Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Rickenbacker quality control issues?!
- Thread starter cb4
- Start date
D
What do you mean "slipping with their quality control"? Ricks have been know to have poor QC for DECADES. A quick search here on Talkbass would have told you that. RIC also have a laughable warranty policy. Count yourself lucky if they actually take repsonsibility for this. Or will the dealer cover the losses?
The neck on my 4003 (purchased brand new) developed a twist within a couple of years. By then it had also developed the dreaded tail lift and the binding had started to come off. Needless to say the string mute function also broke within the first month or so.
At least tail lift is no longer a problem as RIC has finally redesigned the poor bridge (after denying the existence of this problem for decades).
The neck on my 4003 (purchased brand new) developed a twist within a couple of years. By then it had also developed the dreaded tail lift and the binding had started to come off. Needless to say the string mute function also broke within the first month or so.
At least tail lift is no longer a problem as RIC has finally redesigned the poor bridge (after denying the existence of this problem for decades).
Last edited:
There have been ongoing complaints from Ric owners for years, though it's presumably the people who have encountered issues who talk loudest.
Some of their customer support practices are questionable and the "warranty starts on date of manufacture" is illegal in UK & EU.
The 4001/4003 has evolved over the years and presumably will continue to do so.
Some of their customer support practices are questionable and the "warranty starts on date of manufacture" is illegal in UK & EU.
The 4001/4003 has evolved over the years and presumably will continue to do so.
D
Illegal in the UK/EU just means the DEALER will have to offer a better warranty and in many cases they end up having to cover the losses. Getting any kind of support from RIC, even as a dealer, is like getting blood out of a stone. At least that's the case for dealers/workshops in my area. Even BUYING spare Ricks parts for a customer is a nightmare. RIC won't even let you PAY to fix your instrument, even though it's still under warranty (although perhaps not under warranty by RIC's warranty standards...).
Buying a Hipshot replacement bridge (with my own money) got me a couple of years extra use of my Rick but it turned out to be a waste on money in the end as the neck twisted to the point of being useless.
Whenever a customer with a Rick turns up at the workshop I always get a bad feeling... and I'm usually right.
Sure, there are some great Ricks out there but they certainly have more quality issues than other basses. Particularly in that price range!!!
Last edited:
I bought a brand new 4003sw in 2017 through guitar center during a sale they were running. The instruments were on back order and arriving from the factory at the time. At first the bass seemed ok but the nut was cut a bit high.
I ended up lowering the bridge as far as it would go to compensate while I waited to have the nut filed but doing so revealed a spot where the g string would fret out against the higher register.
After inspecting the neck I noticed there was a bump around the 15th fret on the g side and the truss rod was unable to affect it so I ended up selling it.
Rickenbackers have crazy qc issues and are definitely a try before you buy instrument. I went through 3 before I found one worth owning.
Well, I've never bought a new Ric; I generally prefer to buy used instruments, so that any "settling in" is already done before I go near them.
"Inconsistent" is one of the first superlatives I think of with a Ric, really from any era. Finding one you really think is a great representative of what YOU are looking for in a Ric is part of the challenge. I found "it" (for me) in this (mfg-in-1992) 4003: Mine comes out occasionally. Last time it was a black-tie gig but no upright needed, so I was fashion accessorizing as much as anything. It's a nice example of my idea of a 4003, I had fun, some people "got it". Sad fact for me is that I can't just buy a Ric from a catalog and have an expectation of acceptability.
D
This is definitely good advice when buying Ricks. Buy a used one that's had a couple of years to make any critical construction flaws surface and TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.
Last edited:
I have a 2017 4003 bought new and have had ZERO issues with it.
I keep waiting for it to explode. Come home and find it in pieces.
I keep waiting for it to explode. Come home and find it in pieces.
Welcome to the club! I’ve owned three Ric’s in my time. I’m a big Rush fan and Yes fan, so owning one was a goal from age 5 or 6 (literally). My first Ric was a jetglo 4003 I acquired in my 20’s, overall not a bad bass. I was head over heels until we got into the studio and realized we couldn’t get any adequate intonation out of it. If anyone wants to defend the bridge design I’d love to hear your arguments. Sold that bass for a wonderful precision. Got nostalgic a few years later and grabbed a Midnight Blue 4003 at my local guitar shop. The plan was to keep it mostly in the case as it was a rare-ish color. The finish was so brittle I was afraid to touch it, the binding was DEEPLY recessed into the body at certain points and didn’t even reach the neck joint next to the treble horn. The bridge saddle grooves were improperly filed and the D and G strings were constantly popping out. Sold it to nice gentleman in Boston. Finally, I got nostalgic during the Covid lockdown and got another jetglo 4003. There were lacquer drips on the fingerboard from the 12th fret and beyond, an air bubble in the lacquer under the 14th fret, and lumpy spray marks from a shoddy paint job. The neck was also the most unstable neck of any bass I’ve owned. Ric’s look cool and sound great (aside from the hum), but I’ll never buy another. For the money they charge I should be getting an instrument that is almost flawless. The bridge design is useless, dual truss rod design is dumb, electronics are insanely noisy and overall fit and finish is all over the place. A buddy of mine told me he took his Ric out on tour with him and it came back it pieces. They’ll always have a spot in my heart but never again.
I bought a new Ric 4003 in 2012 and brought it to my local luthier for a setup. He took one look at it and told me the neck was warped and he could adjust it but it would probably be a chronic problem. I sent it back that same day and eventually bought a nearly perfect 4003 from the now defunct Pick of the Ricks.
Rickenbacker is garbage. Shame, because if they could produce a neck that didn’t warp, I’d play them nonstop.
I make furniture as a hobby and wood being an organic substance can sometimes be unpredictable. All manufactures eventually have problems of one sort or another. It is how they handle them that sets them apart.
I’m don’t want to trash Rickenbacker but let’s be honest, it has a few design flaws. It has two single coils that don't cancel hum when both are on, the bridge isn’t exactly know for being stable (or easily adjustable, or good.). The mute, while not completely useless is very difficult to engage and easily bested by a sponge from Dollar Tree. The electronics are noisy and the Ric-o-sound feature won’t even function without an additional mono splitter. It has a bridge pickup cover that I think we can all agree is the most hateful piece of engineering on the planet, and if you remove that cover you’re left with a cavity that’s just big enough to repeatedly wedge your thumb in. And speaking of the Rickenbacker bridge pickups war on thumbs, the height adjustment screws are sharper than wolverines claws and will scratch the heck out of any appendages that have the unfortunate luck to touch it.
And that’s just components, that’s not even counting the fairly sharp binding around the body, the lack of upper arm bout, the neck heel that protrudes to the 17th fret even though it’s a neck through instrument. No belly cut, really no features at all to enhance comfort.
Ric 4003’s have a street price of around $2400. After that, when you start swapping parts you can be looking at spending an extra $350-500 to just upgrade the bridge and pickups to something that imbues confidence. At that price you could get an American Performer Fender for $1500 that is great right out of the box, and an entire amp to go with it. You could but a whole Darkglass Stingray for $2600 for Pete’s sake.
And that’s just components, that’s not even counting the fairly sharp binding around the body, the lack of upper arm bout, the neck heel that protrudes to the 17th fret even though it’s a neck through instrument. No belly cut, really no features at all to enhance comfort.
Ric 4003’s have a street price of around $2400. After that, when you start swapping parts you can be looking at spending an extra $350-500 to just upgrade the bridge and pickups to something that imbues confidence. At that price you could get an American Performer Fender for $1500 that is great right out of the box, and an entire amp to go with it. You could but a whole Darkglass Stingray for $2600 for Pete’s sake.
