Rickenbacker 4003

[Guest MoJo]

This may sound sacrilegious to the fans of the Rickenbacker 4003 (of which there are many I'm sure), but I'm giving serious thought to selling my almost new Midnight Blue 4003.

Why? Apart from the fact that the I haven't been able to play it much since the string grooves in the nut have been cut too shallow making playing anywhere below the 5th fret a real finger-aching exercise, I can't say I'm blown away by either the quality or the sound. I've been hankering after one since the 80's and now I've got one, I feel a bit disappointed. It's actually made me appreciate just how good my BB414, which cost one tenth of the price of the Ric, really is.

I have some nut files slowly making their way across the Atlantic and I'm sure that once the nut and the action have been sorted, it will play like a dream and I hope I'll be able to rekindle the relationship between us. Watch this space (or rather the Basses For Sale forum )

[Al Heeley]

Sad to read this. At least get the action as good as poss before you throw her out. Sad that a bass this expensive arrived with such a poorly cut nut.
I too have longed for a ricky since childhood (Yes, Rush, Jam) but the reality of those quirky instruments is a disappointment. I've played 2 but never owned a real one.
You cannot conceal the sad truth that although they are loved and revered some of the parts are just not very well designed and they've never been improved.

Edited July 7, 2011 by Al Heeley

[Doctor J]

I yearned for a 4003 from the moment I started playing bass and eventually saved up and got one. I loved the looks, I loved the tone and I spent a long time setting it up just right (including filing down the nut slots). The greatest compliment I ever had was from a guy in a bar where we played in the basement and he was on the ground floor - [i]"I couldn't hear the band but I could feel your bass!"[/i] but it was just too uncomfortable to play (no forearm contour, that stupid pickup mount with it's insanely sharp edge) so I sold it on after a few years. I don't feel bad about it anymore, though every time I see one I still want one but then I remember those huge bruises on my forearm after long gigs and the GAS goes away.

It's still the most evocative bass shape there is.

[Musicman20]

Rickys - look awesome, sound awesome...BUT, I just dont feel comfortable playing one. A big shame.

[spongebob]

I've owned quite a few and they're all gone now.

For me, after playing not much else for a period of time, I just found I'd kind of got a bit tired of the sound....just wasn't doing what I wanted anymore.

And please don't get me started on the QC - out of 4 different 4003, I've never owned one without a problem yet. The recent ones are supposed to be a lot better - but my 2009 was the worst thing I've ever owned, and the 2010 wasn't too far behind.

With a design virtually unchanged in 40 years, how can they still make massive mistakes on what they produce?

Hand-crafted......by who???

[luckman67]

I love my Rickenbacker bass & have been happy with it for the past 13 years. I used to have a serious GAS addiction for a Warwick bass up until I had the chance to play one,but if you do sell your Ric you can always buy another BB14 & have some money in your pocket.

[Stacker]

[quote name='spongebob' post='1297428' date='Jul 8 2011, 05:11 PM']I've owned quite a few and they're all gone now.

For me, after playing not much else for a period of time, I just found I'd kind of got a bit tired of the sound....just wasn't doing what I wanted anymore.

And please don't get me started on the QC - out of 4 different 4003, I've never owned one without a problem yet. The recent ones are supposed to be a lot better - but my 2009 was the worst thing I've ever owned, and the 2010 wasn't too far behind.

With a design virtually unchanged in 40 years, how can they still make massive mistakes on what they produce?

Hand-crafted......by who???[/quote]

After hankering after a Rick for years, I got a 4001 in the mid '80s; it was a dog. That didn't stop me then getting a 4001S/8 that was impossible to tune due to the octave courses going over the same saddle! Then there was the blotchy, nicotine-like marks that appeared all over the body of a brand new Blue Boy after a matter of months and developed a red stain on the base due to being rested on the wrong type of guitar stand, or so I was smugly told on the RIC forum. And no less than John Hall himself informed me that there was nothing wrong with the CV finish on the Blue Boy and that I had been leaving the bass under UV light, in view of sunlight and also in a smokey atmosphere; the bass was subject to none of these.

Then there was a 4003S/8 in which both truss rods failed. At my wits' end with trying bodge repairs, I gave up and took the bass to Jimmy Moon and told him to put his own rods in it. I got it back but the love was gone by then and I f****d it off and bought another Jazz.

Then theres the finish on my V63FG, which keeps on hazing up. I will clean and polish it but a few weeks later it's hazed up again. That does my nut in!

And then there's the 75th Anniv 660DCM with the badly cut nut that was too high and had the low E sliding off the edge of the 'board. I had to buy a black RIC blank and sort it myself.

Makes me wonder why I bother. Must be that old toaster sound!

Edited July 9, 2011 by Stacker

[Stacker]

And let's not forget tail-lift!! A lot of 4001s exhibit it but so did my 4001CS, which I was appalled at! RIC did bring out a 7-screw bridge in the mid/late '80s with two at the end corners of the bridge to counteract the lift but they sacked them, I believe, cos they supposedly improved the alloy that the bridge unit is made of.

[luckman67]

I heard it was Ric owners who didn't like the 2 extra screw look of the tailpiece, either way I added the 2 extra screws on my '92 4003 & now it's zero tail lift and Rotosound RS66 strings all the way.

[gareth]

I think you should fix the low nut slot problem - easily fixed by putting some filler in the slots

But I am with you

I had the same dis-appointing experience with the 1980's Ric 4003 I had

Looked great and a light bass but cumbersome to play and I never got a good sound from it

I took it on a gig once and the other guys said they'd be looking for another bass player if I ever bought it on a gig again.

[spongebob]

[quote name='Stacker' post='1298175' date='Jul 9 2011, 12:43 PM']And let's not forget tail-lift!! A lot of 4001s exhibit it but so did my 4001CS, which I was appalled at![/quote]

+1, on all 4 of the 4003's I had.

[Blademan_98]

I was looking into getting a 4003.........

I still love the shape etc but am a little perturbed by the lack of Ric fans jumping in and telling us they are great!

[merello]

[quote name='bassman2790' post='1296623' date='Jul 7 2011, 11:31 PM']This may sound sacrilegious to the fans of the Rickenbacker 4003 (of which there are many I'm sure), but I'm giving serious thought to selling my almost new Midnight Blue 4003.

Why? Apart from the fact that the I haven't been able to play it much since the string grooves in the nut have been cut too shallow making playing anywhere below the 5th fret a real finger-aching exercise, I can't say I'm blown away by either the quality or the sound. I've been hankering after one since the 80's and now I've got one, I feel a bit disappointed. It's actually made me appreciate just how good my BB414, which cost one tenth of the price of the Ric, really is.

I have some nut files slowly making their way across the Atlantic and I'm sure that once the nut and the action have been sorted, it will play like a dream and I hope I'll be able to rekindle the relationship between us. Watch this space (or rather the Basses For Sale forum )[/quote]
World's worst sales pitch..........sorry to hear that. I am currently down to a Yamaha BB414 and it really does just about all I need. The neck is slightly too wide (I'm a J, not a P handed dude) but in a funny way it makes you focus on playing the song a bit better!

[Doctor J]

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1298289' date='Jul 9 2011, 03:53 PM']I was looking into getting a 4003.........

I still love the shape etc but am a little perturbed by the lack of Ric fans jumping in and telling us they are great!

[/quote]

The shape is so good it even looks amazing headless... and I hate headless



Pic borrowed from a thread on [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f57/my-latest-project-behold-rickenberger-d-678474/"]talkbass[/url]

[Guest MoJo]

[quote name='merello' post='1298307' date='Jul 9 2011, 04:17 PM']World's worst sales pitch.....[/quote]

Don't think I'll be selling it, but it's certainly opened my eyes to the merits of the BB414 (which certainly won't be going anywhere)

Edited July 9, 2011 by bassman2790

[4000]

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1298289' date='Jul 9 2011, 03:53 PM']I was looking into getting a 4003.........

I still love the shape etc but am a little perturbed by the lack of Ric fans jumping in and telling us they are great!

[/quote]

They're great!

I can't argue with the above experiences if that's what people have had. However I'm on my 11th/12th Rick (I can never remember) and I've had less problems with them than any other make bar Alembic (not one problem with them!). I've had far more problems with Status (1 twisted neck, 3 x dodgy electronics), Fender (neck needed replacing from new), Wal (twisted neck) etc, & even some of my boutiques. Only had one 4003 though; a 4003s8 (I had no tuning problems with mine BTW). Never had tail lift but I use 40-95 strings. I also favour '72 4001 or earlier basses which have the aluminium tailpiece which doesn't generally suffer from it (and I have a straight neck and very low action which helps a bit). The only issues I have had were on an old 21 fretter where I couldn't get the action low enough and on my old '72 where a fairly well-known guitar builder (well, someone who worked for him) knackered my truss-rods due to not knowing how to adjust them. I had John Diggins replace them.

FWIW (people must be bored of this by now) my main '72 4001 is still my go-to bass, leaving 30-odd others of all denominations in its wake, and I took my recently bought back-up '72 to the Gallery on Thursday for a little bit of work and vastly preferred it to anything I played in there (and I played some juicy stuff). Of course, YMMV. To be honest I'm finding these days that most other stuff I play I just don't like much anymore.

[Blademan_98]

[quote name='4000' post='1298424' date='Jul 9 2011, 06:25 PM']They're great!

I can't argue with the above experiences if that's what people have had. However I'm on my 11th/12th Rick (I can never remember) and I've had less problems with them than any other make bar Alembic (not one problem with them!). I've had far more problems with Status (1 twisted neck, 3 x dodgy electronics), Fender (neck needed replacing from new), Wal (twisted neck) etc, & even some of my boutiques. Only had one 4003 though; a 4003s8 (I had no tuning problems with mine BTW). Never had tail lift but I use 40-95 strings. I also favour '72 4001 or earlier basses which have the aluminium tailpiece which doesn't generally suffer from it (and I have a straight neck and very low action which helps a bit). The only issues I have had were on an old 21 fretter where I couldn't get the action low enough and on my old '72 where a fairly well-known guitar builder (well, someone who worked for him) knackered my truss-rods due to not knowing how to adjust them. I had John Diggins replace them.

FWIW (people must be bored of this by now) my main '72 4001 is still my go-to bass, leaving 30-odd others of all denominations in its wake, and I took my recently bought back-up '72 to the Gallery on Thursday for a little bit of work and vastly preferred it to anything I played in there (and I played some juicy stuff). Of course, YMMV. To be honest I'm finding these days that most other stuff I play I just don't like much anymore.[/quote]

Thanks

You have restored my faith in the Ric fan club!

I still want one........

[Stacker]

For all the grief I've had with them, I still love 'em though am down to a '73 4001 and '90 V63 (plus the 660DCM and a 660-12TP). I wouldn't mind getting a hold of the RM 1999 reissue (some for sale in [url="http://www.kurosawagakki.com/tags/keyword/?str=rickenbacker"]Japan[/url]) but at up to £3k before shipping/import duty/VAT, forget it!

Edited July 10, 2011 by Stacker

[12stringbassist]

[quote name='Stacker' post='1298105' date='Jul 9 2011, 11:42 AM']And no less than John Hall himself informed me that there was nothing wrong with the CV finish on the Blue Boy and that I had been leaving the bass under UV light, in view of sunlight and also in a smokey atmosphere; the bass was subject to none of these.[/quote]

Without opening an old wound up, John Hall is not an easy man to deal with. He doesn't like Rics being criticised and if the bass had exploded on the way to the shop you were going to buy it from, it would still be 'the buyer's fault'.

I have a (Aug 2002) 4003 BB that hasn't changed colour at all, though I don't take it out a lot. Can't complain there.
My 4003 FG (Dec 2001) is perfect.
I also have a 4003 MID (from Nove 2004) that bled blue paint into the binding. As mine was a 'grey import' and not covered by warranty (I said that from the start), I asked for tips on how to fix the problem. It developed into a shouting match, [i]which was never my intention[/i].

Top chap that he is..
If you're reading Mr Hall, Hello.

Edited July 10, 2011 by 12stringbassist

[Beedster]

[quote name='bassman2790' post='1296623' date='Jul 7 2011, 11:31 PM']I've been hankering after one since the 80's and now I've got one, I feel a bit disappointed.[/quote]

Funny old world isn't it; my story's the opposite of the OP's. I started playing bass in the late '70s and for the majority of the time since had never wanted to go near a Ric, in fact I only played one for the first time two years ago. Since buying a new 4001 c'64 a few weeks back I've fallen completely out of love with my Precisions and feel an affinity with the newbie that I doubt I've felt with a new bass before. I've found the following:

1. It has a huge range of tones, from fat dub at the neck to in your face clank at the bridge. It is in fact the rather unanticipated solution to the question I posted here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=125993&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=125993&hl=[/url]
2. It is the most comfortable bass to play I own by far. It sits perfectly and the bridge cover is in exactly the right place for me. The lack of contour makes no difference to my style of playing.
3. The build quality is equal to, if not better then, any bass I've owned.
4. I love playing it.

OK, I've owned it for just under a month from new so things could still go wrong, and it might just be a brief affair as opposed to a full-on relationship, but I'm optimistic. I'll post a full report here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=140696&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=140696&hl=[/url] once I've gigged it a few times

C

Edited July 10, 2011 by Beedster

[simon1964]

[quote name='Beedster' post='1299048' date='Jul 10 2011, 03:53 PM']1. It has a huge range of tones, from fat dub at the neck to in your face clank at the bridge. It is in fact the rather unanticipated solution to the question I posted here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=125993&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=125993&hl=[/url]
2. It is the most comfortable bass to play I own by far. It sits perfectly and the bridge cover is in exactly the right place for me. The lack of contour makes no difference to my style of playing.
3. The build quality is equal to, if not better then, any bass I've owned.
4. I love playing it.[/quote]

+1 to all of that! IMO the bridge pickup solo'd is just about the best rock tone out there.

Rickenbackers are quirky, and if you want modern bridge, pickups, and body contours, then there's always the 4004 series. But for whatever reason, they simply don't have the appeal of the 4003 / 4001. Of all the basses I've owned, my all black Ric 4003 is the one that gets most comments at gigs - which can't be a bad thing

[4000]

[quote name='Beedster' post='1299048' date='Jul 10 2011, 03:53 PM']Funny old world isn't it; my story's the opposite of the OP's. I started playing bass in the late '70s and for the majority of the time since had never wanted to go near a Ric, in fact I only played one for the first time two years ago. Since buying a new 4001 c'64 a few weeks back I've fallen completely out of love with my Precisions and feel an affinity with the newbie that I doubt I've felt with a new bass before. I've found the following:

1. It has a huge range of tones, from fat dub at the neck to in your face clank at the bridge. It is in fact the rather unanticipated solution to the question I posted here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=125993&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=125993&hl=[/url]
2. It is the most comfortable bass to play I own by far. It sits perfectly and the bridge cover is in exactly the right place for me. The lack of contour makes no difference to my style of playing.
3. The build quality is equal to, if not better then, any bass I've owned.
4. I love playing it.

OK, I've owned it for just under a month from new so things could still go wrong, and it might just be a brief affair as opposed to a full-on relationship, but I'm optimistic. I'll post a full report here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=140696&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=140696&hl=[/url] once I've gigged it a few times

C[/quote]

Glad to hear that it seems to have worked out ok! I'll look forward to a full report.

[watchman]

[quote name='merello' post='1298307' date='Jul 9 2011, 04:17 PM']World's worst sales pitch..........sorry to hear that. I am currently down to a Yamaha BB414 and it really does just about all I need. The neck is slightly too wide (I'm a J, not a P handed dude) but in a funny way it makes you focus on playing the song a bit better![/quote]

414s are a great bit of kit, and cheap with it. Never played a Ricky I liked...

[jonsmith]

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1298289' date='Jul 9 2011, 03:53 PM']I was looking into getting a 4003.........

I still love the shape etc but am a little perturbed by the lack of Ric fans jumping in and telling us they are great!

[/quote]

I think they're great and my 'go to' bass is my FG 4003. It just feels totally right.

They're a popular bass to bash on here & it would seem that some have good reason for doing so. But I've owned a few in my time (I currently have 6) and I have never had any problems with tail lift, truss rods, poorly cut nuts or anything. Maybe I've been very lucky. The lack of contour doesn't bother me at all either.

Incidentally, these days the nut is deliberately cut fairly shallow, so that it can be filed to personal taste allowing for consistent action.

[hairyhaw]

[quote name='12stringbassist' post='1298956' date='Jul 10 2011, 01:50 PM']I asked for tips on how to fix the problem. It developed into a shouting match, [i]which was never my intention[/i].[/quote]

12SB - was this on the Rick Resource forums? If so, it was exactly the reason I stopped posting there (well, that and I found this place). A lot of the members display an almost bizarre paranoia at any sort of criticism that might result in JH withdrawing his presence there. To me, it began to border on the pathetic.

As for Ricks themselves, I've only ever had one - an '05 MG 4003. It was my main gigging bass for four years but I'm not sure I've ever felt completely at home with the feel of the neck. I got a Jazz in 2009 and the rest is history.

The gubbins up at the picking end of a 4003 has always been a pain in the arse, but you kind of learn to compensate. Yes, it is pretty poorly designed, but bear in mind it was designed almost half a century ago - and the demand is still there for that design so there is no reason for them to change. They've been doing the 4004 for donkeys - it seems to eliminate most of the above problems with regard to tail lift, pickup design etc but I don't think they shift anywhere near the same amount of units as 4003's.