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THE RETURN OF THE RICKENBACKER 4005

#81
Pauly 4001 said:
Yours is a fine example and is fully intact.
Mine came from a touring band in Australia and had no tailpiece so I found a cheap Ovation Typhoon tailpiece and crudely adapted it.
The headstock was cut so it would fit into an old hardshell guitar case and one of the tuners is slightly overhanging the butchered end of the headstock.
I meant to refinish it as the black paint is badly applied with a brush. The body seems to have a walnut top.
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Cool story! Do you intend to go through with refinishing it? Not sure what wood mine is, there's hardly any visible grain. Probably some sort of laminate. I keep mine in an acoustic guitar gigbag, the headstock just barely fits in. It's not totally complete: it's missing the bridge cover, and originally there's supposed to have been a piece of plastic with an "S" logo glued to the rosewood bit on the tailpiece.
 
#86
Pauly 4001 said:
Here's my poor abused Shaftesbury.

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This Shaftesbury is nothing to be ashamed of.
 
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#87
Still dreaming on a Serek btw...
Yet those 4005s are exactly what RikcnBkr should propose. I guess them 5kilos are part of the global scheme... Ah, 4005s will always be my rare and desirable bird.

Besides, I'am a 19mm-at-the-bridge guy, so... will bitterly pass away, again. Ricks are beauties, all of them.
And they sound.

Makes a Serek an affordable alternative, just saying..
 
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#88
MotorCityMinion said:
One pickup at the end of the fret board, one right at the bridge. Couldn't be weirder. Not a sweet spot anywhere. A tonal monstrosity. Pretty cool if your in a Partridge family or Peter, Paul & Mary tribute band.
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Negatory. The only tribute band that will fit would be one for the W. C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band.
 
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#91
lOmnivore S said:
Still dreaming on a Serek btw...
Yet those 4005s are exactly what RikcnBkr should propose. I guess them 5kilos are part of the global scheme... Ah, 4005s will always be my rare and desirable bird.

Besides, I'am a 19mm-at-the-bridge guy, so... will bitterly pass away, again. Ricks are beauties, all of them.
And they sound.

Makes a Serek an affordable alternative, just saying..
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Serek is wonderful!!! I own a Lincoln made by them! The prices have been steadily going up, however. The price of a semihollow Sacramento is awfully close to retail for these 4005s! But then again, of course, you get something made completely to spec you'd like!
 
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#93
Marko 1 said:
I wonder if the neck can handle BEAD
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BEAD has less tension than EADG, not more. To be precise, it takes a seriously fat B (135 and up) to match the tension of a very common (045) G, let alone exceed it = a 4-stringer converted to BEAD tuning will end up having gone down in tension, not up, for most players.
A low-B typical gauge is only tight if you tune it up to E: kept at B, it can be significantly lower tension than other strings of typical gauge.
If we select the outer edges of what's common, a 070 D can be double the tension of a 120 low B.
 
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#94
HaphAsSard said:
BEAD has less tension than EADG, not more. To be precise, it takes a seriously fat B (135 and up) to match the tension of a very common (045) G, let alone exceed it = a 4-stringer converted to BEAD tuning will end up having gone down in tension, not up, for most players.
A low-B typical gauge is only tight if you tune it up to E: kept at B, it can be significantly lower tension than other strings of typical gauge.
If we select the outer edges of what's common, a 070 D can be double the tension of a 120 low B.
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Many months ago I bought a cheap 4-string (great deal) that played fine, I strung it BEAD, and soon I couldn't get the action low enough for it to be playable, truss rod bottomed out. I put it on the wall for months assuming it had a bad neck.

Just today I restrung it EADG (needed the strings on it for another bass) and the strings were literally laying on the frets, I gave it some relief so I had some action to work with.

Thanks for the science, but I'll go with my anecdotal. :)
 
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#95
Marko 1 said:
Many months ago I bought a cheap 4-string that played fine, I strung it BEAD, and soon I couldn't get the action low enough for it to be playable, truss rod bottomed out. I put it on the wall for months assuming it had a bad neck.

Just today I restrung it EADG (needed the strings on it for another bass) and the strings were literally laying on the frets, I gave it some relief so I had some action to work with.

Thanks for the science, but I'll go with my anecdotal. :)
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It depends on the gauges (and specific strings) you used before and after: I clearly implied leaving the E, A and D unchanged. Of course if they weren't, and gauges for those three strings have gone down (and/or if the new ones are inherently less massive than the old), total tension may well have gone down. If not, I got nothing. Still, I stand by my post above.
 
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#100
Wood and Wire said:
And please excuse my ignorance; but did the 4001S with the 4005 electronics package, used by JPJ, have an official model number, or is it unique?
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4001S Experimental. And, a one-off (disregarding the few copy basses made by individuals). My 4004L SPC was inspired by that bass and my former 4005WB.
 
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