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Rickenbacker Rant

#181
I don't know why people buy Rics ... look at this one ... have you ever seen a bass with so many flaws in the wood before? And they forgot to put on the pickguard, and that is not a Ric bridge tailpiece.
4004-quilt.jpg
 
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#190
Coolhandjjl said:
Ric advises against that style of tool as it is easy to get carried away and apply too much torque and wreck everything if you don't know what you're doing.
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That doesn't make for a very strong argument towards the quality of a Ric truss rod then. It is not all that easy to break a good truss rod.
 
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#191
Some time ago, I was sitting in an open jam nite and the restaurateur brought in his Ric. It was the 2 p'up version (4003?). Looked nice, sounded awesome, he even let me noodle on it for a couple of minutes. It felt a little weird, but I was also sitting down when I held/played it. I did not ask him if would sell it (not that I had the money). Being in as good shape it was, he probably would've said no.

Sometimes I think that the Ric Owners Club have some sort of agreement clause. When they buy one, depending on the quality, the better off it is, the more they downplay it and make it sound like crap. It's only to add to the mystique and elite-ness.:D Just kidding!

Apparently, you can get a T-40 to sound nearly like a Ric. When I get one, I'll try it.
 
#192
That T40 vs Ric clip on youtube sounds nothing like my Ric.

The video had the Ric clipping the mic level so badly, it was a bad comparison to begin with. I guess it depends what sound you are going for.

I like T40's but a thin maple neck-through would sound much closer. I can get a tone very similar to an old Aria neck-through with my 4003, whereas I think a T40 sounds more Fenderish by far.
 
#193
Dreamsinger said:
I've never seen a Rick of any model that wasn't total POS as delivered from the factory. There is a cure though; Mark Arnquist of Arnquist Musical Design can turn your piece of crap into a worthy instrument. He's done work for Tom Petty and Roger McGuinn. I use him often especially for things that need a little more "outside-the-box" thinking.
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Mark took my old 4001 and performed a resurrection of sorts. It had so many problems that I was about to sell it. The list of repairs and fixes he performed is too long to list here but suffice it to say the bass is now the one I take to every gig, plays like a dream now. He worked on Macca's, Squire's and Lee's Ricks while he was at RIC and I am not exaggerating when I say I am one extremely happy customer.
 
#195
Hopkins said:
That doesn't make for a very strong argument towards the quality of a Ric truss rod then. It is not all that easy to break a good truss rod.
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Actually it is a good design ... the rod will fail without hurting the neck at all.

If you make the rods stronger then when you overtighten them you damage the neck ... that is a problem with a neck through bass.
 
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#197
BlueTalon said:
I thought he was joking. All the Ric truss rod related disasters I have heard of involved the neck splitting, not the truss rod breaking.
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Yep, and that's on the old 4001 series, which ended in the very early 80's.
The 4003(and later 4001 one-off basses like the CS4001) is easy to adjust and not much different than any other bass except you have two rods for fine adjustment.
The old 4001 rods required loosening them first, physically bending the neck where you want it, and retightening them whilst holding the neck at desired position. If you just tighten them to compensate for backbow you could easily pop off the fretboard because they work differently. I won't ever own one of those:)
 
#198
Just bought my third rickenbacker. Never bought more than one bass from any brand ever before. Including fender, sadowsky, music man and gibson basses which I have all owned and or still do. Sadowsky had grungy hardware (bridge) and had a loose tone knob when new. Gibson thunderbirds, one was the pelham blue JMJ thunderbird, was a beauty....sound was too thin for me..sold it for the fender jazz, second one was the nikki sixx, great bass but the headstock scared me. The fender jazz, cool bass, didn't like the pickups, pickgurad or the feel of the neck. New pups, pickguard, sanded neck fixed all that.

Rickenbackers: new wiring harnesses for both 4003's

All other basses are now collecting dust.

Instruments can't all be perfect out of the box, they are made by human beings, its in our nature to be imperfect. The variables in the making of a guitar are a good thing, the 40 year old fender "gems" are only in that position because they were the good ones from the era that survived. You will get some bad ones now and then from all production line basses, some exceptionally good, some just what they should be. Basses that are head to toe flawless in function, design and finish seem to lack the personality I look for in a bass IMO. Played a high end dingwall....$7k price tag, was amazing! couldnt point out a single thing wrong with it, and I wouldn't dream of buying it. Got home and played my beat up, worn in, stupidly designed 2005 4003 and fell right back in love.
 
#199
BlueTalon said:
I thought he was joking. All the Ric truss rod related disasters I have heard of involved the neck splitting, not the truss rod breaking.
Click to expand...

FaithNoMan said:
Yep, and that's on the old 4001 series, which ended in the very early 80's.
The 4003(and later 4001 one-off basses like the CS4001) is easy to adjust and not much different than any other bass except you have two rods for fine adjustment.
The old 4001 rods required loosening them first, physically bending the neck where you want it, and retightening them whilst holding the neck at desired position. If you just tighten them to compensate for backbow you could easily pop off the fretboard because they work differently. I won't ever own one of those:)
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That is the main reason the 4003 is better than the 4001.

But the upside of the 4001 is once the neck is adjusted properly it will stay set for decades ...
 
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#200
Ric5 said:
But the upside of the 4001 is once the neck is adjusted properly it will stay set for decades ...
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Literally. I have had mine since the early 80's, and never touched the truss rod because I never had to.

Of course, I also never touched it because the thought of doing so scared the snot out of me, so I'm lucky I never had a reason to contemplate it.
 

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