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Rickenbacker Whats the differnce?

Hi Elys. Please contact Dale regarding your '66 4005WB. He has been trying to get in touch with you for some time now.

Thanks John! Good to hear from you! I did not know that, since neither I nor any of the staff have received any communications from him since last year. I no longer have his contact info either in the iPhone. (upgraded to the latest one in July, it's nice:hyper:)

Funny though, I also sent him a check last October in full payment for his work on this 1966 4005WB, including prepaid shipping in a humidity-controlled case and the works, along with payment for two sets of vintage spare truss rods and a couple of finger rest blanks. But the warehouse in Maryland says they never received a shipped bass from him in return.......

Since I know that Dale is one of the most honest guys around, I am sure there is a ready explanation for this.

Could you please email me his contact info? Thanks :help:
 
Hey, at least you're on 3G! I'm still stuck at a snail's pace on EDGE. :hmm:

Email sent with Dale's email address.

Thanks again John! Hey, so go get yourself a v2 and go faster! 3G works great in cities and along most major highways, but my v2 drops back to EDGE a lot everywhere else.

Ever tried to use your iPhone as a wireless guitar transmitter on-stage? It actually works surprisingly well while in 3G mode (in-town near a tower), the added bandwidth passes 48kHz 320kb/s digitized stereo audio with surprising fidelity, only takes a couple of adapters..... :ninja:
 
Excuse me, but you getting booted had nothing to do with me. Yes I am a moderator of the bass section there now, but I do not have the capability to ban anyone. Your getting banned had to do with your own inflammatory remarks that were inappropriate for the forum. Don't worry I won't sling mud back at you and call you a stupid name like we are in grammar school. Brown noser? Give me a break, dude!! What should I call you?...I won't sink to a childish level of name calling.
I used to like you Jeff. Used to stick up for you when others picked on you. When you first started 4-2-5'ing basses, I told you I thought it was cool. You never have anything nice to say to anyone, yet you fishing for compliments when you put together a bass or 4-2-5 one.
YOU talked me out of liking you!!!

Joey:

I thought you were blocking my posts and refusing to read them ... Hey I am off your stinking forum ... when I was there you continually posted bad stuff about me and I didn't ever have a bad thing to say about you ... I tried to mend fences ... but you rickresource guys can't seem to stand the fact that I no longer prefer a Rickenbacker as my number one instrument ...

GET OVER IT

I have lost interest in arguing with rickresource members
 
That forum reminds me of Scientologists. Scary stuff my friends. Beware the evil that lurks behind the plastic smile.

BTW, I really tried to like the 4003, but the neck was too damn big, the pickups were weak, and the bridge sucked.

What?
 
That forum reminds me of Scientologists. Scary stuff my friends. Beware the evil that lurks behind the plastic smile.

BTW, I really tried to like the 4003, but the neck was too damn big, the pickups were weak, and the bridge sucked.

I have Series II Alembics that beat any Rick I own, but in general, the necks of Rick 400x vary widely across model years, and the original aluminum bridge (which was great) on the earlier models was replaced by a sucky weak zinc bridge that is still being used today on the 4003. The pickups vary widely too.

I have to say, the best and thinnest necks that I have are from 1963 to 1972 4001, and the only thing in later production that comes close are the 199x 4001 CS Chris Squire model, and the early-production v63. You would like playing one of those necks.

I prefer my Jazz bass necks to the 4003, almost without exception. Notable is my 1957 Fender model with a weird "V" shape, totally unlike the two Fender 58s with a more conventional "D" shape. A favorite is a Feb 1969 with the B neck at 1 5/8 inch width, and there are a couple of A necks that I like, although they are not so slim.

If you hate thick necks, then Alembic is not for you, as they are a pronounced flattened "D" shape, especially in the 5-string and six-string versions that I love. The 24-fret neck and deep cutaway is kinda nice, though. Rick basses only have 20-frets, despite their deep cutaway (except for my favorite January 1970 4001 with a special factory-fitted 21-fret neck), and they have never produced a 24-fret bass neck.

On the electronics, Rick is known for primitive electronics. But, you can get the toasters hotwound with finer gauge wire and increase the passive output, or just get a completely-reversible active electronics mod where you swap out the entire wiring harness, and that is fixed nicely.

Understandably, RIC has gone to great lengths to protect its trademarks and patented or trademarked a great deal of the uniquity of its basses, something Fender never did and that is why we enjoy so many Fenderish clones and variety of modern parts to build the dream Fenderish bass.

So the availability of 400x parts that still allow a completely-reversible mod is limited. But you can increase the performance of the 4003 bridge by simply making sure you have an aluminum version of the bridge, and fitting shaved washers under the bridge itself to bring the bridge more solidly in contact with the body. With the great neck-through advantage that the 400x shares with its Alembic brothers, I think the sustain can be improved drastically this way, bringing it up to or better than a Fender for sure.
 


Didja ever see that 1961 Twilight Zone episode with Billy Mumy, the Lost In Space Kid, called "It's A Good Life" ? He was an immature little boy with vast mental powers, who could control everyone in the little town of Peaksville. He was absolute master, and could suppress any kind of negative thoughts that differed from his own, and collected only those around him who praised and kissed up to him constantly. Anyone who disagreed with his rosy always-positive view of life or who dared to speak out with their own thoughts or disagreements with his godlike view of things was ruthlessly suppressed, or "put out in the field" with all the other dead people he had killed off from his little world .....

Twilight Zone was a great series. Wish they had had an episode about a musician who played bass.. They did one who was a trumpet or cornet player, IIRC, though.
 
That forum reminds me of Scientologists. Scary stuff my friends. Beware the evil that lurks behind the plastic smile.

BTW, I really tried to like the 4003, but the neck was too damn big, the pickups were weak, and the bridge sucked.

What?

Sheesh. I've got almost 8,000 posts there, I suppose that practically makes me L. Ron Hubbard?

I'm sorry the 4003 wasn't for you. You should try out a new one - the necks are much slimmer than they were only a few years ago, although I actually prefer the chunky necks, as on my '99.

I really like my Fender Jazz too, and can't wait to get a Lakland Skyline Decade.

What?
 
Joey:

I thought you were blocking my posts and refusing to read them ... Hey I am off your stinking forum ... when I was there you continually posted bad stuff about me and I didn't ever have a bad thing to say about you ... I tried to mend fences ... but you rickresource guys can't seem to stand the fact that I no longer prefer a Rickenbacker as my number one instrument ...

I have lost interest in arguing with rickresource members

Sure I blocked your posts. How many times did I have to read the same thing, OVER and OVER and OVER again.

I'm still posting where I want.
You're the one who has to get over it.
Have fun here Jeff. Don't worry I won't reply anymore to your posts. Carry on, as you do.
 
JOEY JOEY JOEY...

didn't you guys have enough fun trashing my every commont on your intolerant forum?

do you really feel it is necessary to come here and rag on me for not worshiping at the Rickenbacker alter?

the more you guys come here and post negative comments the more you prove my point and make your forum look bad.

let it go
 
There are plenty of five string players still active on the forum.

There are plenty of people on the forum who prefer their Fenders, or Alembics, or what-have-you, to their Rickenbackers. This is commonplace - many people look at Rickenbackers as more of a "specialty" type instrument, whereas the Jazz and the Precision are (and will always be) the industry standards. It's cool. They didn't come to the Rick Resource Forum to talk about their other stuff. If they want to, that's cool too - we have several sections for discussing non-Rickenbacker stuff.

I've made several threads there on other brands - at least two on the Lakland Decade, at least one on Fender Jazzmasters, one on my Fender Jazz, one when I was curious about an Ampeg AEB-1, and one about the difficulty I had in trying to purchase a vintage Fender bass about a year ago (was worried about counterfeits).

There are plenty of people on the forum who are into more than just Beatles and other classic rock music. I know you mentioned several times, Jeff, that you were into playing modern alternative music. So are many others. It's not frowned upon.

Where does this "intolerance" talk come from?

I'm not trying to goad you into an argument, Jeff. I am sincerely curious.
 
John ... you were one of the reasonable people there ...

But some seemed to bash me and my posts with a religious zeal ...

For some reason when others post they like a jazz or zon or sadowski they don't get jumped on as much as I did ... but in the last year it got really popular to dump on me ... and the more they did the more indignant my posts got ...

The bottom line is I am very happy to be permantly banned from that forum.

It is very clicky there ... if you modify your Rick they treat you like a red-headed stepchild ... there is a snoby pecking order ... if you know certain famous players, or play a 60s Ric, or know a lot about Rics, or are good friend with a Ric employee then you move up the pecking order ...

On the surface it is friendly ... but underneath it can be brutal ...

This forum is a better fit for me ... nobody gets upset if I say I prefer a jazz over a p-bass or a Rick over an epiphone ... they are all just tools and we all make personal choices.

That forum needs more diversity and more tolerance. They need to realize that when I say I like my jazz better than a Rickenbacker it is NOT a personal attack. Most of the world's musicians prefer something other than Rickenbackers. There is nothing wrong with that.

When a forum encourages the idea that one instrument is better than others then it encourages snobery. Then they look down at those who play other instruments.
 
What is really cool is that after playing Rickenbacker basses since 1973 I am finally to the point that I could sell all of my Rics and be fine with my bass collection ...

I am really looking forward to playing my new parts bass ...

it will be completed soon ...

it will have a genuine Fender Body, white, a tortoise pickguard, a 4 string p-bass neck strung with 5 strings, SD 1/4 pound pickups, an Audere 4 band preamp, and a mm shaped 5 string bridge ... it may become my new favorite bass ...
 
Sheesh. I've got almost 8,000 posts there, I suppose that practically makes me L. Ron Hubbard?

I'm sorry the 4003 wasn't for you. You should try out a new one - the necks are much slimmer than they were only a few years ago, although I actually prefer the chunky necks, as on my '99.

I really like my Fender Jazz too, and can't wait to get a Lakland Skyline Decade.

What?

More like Tom Cruise lol. :p

I'm really sorry that that the 4003 didn't work for me either. I had waited years to play that bass, and I was quite let down by it's shortcomings. I believe this was an 06 or 07 model. Fairly recent heritage for sure. I bet there are nice Rics out there, and maybe someday I'll try another, but for now I'll stick with my Fenders.

+1 to the Lakland Skyline, pure yummy.

Que?