Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
- Status
sloppy_phil said:
Sounds like you were having a blast! Sound isn't too bad, I mean it is camcorder probably but I've seen lots worse.
PaulBoyer said:
DrunkHeffalump has one too though I think his was a hybrid of switching black hardware from another Ric Bass. He had it at the Toronto GTG last fall.
I picked mine up off TB here a month or so ago. Apparently it's one of the last 4001s made and was ordered from the factory like this. I love black hardware, and I love dark blue, so it fits me great!
Noticed your avatar. Have you seen the 40th anniversary box set Fripp and Steven Wilson have planned for Larks Tongues in Aspic?
Check it here: Invalid Link Removed
What makes you think it is a 4001 rather than a 4003?
Check the date stamp on the jackplate and let me know. The 4001 passed out of inventory by the mid '80s, and black trim and hardware (combined) and Midnight blue started in 1985. I have yet to see a 4001 with black hardware from the factory, so I think you have a 4003. Please let me know the date. Thanks!
Well, the previous owner told me it was a 4001 and the truss rod cover says 4001. I can certainly check the date stamp when I get home from work today. I know very little about Rics (this is my first one, but I already have my second on the way!) but this is what the previous owner told me, to the best of his knowledge.
DUDE! Very cool stuff there!
Thanks, gents! Yeah, we usually have a pretty good time when we play. And it was the first real show with the vocalist/percussionist to my left; he was killing those harmonies, and I couldn't help but love it!
And I think it was recorded on a dude's iPhone. so yeah, not bad, considering how close to the stage he was!
the transition era is really strange! Mine is an '84 4003, and it's labelled as such, but basically every piece of hardware in there suggests it's a 4001. It has the old-style truss rods, the 70s stock pickups, the .0047 cap, and even freakin' wavy grovers! I'm guessing that during the transition they were trying to use up as much of the 4001 stock as they could, and so a bunch of basses went out that were in-betweeners. Calling them 4001s or 4003s doesn't necessarily define their specs as such
OK, but the original owner is incorrect. The serial number system wasn't different between the 4001 and 4003. It is possible that a 4001 could have still been in inventory that long, but not likely. The 4003 was introduced in 1980. It had the same "old" style of truss rods (hairpin type), but had the adjusting nuts at the body end of the neck, and had a split pick guard to ease access to them. By the spring of '86, RIC went to a more traditional style of truss rod which would have an acorn nut (non adjustable) at the body end, and adjuster nuts at the headstock. Quickest way to tell what you have is to look under the pick guard at the base of the fingerboard. If you don't see nuts of any kind at the end of the slots cut into the neck at the base of the fingerboard, then you have a 4001. If that is the case, you have a very unusual combination of the old-style bass with the new-style trim.
If you see nuts there that are not acorn nuts and have metal trust plates behind them, then you have the original-style 4003. This would also have two slots cut into the base of the headstock and no visible rods or nuts at the head. If you have acorn nuts at the body end, and adjusters at the head, then it is the later-style 4003 which was just coming into production about that time (if your seller has the date code right; YJ would be for October 1985).
One thing about Rickenbacker; there are no absolutes. As a relatively small company, RIC could do anything at any time, and timelines at starting or ending points are fuzzy at best.
If you see nuts there that are not acorn nuts and have metal trust plates behind them, then you have the original-style 4003. This would also have two slots cut into the base of the headstock and no visible rods or nuts at the head. If you have acorn nuts at the body end, and adjusters at the head, then it is the later-style 4003 which was just coming into production about that time (if your seller has the date code right; YJ would be for October 1985).
One thing about Rickenbacker; there are no absolutes. As a relatively small company, RIC could do anything at any time, and timelines at starting or ending points are fuzzy at best.
Thanks for the info! Like I said, I'm new to Rics, so I'm pretty clueless. I actually have to pull the pickguard up tonight because I apparently accidentally wired my bridge pickup out of phase, so I will take a look at the heel of the neck while I'm at it.
And Phil, your tone sounds wicked in that video!
And Phil, your tone sounds wicked in that video!
This came into my hands a couple of weeks back. Sadly, as I've just moved countries for Uni, I've not been able to take this mint condition, '78 4001 with me, and only had a day or two with it. My life is awful... Downside is, no recordings yet, hope to get some when I go home for the New Year period. Based on the few short hours I've spent with this bass, it'll follow me to the grave...
sloppy_phil said:
Isn't 1984 the year Ric went from old truss rod to the new ones, thus some of the 84 do have the old system.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
That is sweet! Love the black "trim"
I could try it out for you if.......
Cheers!
If you're prepared to fly to Switzerland, get in contact with my drummer (who has the keys to the band room it's chilling in), make your way to the band room in the middle of nowhere and then work out which key unlocks which door, you can jam on it all you like!
Could be. I'm still not clear on when RIC "started" with the new rods, but it appears by early '86 they all "should" have them. If you've got more info to clarify dates, please let me know!
Ahhh yes, phew. You had me worried there. I quit playing for a few years (long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away) & bad things happened, mmm'kay
Good call there, much safer idea.
Hope you get a few gigs doubling in Dublin
Good call there, much safer idea.
Hope you get a few gigs doubling in Dublin
- Status
