Yeah, kind of. I love Ed Roman. Love to hate him, that is. I do like some of his stuff, but man, what a trip he's on!
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Rickenbacker Neck disaster
- Thread starter flashgod
- Start date
Didn't Ed pass on a few years ago? I dealt with him one time about 10 years ago on a bass purchase. He was a total @ss hat then. I informed him that his attitude just cost him an Alembic sale. Then I promptly purchased a beautiful Alembic Essence 5 string elsewhere and sent him a pic of it along with a nice note thanking him for showing me his true colors before I dropped four grand in his store. Roman and the Buzzard Bass guy are officially off my list of stores to shop at regardless of the deal.
Fortunately I haven't ever dealt with Mr Hall but when I buy my first Ric (love the 4004cii) it will certainly be used so I guess I won't need to talk to him about warranty issues.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I wouldn't be nervous about the finish on a '74. On a '74, be sure to check the neck, because the adjustment technique for those is different from the usual truss rod adjustment.
There sure does seem to be plenty of variability in Rics. I wonder how many people work at the factory and how standardized and supervised their processes are.
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Hope you like fat P-style necks, cuz any 4004 older than 2012 will have one. Since 2012 all RIC basses share the same 2-piece neck blank, and it's much narrower. Given the price of most used 4004's you're better off buying a new one anyway for around $1700.
Yeah, it can make your stomach turn when something like that happens to an axe you dig, but it's real fixable. It's not really a disaster, it just feels like one 'til your TB friends chime in. Not your fault either, unless you were using some kind of solvent, which I don't read in your post. Human skin has a bit of a range of pH, but not in the range that should do THAT to a well-applied finish.
I'm not of the opinion that neck finish makes a difference in tone, but it has a big effect on playability. If you're not comfortable with woodworking and finishing, get thee to a good luthier and he should be able to get you a finish you want after sanding it down to bare wood. Try some other basses and see if there is a feel/finish that you like better. If you like that Stingray finish better than the Rick, take it along to the luthier to give him an idea of what you're looking for. And try out some of his work to make sure you like the feel.
Yeah, there should definitely be plenty funk for you to find in that Rick!
I'm not of the opinion that neck finish makes a difference in tone, but it has a big effect on playability. If you're not comfortable with woodworking and finishing, get thee to a good luthier and he should be able to get you a finish you want after sanding it down to bare wood. Try some other basses and see if there is a feel/finish that you like better. If you like that Stingray finish better than the Rick, take it along to the luthier to give him an idea of what you're looking for. And try out some of his work to make sure you like the feel.
Yeah, there should definitely be plenty funk for you to find in that Rick!
A P bass neck width is ok by me.
If I bought new this was the one I was lusting after...
Rickenbacker 4004Cii 'Cheyenne II' Mapleglo | Reverb
If I buy used I really like this one...
Rickenbacker 4004 cii Cheyenne | Reverb
But right now I'm just window shopping, probably won't buy any more bass gear until I sell some of the stuff I already have to make room.
EdwardofHuncote
I Still Dream of Jeannie
- Aug 21, 2013
- 6,649
- 2
- 16,417
- Disclosures
- I privately own and operate a local musical instument repair shop.
I saw this happen to a Martin D-28 guitar a few years ago... every bit of the finish slowly peeled right off the neck down to the sanding sealer. From the looks of it, the clear did not fully bond with the undercoat, it was almost certainly a chemical problem in the finish process, probably limited to a batch or two. Good news is it should be less sticky with that stuff worn off. Bad news is, short of a pro refin, I doubt there's much to be done to halt it.
Sorry man, don't blame you a bit - I'd be miffed too. Even more so given some of the wise-@$$ commentary above.
Sorry man, don't blame you a bit - I'd be miffed too. Even more so given some of the wise-@$$ commentary above.
None of us will ever know why this happened, my guess is a moments inattention by the guy with the spray gun, or a little overzealous buffer work, could happen in seconds, and that's a highly skilled job. On the technical side, does anyone know if traditional solvent based laquer, which sticks to old laquer by partly dissolving it, will even stick to UV catalyzed material? If you want to refinish a recent manufacture Ric, is it sand back to primer mandatory?
Aceon
Did you notice how I sicced the OP on you to ask about finish issues on page one of the thread? You can thank me later for dragging you into this little snake pit!
Aceon
Did you notice how I sicced the OP on you to ask about finish issues on page one of the thread? You can thank me later for dragging you into this little snake pit!
Way over priced by about $1000.00.
Dont hate me for saying this but, seems like Ric players have a lot of issues ( before you attack me I LOVE the sound of a Ric, in the hands of an accomplished player like Chris Squire it is a fierce tone weapon)
To note I wasnt calling you a fan boy, I was using it as a term for the direction of the thread, I have seen what you have done to Rick's which would make some fan boy types squirm but I dig them. Just unless he cleaned the neck with paint thinner thats a factory flaw I have seen a few times now and in person mine did the same thing.
Yeah, I got a bad finish on my Chris Squire signature Ric (details in the Show me your beater bass thread). It plays great, sounds great and is still my #1 favorite bass in the world. After a while, it just becomes mojo. It's frustrating, but nobody's perfect.
I think I watched a rig rundown on youtube about CS gear, Im pretty sure he said even his original Ric had issues he had to fix, and the reson his sounded the way it did is because the pickup was questionable, wich helped give him that Chris Squire sound.
Yeah, I heard that Ric came to Chris Squires house to measure the electronics on his Ric, to copy for the signature model. Apparently, they still didn't get it right, lol. Mine sounds as good as his........to me. I still think about restoring it to original....
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
Yeah, they do seem to be quirky that way. You can get a great one or you can get one that has issues. There are some issues I keep expecting to have, but they never come up. The finish isn't adhering perfectly to the binding of mine, but who sprays out the binding, anyway? Ric does. They also left a bit of glue squeezed out of the joint between the fretboard and neck, and the binding is cut into the side of the fretboard, but doesn't cover the entire side. That bothered me at first, but is just is what it is. I have other bass guitars from Gibson and Fender that have quirks and finish issues, too, so it's not just Ric. Rics are just more polarizing for whatever reason. I like mine, but I'm also happy to have other options. I didn't buy it to look at it, so when the finish gets damaged, I don't get too upset about it. But, I can see why the OP got upset when the finish flaked off of his Ric. There were some that had finish issues at the bridge for a while. I don't know if the cause was similar or even if the issue was similar, but there were threads about it. You would expect Ric to be a little more particular about it than the are, or were. Maybe their QC is getting upgraded. I don't know, and probably never will know first hand.
Mine doesn't sound like Chris Squire, and probably wouldn't even if he played it. That's OK, since I don't want to sound like he does.
That is how Rickenbacker does all their neck binding, they deliberately leave a strip of the fingerboard edge showing; it is a design feature, not a flaw on your bass.
I have a similar feature on the body of the fretted Elfin that Martin Keith made for me that I wanted. The binding on the body leaves a bit of the birdseye maple top exposed to create "purfling" on the side of the body.
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That's a damn shame. That is how you ruin a business.
I have a 20 year old budget Yamaha bass and the finish is still intact and looks great.
I have a 20 year old budget Yamaha bass and the finish is still intact and looks great.
I'm sorry to hear about your problem.
The bass looks like its had a hard life.
I have two Rics that I've been playing for nearly 40 years with no problems whatsoever. I keep my basses clean but I don't baby them. They get played frequently.
I have many friends that own and play Rics too and none of them have had any workmanship or build quality problems.
The bass looks like its had a hard life.
I have two Rics that I've been playing for nearly 40 years with no problems whatsoever. I keep my basses clean but I don't baby them. They get played frequently.
I have many friends that own and play Rics too and none of them have had any workmanship or build quality problems.
