things. You're talking about a whole new nut--I'm talking about filing down/repairing an existing one, which sometimes takes less than 10 minutes. Let's compare apples to apples at least.
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We are most certainly talking about different things. My initial post was in response to the statement that the nut was the cheapest and easiest part of the bass to replace. So that's where my point of view was. Thanks for clarifying.
 
#216
Ya ... there is a pattern to these threads ...

1 - I got a new Rickenbacker and it was not made of flawless gold and diamonds.
2 - I will send it back
3 - Then Rick haters chime in
4 - Ricks have binding
5 - they are different from Fenders
6 - they are imperfect
7 - they are total crap

etc ...
 
#217
I think that Ric are really well made and you do get the odd few slipping through the quality control. i dont think that Ric are any worse for quality than Fender or Gibson top end basses.
i think most people just seem to expect Rickenbacker to have that little bit better Quality and get disapointed if there is a fault on there bass.
 
#218
- A while back, I had to go through 3 Apple monitors to get a good one. I guess Mac's suck.
- I bought a Canon zoom lens, and it was soft at 40mm. I guess Canon's suck.
- My son's Fuji bike I got him for his birthday had a poorly adjusted shifter cable. I guess Fuji bike's suck.
- An Epson printer I bought didn't feed the paper straight. I guess Epson printer's suck.
- The Microsoft Office disc I got didn't allow the three installs it was supposed to have. I guess Microsoft sucks...whoa wait a minute.. that one's true! :D
 
#219
Ric5 said:
Ya ... there is a pattern to these threads ...

1 - I got a new Rickenbacker and it was not made of flawless gold and diamonds.
2 - I will send it back
3 - Then Rick haters chime in
4 - Ricks have binding
5 - they are different from Fenders
6 - they are imperfect
7 - they are total crap

etc ...
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You forgot the parts where diehard Ric defenders get pissed when the purchaser got something defective and says that it's not perfect and expects better.

Honestly in this thread, there's more mudslinging from Ric fans than anyone else. In a lot of threads involving Rics I've seen this. You are guilty of this yourself - when his instrument was defective a second time, you dismissed him as a Ric hater. I'm neither a Ric hater nor lover, and I can see the issues he was saying on a small screen.

OP - the offer still stands. Let me know if interested...
 
#220
ggvicviper said:
You forgot the parts where diehard Ric defenders get pissed when the purchaser got something defective and says that it's not perfect and expects better.

Honestly in this thread, there's more mudslinging from Ric fans than anyone else. In a lot of threads involving Rics I've seen this. You are guilty of this yourself - when his instrument was defective a second time, you dismissed him as a Ric hater. I'm neither a Ric hater nor lover, and I can see the issues he was saying on a small screen.

OP - the offer still stands. Let me know if interested...
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What you may be saying is true. However (and this is a big however) when someone comes in with the defensive statement of "I'm not pissing on Brand X" and then proceeds to piss on them with no substantiation, it's pretty obvious when someone calls him on it that no matter who calls him on it you would want to deem that person a Brand X fanboy.

Brand X may well deserve pissing on but note the key word here... deserve. electracoyote asked for substantiation and nothing worthwhile was given. In fact, it might as well have been "Yugos are perfect. I bought one sight unseen in 1986 and it drove flawlessly".

That, my friend, is what is known as anecdotal evidence and that's just one way of saying "in your experience". Well, ****ing duh. Everything each of us says is in our own experience.

To follow it up with "I'm not pissing on Brand X" is rather insulting to anyone with a modicum of intelligence.

It's intellectually dishonest, to be truthful.

The point of this thread is to hopefully find a solution to the OP's issue. Not to belly ache about some perceived flaws that are inherent in Brand X.

Like I said, Brand X may well have problems, but I can show you 50 times more instruments from Brand X that do not have a problem.

You don't have to like it, but the Internet is one big bellyache full of pissiness most days. When it starts to piss back, don't act so surprised.

Sheesh...

Yes, I realize that this post will probably not be received well. Honestly, what did you expect from such insincere discussions?
 

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