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WHAT??? Rickenbacker 4003S!?

#42
Root 5 said:
I've said it elsewhere on this forum and bears repeating: I knew a fella that bought a brand new 4003 from an authorized dealer. The neck did the pretzel act and needed to go back to Rickenbacker.

Because the customer failed to send in his warranty card - RICKENBACKER REFUSED TO HONOUR THE WARRANTY! He had the purchase receipt and the word of the dealer. Too bad. No warranty service for you!

I like Rickenbackers; I own two of them. But the above has kind of sullied the respect I have for them.
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I read somewhere that the Ric warranty starts the week the bass is built not when sold, I suppose they don't sit in shelves too long but still worth paying attention to.
 
#43
Suatie said:
I read somewhere that the Ric warranty starts the week the bass is built not when sold, I suppose they don't sit in shelves too long but still worth paying attention to.
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That is true. For most people, everything works out just fine. A dealer gets a bunch in, and they are gone in a couple months.

Problem was, a few years back one large dealer was clearing out their warehouses and had quite a bit of Ric stock just laying around. Whether or not they knew they had them, or if they had faulty inventory controls and they piled up without anyone noticing until it was too late, no one really knows. But the dealer blew them out at a huge discount. Some had finish faults and may have been close to or even past their finish warranty expiration date. But the dealer did the best they could to satisfy customers by accepting returns and exchanging them with different ones, or even newly arrived ones.

I wonder what happened to all those duds that were returned? Burned up? Dumped in the sea? Advertised on Ebay? No one's talkin'. :cigar:
 
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#44
I would actually be surprised if it is the same price as a standard (what used to be deluxe ;) ) 4003. No binding to route/glue/tape/sand, a LOT less fingerboard work, no stereo jack and the soldering involved... And without a custom color option (at the moment), I cannot see why we should expect the higher price as this seems to be a production model again; not a limited run.
 
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#47
PubliclyViewable said:
And this: View attachment 542828
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Hmmm ... This would make a good 5 string bass ... Also I could round the edges like this one here ...

4003s5-15.jpg
 
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#49
Matthew_84 said:
With this one not having a stereo option, is there still the pickup selector switch, or are they both wired up into the circuit sort of like a Jazz?
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I was just wondering about the stereo thing too. Web page says mono-only output, but the schematics diagram shows a stereo output (Ric-O-Sound style). Wonder which it is - a lazy incorrect web page, or a lazy incorrect schematic? The schematic looks like a general one for all the stereo models, dated 1990.

I wouldn't be interested unless it has stereo.
 
#51
Red Four said:
I was just wondering about the stereo thing too. Web page says mono-only output, but the schematics diagram shows a stereo output (Ric-O-Sound style). Wonder which it is - a lazy incorrect web page, or a lazy incorrect schematic? The schematic looks like a general one for all the stereo models, dated 1990.
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I saw that too; I'm betting it's just a lazy effort. All the original S models (and 4000) were mono...

Red Four said:
I wouldn't be interested unless it has stereo.
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It would be pretty easy to wire it up permanently in stereo and mount in a stereo jack.
 
#55
Coolhandjjl said:
That is true. For most people, everything works out just fine. A dealer gets a bunch in, and they are gone in a couple months.

Problem was, a few years back one large dealer was clearing out their warehouses and had quite a bit of Ric stock just laying around. Whether or not they knew they had them, or if they had faulty inventory controls and they piled up without anyone noticing until it was too late, no one really knows. But the dealer blew them out at a huge discount. Some had finish faults and may have been close to or even past their finish warranty expiration date. But the dealer did the best they could to satisfy customers by accepting returns and exchanging them with different ones, or even newly arrived ones.

I wonder what happened to all those duds that were returned? Burned up? Dumped in the sea? Advertised on Ebay? No one's talkin'. :cigar:
Click to expand...
By the looks of things, they were stripped down, fitted with dot necks and sold as the new 4003s for $4000. each.
 

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