Rickenbacker stigma

[rekesbass]

I don't want to repeat what everyone else already said so I'll add this...there's a mod that can be done to the pick ups to make them hum cancelling..if you search here for the "RPRW mod for Ric's"..basically it makes a Ric hum cancelling like a Jazz bass when both pups are at full volume and it works great..doesn't change the tone either..as far as output goes,my('04) 4003 is pretty hot,much hotter than my ('82) 4001.(and much hotter than my '08 American Standard Jazz)..also, with a 4001 with the cap bypass mod,it helps to lower the bridge pup a little to balance them better..Ric's do have what some would call "quirks" but, I just love them..BTW,kcole4001..love that doubleneck..

 

[PWRL]

I would like to own a Jetglo if i found a deal but the only thing that scares me is the fact that it is a set neck and not bolt on. I would be mortified to have an accident and damage the neck. I also had no idea they were a shorter scale than fenders though,definately not a deal breaker but pretty interesting.

It's neck-through, actually.

 

[woodyng]

It's neck-through, actually.

If we are talking about Rickenbacker,it could be either. I own a '74 4000 that is a set-neck. It is very solid,too.RIC also made some bolt-on models as well,so they basically covered all bases/basses.

 

[woodyng]

After getting my first one around 1974,i've pretty much had "that" stigma since. I've owned a lot of other brands over the years,but nothing else really speaks to me as well. These days i prefer my 4004's for a meatier sounding version of the clasisic Rickbass sound. The 4000 gets the classic grindy tone quite nicely. (The 4001 belongs to a friend)

 

[woodyng]

I've promised a sound clip to the Rickenbacker group. We just got recording gear out again last weekend, so hopefully I'll have time to do a clip or two soon. I did the cap bypass mod, since I didn't like how nasally the bridge pup sounded. Played side by side with my 4003...it sounds very, very similar. A bit different character, but there's no mistaking that it's a Ric.

According to Paul Boyer's book there's at least one known 4001SFL...mine makes that "known" number 2. Not to say there aren't more out there, of course.

I've been looking for a while for an "s" model fretless,and even found a 4003sfl in a bizarre Craigslist ad that had "drug trap" written all over it. They are pretty rare. I wish RIC would make a Cii fretless,but i may end up defretting one myself at some point....

 

[PWRL]

If we are talking about Rickenbacker,it could be either. I own a '74 4000 that is a set-neck. It is very solid,too.RIC also made some bolt-on models as well,so they basically covered all bases/basses.

Yes, I'm aware of the S models (as well as the bolt-on models). It just sounded like that poster was referring to new Ricks in general, and not a specific instrument or model. But good to point out that their set-necks exist and are very solid. I'd like an S model myself someday.

 

[Paul Boyer]

SOME S models are set neck. Rick 4000 and 4001S models from mid 1972 to the end of production in the early '80s were set neck. They can be identified by the shedua strip visible (when finish allows) on the headstock and down the back of the neck (only). These two models shared a common chassis and some single-pickup models may have routings for dual pickup stuff. When the 4003S, 4003S/5, 4003S/8, 4003SPC, and the vintage models came along (4001/3SB, 4001V63, and 4001C64/C64S) they were neck-through.

The hollow (or semi hollow depending on how you assess that) 4005 were also set neck.

The "bolt on" models (actually four wood screws, not bolts) were the short-scale 3000, full scale 3001, and their successors, the 2000 series basses (2030, 2050, 2020, 2060). Also, the dual-neck 4080 and 4080/12 were "glued and screwed" together.

 

[Jeff Scott]

The hollow (or semi hollow depending on how you assess that) 4005 were also set neck.

I would consider the 4005 to be a hollowbody, being they were constructed with X bracing vs. the center block as found in later 330/360/etc. bodies.

 

[Korladis]

I don't get a lot of stuff too. It's difficult! I'm not talking about quantum mechanics here. Like effeminate hair metal bands in the 80s. Why did that happen? I don't understand.

Well the good news, at least for me, is that I am getting my first Ric early next week. An '08 4003. Hopefully it comes without stigmas!

Oh, that's easy to understand.

Cocaine. That's why that happened.

If we are talking about Rickenbacker,it could be either. I own a '74 4000 that is a set-neck. It is very solid,too.RIC also made some bolt-on models as well,so they basically covered all bases/basses.

True, but the vast majority of Rickenbacker basses people try out are likely neck-through.

 

[NecroticImbecil]

My first "real" bass was a '79 4001, because Squire. Strangely, no amount of fiddling with the controls made it sound like his. Young and impressionable, hadn't realized all of the elements that go into making an artist's recorded tone. It just sounded like a decent sounding bass. Bartolini replacement pickups improved it tremendously. This was back in the late Mesozoic when I didn't have online forums to inform me of all the horror stories. Not knowing any better, I just accepted that the truss rods just worked that way, and that the bridge was fine once I bent a small screwdriver to get to the intonation screws easily. I was so ignorant that I even liked the mute pad and the tone of the pickup with the dread "bass cut" cap. Heck, I even used the stereo output and apparently was the only person not to be injured (or even notice) the deadly razor sharp edges of the body. It looked great and the neck sure felt better than the starter bass I was used to. To this day that old 4001 remains the 3rd best sounding Ric I've ever heard in person. Squire's main and backups Rics are 1 and 2.

I came to hate the tendency to neck dive. Years later I found a CS-74 and bought that for the same reason I had purchased the Ric. A few years more, and I hadn't played the Ric in a few years, so I sold it. The deciding factor was at yet another Yes show, when a problem with the Ric resulting in a switch to Mouradian mid song - and it sounded better. I wish I had kept it, but only because it would sell for so much more now.

 

[OutToPlayJazz]

I was always in the hate camp when it came to Rics, possibly because I occasionally played badly set up old ones at jam sessions and they were truly awful to play and ergonomically flawed. (One particular bass was like playing the tree it was made from!) But a few years ago I played a new one professionally set up and it was a really nice bass. Not my cup of tea, but very playable with a great sound.

The Ric is a bass I'll probably never want to own, but at least I can appreciate them for what they are now.

 

[Gaolee]

I don't get a lot of stuff too. It's difficult! I'm not talking about quantum mechanics here. Like effeminate hair metal bands in the 80s. Why did that happen? I don't understand.

Well the good news, at least for me, is that I am getting my first Ric early next week. An '08 4003. Hopefully it comes without stigmas!

It comes with a bottle of stuff you rub on your scalp so you can grow a whole lot of hair and wear spandex. You just have to do it. Don't ask why. There is no why.

 

[rusheroo]

I don't own a Ric, but I've played a few. I'm a huge Rush fan and I will get one someday, just likely not to be now because I'm only 15 But I normally play a jazz bass and a schecter custom and I think the Rics are comfortable. And that tone.... It makes my hair stand up!

 

[Jeff Scott]

I don't own a Ric, but I've played a few. I'm a huge Rush fan and I will get one someday, just likely not to be now because I'm only 15

Okay, in a couple of years, then. I got my first one at 17.

 

[eban3]

This statement makes zero sense, considering the number of great bass players who have played Rics and the number of albums they have been played on.

First off JT its not the bass , its the player .....Its all personal taste man ,I grew up a Yes head had 3 4001's and 2 4005's over a 9 year period 70's- 80's , but today there's so many better instruments being built ...Rics really have 2 tones (to me ) very limited and unless you get a pre 74 with a nice wide flat neck , the necks are like pencils , the QC on their current builds is questionable and their customer service treats people like theyre doing you a favor by being there .just sayin ..kinda sux ,,,and really they play like a toy compared to many "new" basses and like ............ the 70's is so............... dead ................................

 

[Gizmot]

I play a Midnight blue Rickenbacker in my dreams. The only thing stopping me from pulling the trigger on one are the horror stories I hear about them all of the time. Are they really that much of a pain?

Rickenbackers are fabulous instruments and only get better the longer you own them. I've known a bunch of musicians who have owned their products over the years and I don't know of one single problem with any of them. Pull the trigger - its all good

 

[Twangster101]

I play a Midnight blue Rickenbacker in my dreams. The only thing stopping me from pulling the trigger on one are the horror stories I hear about them all of the time. Are they really that much of a pain?

I received my 4003 in Midnight Blue last night and it is immaculate! My others are too.

 

[Jeff Scott]

 

[Joe Kyle]

I think it boils down to:

For the price they ask for them, a more rigorous QC program could be implemented. They sound lovely. Some like blondes, some like brunettes, but they need to both check that their underwear isn't showing.

 

[Somnambulance]

I think it boils down to:

For the price they ask for them, a more rigorous QC program could be implemented. They sound lovely. Some like blondes, some like brunettes, but they need to both check that their underwear isn't showing.

I like red heads.