I would 'love' to have one now. But I 'hate' how the price makes it unlikely I will have one for a very long time.
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Rickenbacker 4001 - - - Love or Hate?
- Thread starter joshuadams7
- Start date
See, I'm the opposite. I don't like unfinished or satin finished necks. I like gloss finishes on necks.
I bought the montezuma brown 4003 back in 2003 for $1100 (!). I really wanted to love that bass, but ultimately, the playability was the factor in dumping it for an even trade --barely used EBS HD 350 with the EBS Evolution ProLine 410 Pro Speaker Cabinet. No regrets.
The thing I hate about Rickenbackers is the hype around them. Even old 1970s Rickenfakers sell for huge money on ebay. Seemingly anything Rickenbacker shaped is worth big bucks at the moment. It reminds me of tulip mania, when in the 1600s tulip flowers became so expensive and hyped that people could only afford pictures of them as the real things became so expensive.
Also Rickenbacker's quality control might make it idiosyncratic to some people and downright offensive to others. Squint pickups and finish blemishes?!?! Perhaps the last time John Hall went outside his little office and into a guitar shop there were Tiesco Delrays on the walls, but with the advent of the CNC machine guitars can be made to much better standards now.
Also annoying with Rickenbacker is that little forum of theirs. Without starting a flame war, whenever I have been on that forum to get information about certain basses you get the arrogant know-alls who shoot down anybody who does not have the same level of knowledge/appreciation of Ricks as them. Yes a little product exclusivity is cool, and I guess you join a gang over there, but it comes accross as a gentleman's club with an ego problem. Go over there and ask them about Chris Squire or Geddy's Rickenbackers and they get astonishingly snooty about the whole deal, even though those two guys sold more Ricks for them than anybody else.
Also Rickenbacker's quality control might make it idiosyncratic to some people and downright offensive to others. Squint pickups and finish blemishes?!?! Perhaps the last time John Hall went outside his little office and into a guitar shop there were Tiesco Delrays on the walls, but with the advent of the CNC machine guitars can be made to much better standards now.
Also annoying with Rickenbacker is that little forum of theirs. Without starting a flame war, whenever I have been on that forum to get information about certain basses you get the arrogant know-alls who shoot down anybody who does not have the same level of knowledge/appreciation of Ricks as them. Yes a little product exclusivity is cool, and I guess you join a gang over there, but it comes accross as a gentleman's club with an ego problem. Go over there and ask them about Chris Squire or Geddy's Rickenbackers and they get astonishingly snooty about the whole deal, even though those two guys sold more Ricks for them than anybody else.
As weird as this may sound, I feel more comfortable, and have been playing far better with my Fenders than I ever did with my Rics.
I was a Ric snob, wouldn't consider anything else. Got annoyed at the fact every one had an issue - glitches, but at that price?.....Also realised 2 important things - the sound comes as much from the player as his bass, and that nearly every Ric player I admired had modded his bass to get the tone I wanted!
Got myself a Geddy - at the current prices, 1/3 of the price of a Ric in the UK....blew me away. If it breaks or gets nicked, off the peg, I can get another. With Rics over here, that isn't an option - availability, and massive cost!
I've now sold all 4 Rics and I've never been happier. The way they treat the UK is a disgrace. US dealers are not allowed to send here, even with the shortage. The mark up is massive - and if you buy from anywhere else, the warranty is invalid (even thought the dealer network is just a nightmare). I imported a 4004 from the US, lucky it was all fine as Ric wouldn't cover it anyway.
I have heard some horror stories of people having trouble with Ric themselves, they apparantly do not want to know.
Now gassing at the sunburst Ged...mmmmmmmmm!
BTW, I heard recently that when production is cut back in the factory, it is because they concentrate on furniture production.
This was asked a number of times on Ric forums, but Ric themselves would never confirm or deny this. Certainly makes you think....!
I was a Ric snob, wouldn't consider anything else. Got annoyed at the fact every one had an issue - glitches, but at that price?.....Also realised 2 important things - the sound comes as much from the player as his bass, and that nearly every Ric player I admired had modded his bass to get the tone I wanted!
Got myself a Geddy - at the current prices, 1/3 of the price of a Ric in the UK....blew me away. If it breaks or gets nicked, off the peg, I can get another. With Rics over here, that isn't an option - availability, and massive cost!
I've now sold all 4 Rics and I've never been happier. The way they treat the UK is a disgrace. US dealers are not allowed to send here, even with the shortage. The mark up is massive - and if you buy from anywhere else, the warranty is invalid (even thought the dealer network is just a nightmare). I imported a 4004 from the US, lucky it was all fine as Ric wouldn't cover it anyway.
I have heard some horror stories of people having trouble with Ric themselves, they apparantly do not want to know.
Now gassing at the sunburst Ged...mmmmmmmmm!
BTW, I heard recently that when production is cut back in the factory, it is because they concentrate on furniture production.
This was asked a number of times on Ric forums, but Ric themselves would never confirm or deny this. Certainly makes you think....!
Engine207
Losing faith in humanity...one call at a time.
Actually another pet peave of mine is how Rickenbacker has changed. For a company that used to push boundaries they seem to be a bit dead in the water issueing the same equipment over and over again. Anybody remember the Lighshow guitars they made? The 12/6 string guitar adaptor that you could use to tune out half the strings on a 12 string? Rickenbacker experimented with slanted frets and also produced the Astro kit guitars for the kids etc... It seems that they had a lot of fun back then.
But these have long gone, and now they don't seem quite so pioneering. Not sure.
But these have long gone, and now they don't seem quite so pioneering. Not sure.
Pioneering has a price and I'm sure R&D isn't cheap.
I love my 4003 and I always will, but I also love my other basses just as much.
Sadly my favorite playing bass right now is a 2006 Fender Aerodyne... that bass is almost perfect to me.
I think alot of people get hungup on names.. i played peaveys exclusively for 15 years and eventually started believing what people said about them.. like my fingers lied to me or something.
I have respect for people who play what they love and not for love for people who love what they play.
My Foundation and Dyna basses were my favorites and I bought in to what the gear snobs were saying... shame on me.
I love my 4003 and I always will, but I also love my other basses just as much.
Sadly my favorite playing bass right now is a 2006 Fender Aerodyne... that bass is almost perfect to me.
I think alot of people get hungup on names.. i played peaveys exclusively for 15 years and eventually started believing what people said about them.. like my fingers lied to me or something.
I have respect for people who play what they love and not for love for people who love what they play.
My Foundation and Dyna basses were my favorites and I bought in to what the gear snobs were saying... shame on me.
I'm not sure anyone is doing much pioneering these days. Fender made a big deal about some really minor improvements to their basses last year, but it's all just little tweaks to the same basic instrument.
I can tell where Rickenbacker has improved my 4003 compared to my old 4001. If they wanted to make more exotic basses that would be cool too, but I'm happy with what they've done.
I would say Lakland build upon old Fender ideas and upgrade where necessary. Also old technology, such as Hagstrom Bi-Sonic pickups, being reinvented and upgraded in the form of Dark Stars. Its amazing what circa 2009 technology can do to 40 year old designs!
Anyway I am dragging this off topic. Sorry.
What does? I haven't heard anything yet that pisses all over a 4003 soundwise, except maybe John Entwistle's Buzzard Bass. Maybe.
I have some pretty nice basses, mostly Fenders, but I get more compliments on the tone from my 4003 than any of them.
REALLY!!! In 2004, I paid $1099 for a brand new 4001 in JetGlo w/ the case and all.
Now all of a sudden, a few years later, they cost double that price. What the HELL happened?
The American Fender basses are better anyway..Especially from the 60's and 70's.
Hmmm...tastes change. I remember in the late 80's and early 90's you couldn't GIVE a Rick away. You couldn't find them, and the stores that had them literally would sell them for next to nothing.
I bought my first one around 1989 or 1990, brand new fireglo, for $675 shipped total from Victor Litz Music. Then, I found a mint condition '78 white/black binding 4001 for $220 in the paper...
I bought a used 1986 lefty 4001V63 from Gruhn Guitars for around $600 in 1992...and throughout the '90's bought them new for around $800. My most visually astounding Rick is a flamed maple 4001V63 that I bought new from our local Guitar Center (then called "Musician's Friend" before the buyout and all the local stores changed to Guitar Centers) around 1999 or 2000 for $1199. It had been there for months...salesman said the Ricks didn't sell at all and soon stopped carrying them. It is the most beautiful Rick I've ever seen...and I don't think anyone even PLAYED it at the store. Not a mark or fingerprint on it.
Then, suddenly, Ricks started becoming en vogue once again. ("Now it's time for a breakdown.")
Mike Parks at the Rickenbacker Page sold them new shipped for $999 up until a few years ago. I want to say I paid around $1100 for my blueboys...then when I wanted a blueburst, the price shot to around $1400 or $1500 as I recall. That was just a couple years ago...NOW look at the prices.
I can't wait until Ricks are totally out of fashion again. Just like before, the prices will plummet.
Seriously. There are few basses whose sound is objectively bad, and fewer whose sound is objectively "better" than another bass's.
Personally I prefer the 4001/4003 sound. A lot of people prefer the P-bass sound. It's a matter of taste.
I've gotta say that if I had to play a gig and was given a generic/hi-fi "clean" type DI sounding characterless bass amp to use, I would have to bring along a Rick, and only a Rick.
Though I've since gotten into extensive tone shaping with distortion, compression, eq, etc., and can get a similar tone out of my setup with any bass, if I had to play just straight into a bland sounding amplifier I would only use a Rick.
Other basses are nice, but for straight driving balls-out amazing tone, a Rick really is all you need.
Though I've since gotten into extensive tone shaping with distortion, compression, eq, etc., and can get a similar tone out of my setup with any bass, if I had to play just straight into a bland sounding amplifier I would only use a Rick.
Other basses are nice, but for straight driving balls-out amazing tone, a Rick really is all you need.
Same, partly because I like being unfashionable. Also, when prices drop, we can snap up a bunch of them cheaply.
Yeah, but I don't need anymore. And, unless Rick either ramps up their attention to detail or provides something unique (more colors of the year, checkerboard binding, black binding, etc) then I'm done buying Ricks. Out of the 15 basses I've bought in the last month, the Rick was the only one that couldn't hardly be played right out of the box (I don't mean just needing a minor setup...this thing had action 1/4" off the neck)...a 4001C64 that retails for just under $4000. Ridiculous.
