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The Rickenbacker Club Part Eight

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#141
sloppy_phil said:
Kind of a shame that the bass you've now finally got in your possession is nigh on unplayable! if that isn't the worst kinda tease you could suffer at this juncture, I don't know what would be
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I know right? Its OK though... I'm actually been fighting off some kind of bug the last few days, so I am not much in a jamming mood right now anyway. ;)

Is this unplayble out of the box situation unusual for a brand new 4003 though? As I mentioned, I had always heard since I was a teenager that if you bought a new 4001/4003 it would need to be setup before it played like all the used ones myself and all my friends were far more experienced with. We couldn't afford a new one, cause unlike today, back then, the 5-10 year old 4001s were MUCH cheaper than a brand new one!

So... All the Rickenbacker guitars I owned prior to these recent purchases were more than a few years old and had been well broken in and in my case, never needed any serious work done on their necks, bridges etc.

How times have changed eh?

But back to that question... Is what I am seeing right now with the action/truss rod force unusual for a brand new out of the factory box 4003?
 
#142
GG7 said:
.......My 72 4001 JetGlo had the same binding. Why did RIC stop using that as a standard option offering? It makes the bass look so much classier to my eye! Gives it a real vintage feel! I have seen some of their recently produced one off guitars and many of them have that same binding, so they obviously still have access to the same material.......
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It's actually 2 layers of binding, a checkered one with a white layer around the outside. Some were checkered with black on the outside. You could also get plain black plus white and vice-versa. To do it required the binding route extending wider into the body. And then the added labor of applying two binding layers. Apparently, for a normal production model, it is too time consuming. That is why you only see it on some of their more expensive guitars.
 
#143
Coolhandjjl said:
It's actually 2 layers of binding, a checkered one with a white layer around the outside. Some were checkered with black on the outside. You could also get plain black plus white and vice-versa. To do it required the binding route extending wider into the body. And then the added labor of applying two binding layers. Apparently, for a normal production model, it is too time consuming. That is why you only see it on some of their more expensive guitars.
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Interesting... So were the 4001s that had this on them a special order bass originally? Its true that you never saw a huge amount of them even back in the day, but they were not super rare either.

Two of my buddies also had 4001s with that binding, and we all bought them used from pawn shops or out of the local paper. That was how it worked back then. Long before eBay and all the online sources we have today.

In some respects, this really helped keep prices down. There were some parts of the country where you could find killer deals on all sorts of older guitars. Instead of being priced as rare collectibles like they are today, they were treated as old used instruments that were worth far less than a brand new one of the same time period.
 
#144
GG7,

Yup, the checkerboard binding was phased out in late 73 but seemed to continue on as a special order. My early 73 4001 still has it but lacks the full width inlays. A few special projects got CB binding, like the 50 or 60 basses made for Guitar Center in the 80"s. They called this bass the Shadow. It was Jetglo with black hardware and pickguard. Bubinga fretboard with black fret dots and CB binding. One of my favorites!!

Sepp
 

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#147
Kopfjaeger said:
GG7,

Yup, the checkerboard binding was phased out in late 73 but seemed to continue on as a special order. My early 73 4001 still has it but lacks the full width inlays. A few special projects got CB binding, like the 50 or 60 basses made for Guitar Center in the 80"s. They called this bass the Shadow. It was Jetglo with black hardware and pickguard. Bubinga fretboard with black fret dots and CB binding. One of my favorites!!

Sepp
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WOW! Gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe that! I bet that looks amazing in person!

I usually prefer a bit more contrast on a black bass, but this is definitely the exception!

Do you still own this one? I sure hope so! ;)
 
#148
Yeah, the story of the check binding was one of expense. First, it was expensive to manufacture. I'm told it was made by gluing alternating sheets of black and white plastic to form a cubic meter block, then sawn into strips. It is indeed covered by an additional binding (usually white), so two separate operations. You can imagine what fun it must have been making the corners at the tips of the body horns. So it ends up being MORE than twice as expensive to do the checker binding than the now-standard single strip binding. Checker binding was featured on the 4001 ("deluxe") bass from the prototypes in late 1961 to the summer of 1973, and also on the back of the round-top version of the hollow-body 4005 from 1965 until summer of 1973. The double-bound version of the 4005 throughout its production run had simple, one-layer, white-strip binding on both sides. Checker binding was an option on price lists for a short period (1981-'83), but could have been added by special order for special customers at any time. Checker binding was standard on the 50 or 60 (never could firmly establish how many) Shadow basses made for Guitar Center in 1986 (with black outer strip), and on the 60 4004LK Lemmy basses (with white outer strip).
 
#149
Thanks for that info Paul!

I didn't realize that my 72 4001 was a "DELUXE" and was close to the last of the checked binding from the original run. If only had had held onto that great bass! Everything that lured me back to my recent purchase of a 4003 was based on those 10 great years I enjoyed with that bass as part of my studio gear.

I wonder if with all the new manufacturing technology available these days, if there could possibly be a more cost efficient way to produce that binding today? Sure would be cool to see it back on some new 4003s!

Thanks again!
 
#151
GG7,

Oh, I still have my Shadow! IMHO, it's one of the best kept secrets from RIC!! Mine is an 86 and it's got some nicks and dings in her but she has huge sound!! If all 1986 Rickenbacker 4003's sounded like this one, I'd buy a few more! yeah, it's that good!!

As for Black Rickenbackers, nothing is more black then the Blackstar! I bought this one from Jaymi, a few years ago and had her refinished. She's "a stone cold killer" in the tone department!

Sepp
 

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#152
Kopfjaeger said:
GG7,

Oh, I still have my Shadow! IMHO, it's one of the best kept secrets from RIC!! Mine is an 86 and it's got some nicks and dings in her but she has huge sound!! If all 1986 Rickenbacker 4003's sounded like this one, I'd buy a few more! yeah, it's that good!!

As for Black Rickenbackers, nothing is more black then the Blackstar! I bought this one from Jaymi, a few years ago and had her refinished. She's "a stone cold killer" in the tone department!

Sepp
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Awesome!

Man! I'm definitely jealous Sepp! You've cornered the market on some of the most gorgeous RIC basses I have ever seen! You lucky dog you! ;)

Jaymi said:
they do them for export to Japan and for one off's but not for anything else
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I guess it is just us old timers that have seen that binding in person who still pine for that look today. The younger crowd of Rickenbacker fans probably don't know much about how cool that checked binding looks on a JetGlo or one of those Shadows, so they don't know what we are all missing these days.

I wouldn't mind picking up a used 4001 with this binding some day, but the prices for anything early 70s has gotten so over the top ridiculous now that I could never bring myself to lay out 3k for something I previously paid $250.00 for! :hmm:

Especially since the ones I have seen in that price range look pretty beat. MIne was near mint when I bought it, and stayed that way when I sold it for $500.00 which was considered at the high end of the used market back in the late 80s.
 
#153
GG7,

Thanks man!! I do love my Rickenbackers!! You are right, the checkered binding models do tend to go for more money since they often come with more desirable features like toaster neck pups in the 1/2 inch position, full width inlays, aluminum 3 screw tailpieces and slotted pole treble pups. Not to mention real magnetized horseshoes on 1968 and prior treble pups. Those additions are what serious Rickenbacker guys go for. Your 1972 most likely had all those bells and whistles!

This early 73 has the first style 5 screw tail piece and one of the first non full width inlay basses. However, it does have a toaster at the neck, Wavey Grovers, checkered binding, and the huge magnet slotted treble pup. She is quite a bit heavier than my other Rickenbackers. She was originally a Burgundyglo but was re-finished Autumglo.

Sepp
 

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#154
Kopfjaeger said:
GG7,

Thanks man!! I do love my Rickenbackers!! You are right, the checkered binding models do tend to go for more money since they often come with more desirable features like toaster neck pups in the 1/2 inch position, full width inlays, aluminum 3 screw tailpieces and slotted pole treble pups. Not to mention real magnetized horseshoes on 1968 and prior treble pups. Those additions are what serious Rickenbacker guys go for. Your 1972 most likely had all those bells and whistles!

This early 73 has the first style 5 screw tail piece and one of the first non full width inlay basses. However, it does have a toaster at the neck, Wavey Grovers, checkered binding, and the huge magnet slotted treble pup. She is quite a bit heavier than my other Rickenbackers. She was originally a Burgundyglo but was re-finished Autumglo.

Sepp
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WOW! You sure have an awesome collection Sepp! How long have you been collecting these? And how many of them have the checked binding? So far I think I have seen three? This one above, the shadow and that FireGlo.

Mine did have those wavvy Grover tuners on it and the toaster on the neck pup. I forget what the original tailpiece had screw wise since for most of the time I owned it, I had a BadAss II bridge on it. When I sold it I sold it like that, but I still had the original bridge too and of course gave all that to the buyer, who was a real cute female bass player! :)

I wonder if she still has it all these years later? I am always looking very closely at any 72 4001s I see on eBay or elsewhere in case I actually see MY old bass. Someone out there is probably cherishing that great bass as we speak!
 
#156
BassGen said:
I wouldn't panic yet. My 2011 MapleGlo (3rd week of Sept. production date) was perfect.

IIRC I've read that when Ric is making JetGlo's that is all they are making. Then they move to another finish for a while. Then another. Given the proximity of the serial numbers that GG7 got from MF there is a high probability that whatever the problem is, it is related to JetGlo's from one specific production run.
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Hope you are right my friend. Monday 4/1/13 is NBD for the 4003 FG I ordered. I'll post how it turns out.
 
#160
hsech said:
Hope you are right my friend. Monday 4/1/13 is NBD for the 4003 FG I ordered. I'll post how it turns out.
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Looking forward to hearing and seeing how this one looks!

I second the comment about not worrying about the problems I ran into with these JetGlos. RIC confirmed with me over the phone that the finish problem was strictly limited to a specific production range of 2011 JetGlo 4003s.

No other finish was effected.
 
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