Jean-Luc Pickguard

My new (secondhand) 2024 4003 sounds amazing, but the single coil hum is noticable on recordings, so I intend to shield it with copper tape soon. I'll probably switch to the black pickguard at the same time, but I'm also likely to switch back to the original white one at some point. I'm wondering about how opaque the acrylic pickguard is. I saw a youtube video where someone used copper tape on the back of their white ric pickguard and in the 'after' shots, it might have been a trick of the light but the pickguard appeared to have a slight copper tinge - ie the copper tape was showing through. Am I mistaken or is this something I will need to workaround to prevent the copper showing through? I doubt this should be a problem with the black guard as it is probably more opaque than the white one — if indded the white one does have any level of transparency.

I’ve only just acquired this within the last week so I’m a newcomer to the Ric tribe, but I’m already thinking about whether I should acquire another in a different colour. It’s a 2024 4003 secondhand but very near mint condition — I particularly wanted the current version for the bridge and single truss rod to make setting it up easier. I have swapped out the original jazz bass style knobs with vintage style ric knobs ones with the text on them to remind me of each one’s function. I have also fitted a Rickysounds thumb rest and a set of light EB cobalt flats which seem to suit this bass just as well as they do my Gibson non-reverse thunderbird. I also have a Rickysounds black pickguard and a reproduction black truss rod cover, so I might change it up to see how it looks with a more stealth look when I get around to applying copper tape to shield the cavities.

Ape Me — Nirvana

Bad Trip — Bo Diddley

Rickroll With It — Oasis

I stand corrected

I need to see more pics of your '64 (my y.o.b.) ...plus your address and dates/times when there will be no one home.

I've just picked up the 4003 for the first time today, and visually checked I was plugging my cable into the socket marked 'standard.' I put it down to my poor memory that I thought it should have been the other socket. Once plugged in I was disappointed to find that the bass pickup was not working at all. Initially I thought I'd need to fix it again, but was concerned that if it failed so quickly after it was working, there must be something more serious wrong with the socket(s) than I realised. After about fifteen minutes it hit me — when I had fixed the issue I was having, I removed both sockets from the plate and must have put the plate back on the wrong way around. I tested this hypothesis and I had indeed flipped the plate so both sockets were still working as they should, but the labels were the wrong way around. I'll put it right tomorrow. What an idiot!

Bald Head — Professor Longhair

Automatic Lover — The Vibrators

And I like the chromed plastic pickup cover. Life would be boring if we all liked the same things.

You don't neccesarily need to be one to sometimes behave like one. If that isn't tw@ttish behaviour, I don't know what is.

If only you could halve the number of truss rods — then it'd be perfect 😜

Short Fat Fanny — Little Richard

I like a low action and I'm very happy with the action on this bass. It is easy to adjust the bridge and I could probably take each saddle down at least another two or three millimetres if I needed to. I specifically wanted the latest spec to avoid the hassle of dealing with the old bridge or twin truss rods. I'm pretty confident that no one in their right mind would have a good reason to replace this bridge with a hipshot. I don't think it is my place to wonder about what circumstances led the previous owner to take it into cash converters. I have had several guitar/bass bargains in recent years from CC and encountered no problems. I certainly don't find it troubling or unusual — there are many legitimate reasons for someone to have sold it to the shop, from buyer's remorse or shiny object syndrome, to needing quick cash to make the rent/mortgage payment. Andy Baxter has the exact same model/colour bass for sale with a price of £2500, and listed, like a lot of Rics he sells, in the secondhand section but as unplayed. I saved £500 on Andy's price by taking a punt on this used one which like most CC listings had terrible photos and very little description. Given that there was an (at best) intermittent issue with the output socket, which presumably was not apparent when/if cash converters tested it. Not everyone has the same autistic level of patience and ability to research for answers to technical problems that enabled me to understand and fix the issue for myself, maybe the previous owner decided to get rid of the bass for quick cash thinking the issue was more serious and potentially difficult or expensive to remedy.

SubMission — Sex Pistols

I got hold of a TRS to 2x mono cable for recording and recorded my 4003 using Rick-o-sound onto two tracks of Logic. I got a sound I liked but I’ll probably change the bass sound when/if I record some vocals on the track.

My first bass in 1979 was a Yamato Jazz bass copy from Soho Soundhouse in Soho Square. It was my xmas present that year and cost my Dad £75 which in today's money is equivalent to £475.

Here's my instrumental cover of 'The beat goes on' with rick-o-sound bass from my 4003 recorded direct into logic using both channels of my focusrite scarlett 2i2. The bass pickup is going into a virtual B15 and the treble pickup going into a virtual plexi with virtual distortion, vintage drive and roto phase pedals. In the intro, the bass has just the bass pickup for two bars, then just the treble pickup for two bars. The guitar is a fender Ben Gibbard mustang. The drums, organ, amps, fx and mastering all use Logic's native features — ie no 3rd party plugins. The Beat Goes On.mp3 When recording this and adding distortion to the recorded tracks, it was apparent how noisy the single coils are, so it will probably be worth my time doing the copper tape faraday cage thing to keep noise and slugs out.

Pizza Hut used to do a good range of plant-based 'beyond' toppings which made it quite a treat for me as I don't eat animals, however the last time I was about to order they were conspicuous by their absence. Perhaps I was the only person ordering them.

I have now received my 3m 6.3mm Stereo Jack to 2 x Mono 6.3mm Jacks Audio cable from amazon (it was seven quid with next day prime delivery). It isn't really suitable for plugging into two amps, but it is perfect for plugging the bass directly into my Focusrite scarlett 2i2 interface for recording. Going into the interface with stereo direct monitoring I can hear each pickup going to its own side & confirm it is working using the pickup switch. I'm going to have some fun with this in logic.

Surely it would make more sense to bring Wheaton's law onto the statute books, then it shouldn't be a problem for the forums.

In no particular order and probably with some major omissions: Iain 'Thump' Thompson (I first noticed the bass as an isolated instrument on the intros of a couple of Darts records) Willie Dixon John Paul Jones Carol Kaye David J Duck Dunn Bob Babbitt James Jamerson Nile Rogers Billy Gibbons Philip 'Snakefinger' Lithman Malcolm & Angus Young

I'll report back once I have received the Split Meld and the TRS cable, but I believe the centre socket in the Split Meld takes the TRS cable from the bass and each of the other two take a standard guitar cable into an amp (or mixer/interface) TRS = Tip-Ring-Sleeve referring to the three contact segments of a stereo jack TS = Tip-Sleeve referring to the two contact segments of a standard guitar cable's jack.