What's wrong with the Rickenbacker 4003?

[tbz]

As someone that owns one, in a somewhat large stable of nice basses, I can see both sides of it.

On one hand they have a unique sound, and are well made, US built neck through basses that sell for around 2k. That’s not a common combo. As others have pointed out US Rics and US Fenders are somewhat competitively priced with each other, despite Fenders being bolt on.

On the other hand they have some quirks. Out of the box the ergonomics kinda suck. Dual truss rods were a pain to deal with.

Sound, as I mentioned, is unique, which would be a plus. But to my ears, a lot of what the Rics excel at can be done better by, say, a Spector. That really aggressive rock tone you get on a Ric, can be more or less achieved on other instruments that are more flexible.

I personally hate instruments that require upgrades out of the box, and for most people, Rics require that. I haven’t done those on the 4003S I own and it probably gets less playtime then it deserves as a result.

 

[FishDub]

There aren't many Rickenbackers on the racks even in larger cities, but certainly not around where I live. I've long been interested in them, though.

My dad played a Rickenbacker years ago, I suppose a 4001. He said he once played it at a recording session, and the engineer liked the sound so much, he asked my Dad to bring it back to another session. Apparently he just wanted to borrow the bass itself, not my Dad to play it... :-/

Five years ago, I walked into a music store out of town, and on the rack were two basses I was interested in: a limited edition Fender P/J, and a Rickenbacker 4003. I excitedly tried the Fender first, and was pleased, but not as amazed as I expected. Then I tried the Rickenbacker, and was astounded. This sounded so good! So clear and punchy. It was unlike anything I had played before. I thought about buying it right then and there, but didn't.

I was recently at another store that had a 4003 on the rack, and tried it out, again comparing to a Fender. Again, the Rickenbacker sounded markedly better to me. I might would have this time bought that one off the rack, but they only had black finish, and I wanted to get one in natural maple, like my Dad had.

I found one at another store, ordered it, and have been enjoying it greatly the past few days.

So getting down to the question -- now that I'm doing some actual research about specific questions about Rickenbackers (e.g., how to adjust the pickup height, how to tweak the truss rod, etc.), I am seeing lots and lots of people complaining about them. Either claiming quality control issues (seems perfectly well-made to me!), or claiming that they just don't sound good (sounds great to me!), or claiming they feel weird in their hands (a little different, but no complaints from me there either).

Am I missing something? Should I in fact not be liking this 4003 as much as I do? Do I have some blind spot?

What's wrong with the Rickenbacker 4003?

I have been so very close to pulling the trigger on one but to fund it, one of these would have to go and guess what?..Aint happenin

 

[Marc61]

If there’s a problem with Rickenbacker is that it’s such a beautiful bass. I’ve had many including a Ltd edition that I love. I don’t play it much because I don’t want to scratch it. Sounds amazing too. Ppl love relic’d Fenders. Rics not as much .

 

[trothwell]

As someone that owns one, in a somewhat large stable of nice basses, I can see both sides of it.

On one hand they have a unique sound, and are well made, US built neck through basses that sell for around 2k. That’s not a common combo. As others have pointed out US Rics and US Fenders are somewhat competitively priced with each other, despite Fenders being bolt on.

On the other hand they have some quirks. Out of the box the ergonomics kinda suck. Dual truss rods were a pain to deal with.

Sound, as I mentioned, is unique, which would be a plus. But to my ears, a lot of what the Rics excel at can be done better by, say, a Spector. That really aggressive rock tone you get on a Ric, can be more or less achieved on other instruments that are more flexible.

I personally hate instruments that require upgrades out of the box, and for most people, Rics require that. I haven’t done those on the 4003S I own and it probably gets less playtime then it deserves as a result.

What kind of upgrades would you typically do?

 

[tbz]

What kind of upgrades would you typically do?

New bridge and treble bezel are the two primary ones. That treble pickup cover is in a very awkward location.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Agreed! I had just never noticed such an abundance of hate before...

What's wrong with a Rick (I have 3 of them, by the way)?
1. They aren't made by Fender...

You could have stopped right there!

 

[bigtone23]

On the other hand they have some quirks. Out of the box the ergonomics kinda suck. Dual truss rods were a pain to deal with.

Sound, as I mentioned, is unique, which would be a plus. But to my ears, a lot of what the Rics excel at can be done better by, say, a Spector. That really aggressive rock tone you get on a Ric, can be more or less achieved on other instruments that are more flexible.

I personally hate instruments that require upgrades out of the box, and for most people, Rics require that. I haven’t done those on the 4003S I own and it probably gets less playtime then it deserves as a result.

My thing with Rics are primarily the ergonomics. The bridge PU cover is silly and in the way for me. Most have a neck profile that feels somewhat odd. However, I have played a couple that I loved. One was a friend's '18 4003SW that felt great-the neck was more like a typical P bass, but I can't get along with the look of natural wood. The other is my friend/bandmate's '73 JetGlo 4001. He had me set it up and bypass the high pass cap as he thought he would sell it and wanted it good to go. After having it in my possession for a day, I fell in love with it. It also had a P bass-ish neck and the perfect amount of wear and tear. Plus, it's black. If he would have been willing to bro deal it, I would have snapped it up. However, I couldn't do that to him, he needed full value. Also, after he got it back fresh from a set up (and having the thicker bridge PU tone), he decided to keep it and figure out some other way to come up with funds. It really is just that good.
It's cool, the other thing about Rics are the price. I don't like spending 4 figures on an instrument. This motivated me to come up with an alternative. Get a workable Ric tone for cheap, but don't get a cheap bass that has inherent problems from being cheap. The answer came in a 87 Peavey Patriot. The Super Ferrite single coil has a Hi Gain type of tonality, plus the pickup is pretty much right where a Ric bridge PU is located. I added a neck PU in the Ric spot and a 3 way switch. This gets really close to that Ric sound, feels like a comfortable, Fender-y bass and has a regular, easy to use truss rod and bridge. Plus it only cost me about $300 for the bass, the extra pickup and switch. Took me about 2 hours to do the conversion and routing/drilling.

 

[FLStudiobassist]

Dude that thang is sexy!!!! I'd take it a million times over a Ric, which are being kept alive by boomer wallets

 

[Avocett]

The answer came in a 87 Peavey Patriot. The Super Ferrite single coil has a Hi Gain type of tonality, plus the pickup is pretty much right where a Ric bridge PU is located. I added a neck PU in the Ric spot and a 3 way switch. This gets really close to that Ric sound, feels like a comfortable, Fender-y bass and has a regular, easy to use truss rod and bridge. Plus it only cost me about $300 for the bass, the extra pickup and switch. Took me about 2 hours to do the conversion and routing/drilling.

There is one of these for sale locally. Resisting the urge, same color and everything as yours.

 

[micguy]

My first bass was a Ric 4001. Best bass Ever? (Well, up to that point)

Once I had the opportunity to own some other basses (not Fenders, by the way), the Ric’s “quirks” became apparent.

1) They hum. Some folks are OK with that, not me.

2) The standard body shape digs into your arm.

3) The awkward pickup cover - it’s just in the way - why doesn’t the neck pickup need one? It’s a big negative

4) The neck pickup was never useful to me.

5) The bridge/tail lift - just a bad design.

6) The odd string spacing - more space at the bridge between strings is a good thing.

The list continues, but you get the idea.

Recently, I made a bass that is somewhat inspired by my Ric. When I did this project, I made a list of the things I did and didn’t like about Ric’s. The resulting list had 2 things I liked about Ric’s:

1) The sound of a Ric’s bridge pickup LOCATION - this bass has one pickup ( that hum cancels) at that location.

2) Bubinga - the bass has a fretboard made from Bubinga (without lacquer on it)

That’s it - everything else on my list was a negative, so I made all that stuff different.

Now, if you love a Ric, I have no problem with that - it’s your bass, it doesn’t have to be like mine.

 

[prowla]

I have been so very close to pulling the trigger on one but to fund it, one of these would have to go and guess what?..Aint happenin
View attachment 4715227

Here's the answer...

The Rickenberger!

 

[willsellout]

Dude that thang is sexy!!!! I'd take it a million times over a Ric, which are being kept alive by boomer wallets

LOL.

 

[Avocett]

Here's the answer...

View attachment 4715527
The Rickenberger!

That's so hideous, I love it!

 

[StudioGC]

I've had 3 modern Ric 4003's which were ok, but didn't bond with the neck (or the price....man have the prices risen in the past year)! Found this beat up '73 4000 for a decent price and made it a 4001 with new harness and new vintage toaster pickup. The neck on this era of Ric's are fantastic.

Also not sure what the complaints are on ergonomics. It feels great.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Guys we should be a little more music and musical-results oriented, so a little bit more objective.
I find a vintage-style P-bass a beautiful instrument and the same I feel about a Rickenbacker 4001/3.
Then both basses have their sonic peculiarities but maybe they can overlap more than we may think of.
I’m not a metal-head but the following video shows that there aren’t these enormous differences between the two basses when played with a bit of overdrive:



Of course, I’m used to listen to R&B played with a P-bass; I like that kind of music and I play it with a P-bass.
I also like to listen to the progressive rock of the ‘70s and in that case the distinctive sound of the Rickenbacker bridge pickup was there to tell you what instrument the bass player was using!
In reality, I decided that I would have played electric bass after having listened to the part played by Squire & Bruford at the beginning of Heart of the Sunrise in Fragile, but I may also quote the early work of Fabio Pignatelli from Goblin … listen to this tune:



What I want to say here is that haters do not really make any sense in music; people saying “I hate Fender” for the sole reason that their receipt was highly successful, well this simply doesn’t make sense!
If anything I should say on Rickenbacker on my side is that I don’t believe that a new one is worth all those moneys .. in Europe a new one now costs from 2500 to 3000€ (note euros not dollars!).
I understand that they are a small company with their targets and so on, so this is the situation; it’s a pity because I may never afford a new 4003/4003S; I will look in the used market then …

 

[prowla]

View attachment 4715594

I've had 3 modern Ric 4003's which were ok, but didn't bond with the neck (or the price....man have the prices risen in the past year)! Found this beat up '73 4000 for a decent price and made it a 4001 with new harness and new vintage toaster pickup. The neck on this era of Ric's are fantastic.

Also not sure what the complaints are on ergonomics. It feels great.

View attachment 4715595

Looks like the treble pickup surround is on the wrong way round.

 

[Hypercaffium]

What's wrong? A lot of things imho.
That said, get one if you like it. Why not?

 

[StudioGC]

Looks like the treble pickup surround is on the wrong way round.

Oh ya. Old photo...just threw the pick up and surround in....and then went Doh!

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

My ‘76 4001 is the bass that I’ve owned the longest. I bought it in 1980. I had the stock bridge replaced with an original Badass, which IMO was a good upgrade from the stock bridge, and the luthier who did the work, did a very nice job.

The one thing that I regret doing was replacing it’s stock pickups with first, direct replacement Seymour Duncan’s, and many years later, direct replacement Bartolini’s. (Of the two, I prefer the Bartolini’s.) But looking back, I should’ve just stayed with the stock pickups, because IMO, that’s where the signature Rickenbacker tone comes from.

IMO, a Rickenbacker neck is really comfortable. Their tone is unique and quite iconic. I love the looks of the 4001/4003 too. I also like their ergonomics. I’ve thought quite a bit about buying a bone stock 4003S, but my Spector addiction still rages on. That, and my main basses typically have 6-strings.

The 4-string in my arsenal that gets the most use is my Spector NS4CRFM. It may just be my ears, but it’s sound is quite reminiscent of my 4001.

IMHO, If and when Geddy Lee does a new musical project, he should bust out his 4001. I feel his tone was at it’s peak on “A Farewell to Kings” and on “Hemispheres”.

And if not, he should at least consider trying out a Spector.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Just looking at the video I can see that guy is a Billy Sheehan fan.