Thunderbird Club

[kat888]

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When I was a Ric grrrl the one I really wanted was the 4005. Never had the money for one when I saw one and then they were ultra rare/expensive.

 

[woodyng2]

I found this one on Reverb...
2016 Rickenbacker 4004CII Cheyenne Mapleglo w/case
It's nice looking and new, is there a big difference between the Cii and the Cheyenne? What's the going rate for a used one in mint condition?

I have a mapleglo Cii ,which is a great bass as well. The main difference is in the body wings,which are a maple/walnut/maple sandwich,as opposed to the all-walnut wings on the Ci. I see these all the time on Reverb and ebay for prices well north of $2k,but i doubt anyone is paying that much. In fact,i would bet they're less expensive brand new....i'll have to pop over on Wildwood's site to see.

Edit-no 4004 models on wildwood,but pick of the ricks has a new mapleglo one for $2179.

Edit2-i've got a Cheyenne,a Cii,and 2 customised Laredos. I've gotten them all used,and priced under 2k. (the jetglo Laredo was $1k!) The cheyenne i may have paid a bit much for at $1800,but it's in excellent condition,and out of production,as I mentioned earlier.

 

[Gaolee]

Call me Ric curious. I've never played one but have often thought about getting one of the walnut radius edged models (identical to the lower left one in Woodys post), no idea what model it is or what it costs but it looks cool and I assume the neck Humbucker warms up the tone nicely. Maybe one of these days I'll bite the bullet.

I have had a couple 4003s. They are pretty nice. I liked the neck well enough, and it's a slightly shorter scale, which is OK. It didn't throw me off at all anyway. I got along with them fine, but for whatever reason, they didn't sink their claws into me like the Precision did or like the EB-2 did or like 'Birds do. Even the 2013 EB stuck around, but the Rics didn't. I like the idea of Rics, and playing them was just fine. They just weren't keepers for me. I usually keep everything, too. Go figure.

 

[Gaolee]

When I was a Ric grrrl the one I really wanted was the 4005. Never had the money for one when I saw one and then they were ultra rare/expensive.

That's one I would like, just for the looks. It would hang on the wall, get ooohed over, and probably never get played. But, it would sure look good!

 

[woodyng2]

That's one I would like, just for the looks. It would hang on the wall, get ooohed over, and probably never get played. But, it would sure look good!

I had a maple 4005 years ago. My impression was that it was the best bass Hofner never made.

 

[Gaolee]

I had a maple 4005 years ago. My impression was that it was the best bass Hofner never made.

That's disappointing.

I have an EB-2d. It started my love affair with Gibson bass guitars. It doesn't sound anything like a Hofner. I would have expected a 4005 to sound more like the EB-2 than a violin bass.

 

[Count Bassie]

That's disappointing.

I have an EB-2d. It started my love affair with Gibson bass guitars. It doesn't sound anything like a Hofner. I would have expected a 4005 to sound more like the EB-2 than a violin bass.

There's a blurry area to me in the Beatles' career where Paul switches over from the Hofner to a Ric. In his hands anyway, there is a similar tone to them. You can tell the difference, but on both of them he digs up his own voice. His is my favorite Ric sound- then Squire's.

 

[ubernator]

So I had an offer accepted, so I am no longer after a TV silver. Tonight I go check out one of the recent vintage sunbursts, confirmed it has 1.5" nut and clear gloss on the back of the neck.

$200 and a drive to south orange county. Includes epiphone hard case, and I am probably going to go to guitar center afterwards to see if they will give me the sale price on another RR1EB gig bag at guitar center, and drop that case off at storage on the way home.

Fingers crossed it has no issues... I will be up late doing a setup for sure, goal is to show it off tomorrow at practice but won't get to put it through its paces till the following week since the drummer is not coming tomorrow. But it will be perfect time to compare it with the goth.

The OLP MM2 will probably go back to standard tuning and I will install the basslines blackouts mini preamp, which then bumps the cts/switchcraft harness over to my milestone II/QP finally.

Next on gas list, above mentioned preamp, beat up 93 fury, and finally (famous last words) a foundation 5 vfl or Dyna 5 and my "safe for my situation" set of basses will be complete if not overflowing. Come to think of it, the #1 jazz bass goes back to storage tonight as well, it really needs an overhaul, fret work and full electronics cleaning, and it is too sentimental for me to risk losing it at this point in my life. I got hit hard on the amp side at the end of 2015, and I don't think I could handle losing my fenders or Warwicks.

Epi birds and peaveys are now my workhorses.

 

[woodyng2]

That's disappointing.

I have an EB-2d. It started my love affair with Gibson bass guitars. It doesn't sound anything like a Hofner. I would have expected a 4005 to sound more like the EB-2 than a violin bass.

It was more of a backhanded compliment. I don't really like beatle basses to play,but they sound great,and the 4005 was like what a really good,almost full scale hb Hoffie would be like.

 

[Korladis]

I learned to play on the 4001 in my avatar, wish to hell I hadn't sold it all those years ago. Would love to add a 4004 to the herd, just having a tough time parting with the $2300 or so they want for one.

Go for a used one? I love Rickenbackers, but I didn't buy either of mine new.

When I was a Ric grrrl the one I really wanted was the 4005. Never had the money for one when I saw one and then they were ultra rare/expensive.

They look amazing, but I probably wouldn't like the sound as much as the 4003. Bridge pickup seems like it's probably too close to the actual bridge for me to get that much use out of it.

 

[kat888]

It was more of a backhanded compliment. I don't really like beatle basses to play,but they sound great,and the 4005 was like what a really good,almost full scale hb Hoffie would be like.

The first bass I played was a Höfner Violin. We didn't like each other very much. My recollection is it was very awkward to play, then again maybe the awkwardness was me.

 

[TBird1958]

Of all the basses I've owned and sold, the '73 4001, yeah, I still kick myself in ass about that. Great bass.

 

[Klondike]

Ok seeing as we are completely off the rails. My Sandblasted Fender Precision. Kinda gimmicky, hippie ish but it has that special something. The Ric 4003s went the Fender stayed, kinda even surprised myself.

I would proudly own one of those, blue of course.

 

[kat888]

Guild B300 sightings

 

[godofthunder59]

My apologies if this has already been discussed (I don't recall seeing it if it was) but have you seen the new skinny stringed sister to our TBirds? The 2017 Gibson Firebird Zero which is essentially a Lefty Firebird for a Righty. I haven't yet found any indication of a TBird equal.

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Real low price point on these, you could get a lot more for 500 bucks . A bass version might be fun.

 

[Mosstone]

There's a blurry area to me in the Beatles' career where Paul switches over from the Hofner to a Ric. In his hands anyway, there is a similar tone to them. You can tell the difference, but on both of them he digs up his own voice. His is my favorite Ric sound- then Squire's.

McCartney started playing the Ric around '65 on the Rubber Soul album. No one knows for sure how much he played each bass or on what tracks (no one in the studio kept notes about what guitars were played on which tracks. Didn't think anyone would care). It's hard to tell the difference by listening because the engineers' goal was to make the Ric sound the same as the Hofner and bury it in the mix. Maybe not as much on Rubber Soul as on albums past, but still not prominent enough to really hear much of either basses' respective tonal characters in detail.

McCartney also used flatwound strings on the Ric, just as he did on the Hofner. Probably the same brand ("long shiny ones").

 

[JIO]

McCartney started playing the Ric around '65 on the Rubber Soul album. No one knows for sure how much he played each bass or on what tracks (no one in the studio kept notes about what guitars were played on which tracks. Didn't think anyone would care). It's hard to tell the difference by listening because the engineers' goal was to make the Ric sound the same as the Hofner and bury it in the mix. Maybe not as much on Rubber Soul as on albums past, but still not prominent enough to really hear much of either basses' respective tonal characters in detail.

McCartney also used flatwound strings on the Ric, just as he did on the Hofner. Probably the same brand ("long shiny ones").

Loved his playing/tone on Taxman (Revolver - album after RS) Wonder which bass that was.

 

[Gaolee]

The first bass I played was a Höfner Violin. We didn't like each other very much. My recollection is it was very awkward to play, then again maybe the awkwardness was me.

Probably not you. The strings are so close together that it takes a certain kind of fingers to play one. I don't have those fingers.

 

[Mosstone]

Loved his playing/tone on Taxman (Revolver - album after RS) Wonder which bass that was.

All his playing around that time was poppin'! I've always thought he played the Ric mostly at that point, but that's just my opinion. He really stretched out a lot around that time and things started to loosen up in the studio. They started bringing the bass forward in the mix more and experimenting with micing - including using a 15" speaker as a microphone to record the bass on Paperback Writer.

I think of Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper as a Tryptic of sorts. It's almost like a narrative arc. An illustration of progression. Three distinctly different albums, but you can see how they're related. How each album builds on the one before.

 

[Dadagoboi]

McCartney also used flatwound strings on the Ric, just as he did on the Hofner. Probably the same brand ("long shiny ones").

McCartney's Rick escapades:
mccartney6

No one was using round wound bass strings when Rubber Soul was recorded. Rotosound 66s were introduced in, wait for it...1966 and didn't become really popular until the early 70s. They were the first and only for a long time.

"Rotosound's trademark Swing Bass string set was first produced in 1966. John Entwistle of The Who came to the Rotosound string factory looking for an even-sounding, heavy roundwound bass string. Entwistle spent the afternoon there, trying string after string before settling on a set that would become known as Swing Bass 66". Wikipedia

Fun fact: A set of Rotosounds cost $30 in '74, my rent was $50 a month. Thirty dollars then is the equivalent of $146 today.