White with black trim and Burgundyglo are both on my bucket list.
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Rickenbacker - Why do you love/hate it?
- Thread starter jroboat
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- rickenbacker why?
I neither love or hate them. Being a pretty fairly solidly Fender guy, they do feel different. The body is bigger and thinner, so sometimes they feel like a big cardboard cutout (in the nicest sense!) after a solid blob like a Jazz bass. I've played an old '70s 4001 that seemed especially thin, front to back.
I like the necks as well. I chased thinner necks until, ultimately, I had a Mustang bass. I then realized it isn't a thin neck as much as neck geometry. Some Rick necks feel like a square-section of wood with two corners sanded smooth, but my left hand seems to get on with them. They don't feel like the clubby neck of a Mike Dirnt bass, for example.
The tone is the best bit of the deal for me, but only because nobody else is sticking single coil pickups in those locations on other basses. There is a warmth, grind and clarity to a Rick bass. You can find, say, that pillowy warmth in a Gibson EB-0 but it won't have the clarity. Other basses have the same grind, but not the depth of tone, etc... The last Rick I played was a new Azure blue model, and my girlfriend thought it sounded great. She isn't a musician, so anything that sticks out to her is interesting to me. I think they are one of the fullest-sounding passive basses out there, and even the fretbuzz sounds musical.
The bridge cover does block a bit of access to the strings, and I wonder if (like the P bass) some of the best tones come from that area of strings obscured by the pickup cover. I have more of an issue with how RIC operate as a commercial entity, as well as the pervasive Rickenculture on a couple of online forums, but the basses themselves are inanimate objects so it is weird getting wound up them.
The two-rod system is sheer nonsense, in my opinion. If you are making necks that thick out of maple then a single rod (and maybe some graphite support) should do the job. The two-rod system seems to be a solution looking for a problem and, at least on older Rick basses, causes problems. Chastise your local repairman for not 'getting' how those old hairpin rods worked, but Fender and Gibson got it right.
I like the necks as well. I chased thinner necks until, ultimately, I had a Mustang bass. I then realized it isn't a thin neck as much as neck geometry. Some Rick necks feel like a square-section of wood with two corners sanded smooth, but my left hand seems to get on with them. They don't feel like the clubby neck of a Mike Dirnt bass, for example.
The tone is the best bit of the deal for me, but only because nobody else is sticking single coil pickups in those locations on other basses. There is a warmth, grind and clarity to a Rick bass. You can find, say, that pillowy warmth in a Gibson EB-0 but it won't have the clarity. Other basses have the same grind, but not the depth of tone, etc... The last Rick I played was a new Azure blue model, and my girlfriend thought it sounded great. She isn't a musician, so anything that sticks out to her is interesting to me. I think they are one of the fullest-sounding passive basses out there, and even the fretbuzz sounds musical.
The bridge cover does block a bit of access to the strings, and I wonder if (like the P bass) some of the best tones come from that area of strings obscured by the pickup cover. I have more of an issue with how RIC operate as a commercial entity, as well as the pervasive Rickenculture on a couple of online forums, but the basses themselves are inanimate objects so it is weird getting wound up them.
The two-rod system is sheer nonsense, in my opinion. If you are making necks that thick out of maple then a single rod (and maybe some graphite support) should do the job. The two-rod system seems to be a solution looking for a problem and, at least on older Rick basses, causes problems. Chastise your local repairman for not 'getting' how those old hairpin rods worked, but Fender and Gibson got it right.
I've never noticed a hum on mine either. I have the pickup cover on also.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
Had one. Liked it. Didn't love it. Sold it. I neither love them nor hate them. I like 'em, but not enough for the one I had to be a keeper.
My first expensive bass was a 4003 and I didn't kept for a full year, I couldn't get used to it and found it very limiting in range of styles of music I could used it for (I was more and more playing jazz). Got myself a J-bass and never turned back.
My girlfriend likes mine too and also isn't a musician. I bought a Precision bass after I already had a Rick and she said, "Don't you already have the best bass there is?"
I had a 4001 in the late '70s. Bought it new because at the time I liked the aggressive, forward sound Chris Squire got. Gigged it a few months, then sold it because the ergonomics didn't work for me (specifically the sharp edge on the body and the cover over the bridge pup) and I didn't care for the feel of the fingerboard. (I like an oiled rosewood board better.)
Yes, kinda like this. Every visual aspect of the Rick rubs me the wrong way.
But the general tone of a Rick is one of the best fretted bass tones I know of.
That being said, and never having played one - if it fit me well, I'd play one because tone and playability are above looks IMO.
But is that more down to the player than the bass?
If none of them sounded like what I expected that would be a valid conclusion. The fact that ~2 out of 24 did sound like those iconic recordings in my hands, while the others didn't (again, in my hands) speaks to product consistency and QC.
I only owned one, a new 4001 C64S in Jetglow that was really more matte black. The pros were the sound (nothing else like it), the style (Rics are very cool looking) and playability (slightly shorter scale and a very thin, narrow neck - at least relative to my 1.75" neck P basses). The cons were all around quality - cold solder joints, faulty pots and pickup switch, extremely delicate paint job, bridge saddles that rocked back and forth. The other con was the cost, which given the quality, was really a sore point for me. I had thought that I would kind of get into Rics and have a few, but not after this one. Too bad, I came into the experience wanting to become a fan.
Hi Spidey
finally 
you should have bought the Jazz back then
I took me only 5 seconds
to make her mine 
but may your Rick be with you
greetings!!! 
Wise(b)ass
I'm dead in the middle. I like they way they look and they way they sound...I don't think they are all that uncomfortable. I just don't have money or room for one (yet)
If it was playable. They are physically difficult to work with. They have a large, flat body, the one I tried this weekend had a 2x4 for a neck, and as I said the pickups are very prone to "popping" when you dig in. I could adjust to make one work, but then the question becomes "why"? Merely OK tone, difficult to play, unattractive, and way too expensive. I'd take one if someone was offering it to me.
I've been through three, currently have none!
On the plus side;
-looks... I have a great deal of lust for the look of a RIC and have never had so many compliments on my bass then when I played mine on gigs
-tone - much more versatile then they get credit for
Negative side;
-company policies regarding returns, especially the one year finish warranty and the customer paying to return an item that is under warranty
-half assed QC - of the three that have been through my hands, two had obvious QC issues - black paint spots under the clear coat on a fireglo! P/u's mounted crooked in the treble p/u. P/u selector switch that didn't even last a few months without having to be dealt with. Rubber band necks - I shouldn't be able to pull the neck out of it's locked position (truss rods snug) by leaning back in my chair to play it.
-Truss rod nuts that require a special order socket (cause RIC doesn't supply them!!!!!!) in order to adjust the rods. Or alternatively, having to dig out wood to get your driver onto the nut.
-Nut cut too high for even King Kong at the factory
-Crappy cases whose feet crush themselves into the case if not handled with kid's gloves
-John Hall
-Customer service that make you feel like you are bothering them and taking away form their morning nap.
-lack of choice of colours unless you want to order 20 or so
I could go on, but I think you get the idea...
Fishheadjoe
On the plus side;
-looks... I have a great deal of lust for the look of a RIC and have never had so many compliments on my bass then when I played mine on gigs
-tone - much more versatile then they get credit for
Negative side;
-company policies regarding returns, especially the one year finish warranty and the customer paying to return an item that is under warranty
-half assed QC - of the three that have been through my hands, two had obvious QC issues - black paint spots under the clear coat on a fireglo! P/u's mounted crooked in the treble p/u. P/u selector switch that didn't even last a few months without having to be dealt with. Rubber band necks - I shouldn't be able to pull the neck out of it's locked position (truss rods snug) by leaning back in my chair to play it.
-Truss rod nuts that require a special order socket (cause RIC doesn't supply them!!!!!!) in order to adjust the rods. Or alternatively, having to dig out wood to get your driver onto the nut.
-Nut cut too high for even King Kong at the factory
-Crappy cases whose feet crush themselves into the case if not handled with kid's gloves
-John Hall
-Customer service that make you feel like you are bothering them and taking away form their morning nap.
-lack of choice of colours unless you want to order 20 or so
I could go on, but I think you get the idea...
Fishheadjoe
yes sound good but ... it may sound superficial but i just can't get past the looks to ever want to own one. they look clunky like a bad frankinbass imo. nothing on the bass looks like it was ever meant to fit together.
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devnulljp
Supporting Member
I loved everything about my old 4003 except the way the truss rods work.
It sounded great, played well, I thought it was beautiful ... hated doing a setup on it, so I finally sold it.
I hear they've changed the truss rods, so I might look into one again.
The 4003W looks amazing.
Would love to find an aftermarket pickup cover made of something other than cheap plastic too.
It sounded great, played well, I thought it was beautiful ... hated doing a setup on it, so I finally sold it.
I hear they've changed the truss rods, so I might look into one again.
The 4003W looks amazing.
Would love to find an aftermarket pickup cover made of something other than cheap plastic too.
The cool thing about most ricks is that they are not a part of the "maple vs walnut" neck argument, since their neck surface is varnish.
Simple:
Coolest looking bass.
Coolest sounding bass.
Coolest looking bass.
Coolest sounding bass.
