Rickenbacker basses - differences between models?

[prowla]

Well - here's my current Ric lineup...

'64 4001S (not RM1999!) white (oversprayed), '72 fireglo 4001, '78 4001 blue, 2010 4003 jetglo, 2010 4003 mapleglo, 2013 4003 project, 4004 Laredo blue.

I don't get the weight thing - they seem no more or less heavy than anything else, except maybe my Rickenburger...

The Ric 4000 series evolved over the years, headstock, pickups, machines, bridge/tailpiece, pickups, construction, strap buttons, tone capacitors, truss rods, pickup position, serial number format, "glo" vs "glow", and so-on; the change to 4003 was associated with a truss-rod change, but all of the other changes are kind of blurred.

Interesting on the "glo"/"glow" naming, they seemed to drop the "w" in the mid 60's, as earlier catalogues had it.

 

[prowla]

On 19/12/2019 at 11:32, Paul S said:

I see (said the blind man) - you don't use both for stereo...

You use a stereo jack in the "Ric-o-sound" socket for split, or a normal mono one in the "Normal" one.

The stereo jack is also known as a TRS, for tip-ring-sleeve, with the treble pickup connected to the tip and the neck one to the ring.

You can't use both at the same time, because the mono socket has an integral switch which connects the neck and treble pickups together.

The advantage of the stereo cable is that it's a single cable rather than two; the disadvantage is that you then have to split them (via a Ric-o-sound box, or your own assembly - I think I'm making one today, funnily enough!).

Incidentally, to further contribute to the head-slap, RIC did release one guitar (a particular 620 model) which had dual mono outputs rather than the either/or Normal & Ric-o-sound ones.

[prowla]

As a further comment on the 'faker question, the stereo output of the Japanese ones which had dual outputs is labelled "Stereo-Sound" instead of "Ric-o-Sound".

The Japanese fakers also didn't have the serial number stampes on the jack plate.

[Paul S]

Love that little Rickenburger!  

So out of curiosity how little can a lightweight 4003 weigh?

[prowla]

5 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Love that little Rickenburger!  

So out of curiosity how little can a lightweight 4003 weigh?

Dunno - I've never weighed one; they just seem fine to me when compared to putting on another bass.

Edited December 21, 2019 by prowla

[4000]

6 hours ago, Paul S said:

Love that little Rickenburger!  

So out of curiosity how little can a lightweight 4003 weigh?

You might get a 4003sW at 8lbs. Typically though, as mentioned elsewhere, a relatively lightweight 4001 or 4003 would be 8.5lbs, maybe a bit more. Rule of thumb is between 8.5 and 10lbs, with the majority of 4001 basses around 9 or so. From the figures Ive seen and from playing them a typical 4003 is on average a few ounces heavier. You won’t find many over 10lb though. 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by 4000

[prowla]

On 21/12/2019 at 13:02, Paul S said:

Love that little Rickenburger!  

So out of curiosity how little can a lightweight 4003 weigh?

🙂 I've just got the treble pickup added; I had to cut the treble pickup mount to fit it to a normal humbucker mount...

 

[prowla]

Here's my Ric which is a bit different...

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by prowla