Rickenbacker 3503 one-off

sweet, time for some of these killer looking basses to be built and sold to us lovers...hate this one off crap

 

I’d pick one up from a run, but I wouldn’t pay boutique pricing…

 

They know there is a market for these cool basses with cool colors. I'm sooooo tired of the black 4003's, and Fireglo's. I paid extra just to get my blue 4003s just to be different and have a nice bright color...

 

Purty! My first thought seeing that was "Bananas and a toaster, mmmm breakfast!"

 

Looked nice, until I noticed the pickguard stops short of the bridge pickup surround.

 

I'd prefer the paddle headstock on this one.

 

Would be nicer with a RI HS PU and toaster.

 

Wasn’t ric selling these one offs on eBay a number of years ago ? And if I remember correctly , no one on talkbass actually bought any on them ?

 

Maybe not on TB, but they all do sell.

 

I like it. Schaller roller, retro style guard, non-horseshoe pup for removable cover, face dots only, cool paint job. Can't tell if the fretboard is bubinga or cherry (or whatever), but if it's gloss-finished, I'd like it even more. Checker'd binding would be icing on the cake.

 

Lots of design mistakes IMO.
- it’s a 325 style body. Why not use that PG shape, instead of this monstrosity? More body color to admire that way.
- why not give us 2 high gains or toasters or whatever? The whole 4000 series bridge pickup assembly is a problem, why reintroduce it on a new model?
- knobs are too close together, why?
- why only 2 knobs and no switches on a 2 pickup bass?
Especially nowadays, when people want multi-knob preamps?

 

It would look much better to me if it had a white pickguard and TRC. Also, horseshoe and toaster pickups as well.

 

would look better at my house so you all couldn't ogle it or judge, lol

 

1) It is an elongated body, arguably 325 or 330 inspiration, again, elongated, like the original 4005 body is arguably an elongated 360 body.
2) The bridge is a 4004 style Schaller bridge with adjustible string spacing, not the new 4003 bridge.
3) The pickguard, etc., is bassed (pun intended) on the original late '50's/early 60's 4000 pickguard.

 

Looks so retro cool!

 

This is very cool.
Serek has made this sort of thing cool, kind of teaching gran to suck eggs in a way. Good to see Gran have a go!

 

Yes. New bridge is fine.
I was talking about the bridge-pickup-monstrosity-that-might-have-been-necessary-for-the-horseshoe-but-has-been-completely-useless-for-fifty-years thing.
I recognized the pickguard inspiration, but it doesn’t work on this body shape, nor is it needed IMO.
So what about the controls?

 

Looks pretty cool. Not exactly my set of features, but as a one-off, somebody out there's gonna love it. Is that color "TV Yellow"?

 

I appreciate your opinions. Actually, I agree with your comments on the horseshoe pickup; that's why I have a Rickenbacker 4002 (yes, "2," not "1" or "3,") instead, and as much as you are concerned about the pickguard and control position, I am just as concerned that the upper horn is not long enough to balance the instrument, just like a 350 guitar with its longer neck on a 325 body is neck heavy, and that the different angle to the controls is not player friendly. But also remember nostalgia: there will be those players who hang on to every quirk and foible of first generation instruments.