spacey

When yous see the Mess Fender are in by not enforcing trademarks you might understand why Rickenbacker are so keen. $1.6bn and rising no doubt, some call it throwing toys from the pram, others call it making sure the workers keep their jobs by protecting your brand. Rick make bespoke instruments to those that have the money to buy a bepoke instrument, why should they let people ripp of the brand and put them out of bussines, you want a Rick, buy a Rick. They are expensive because they are made in the USA where they have to pay workers a living wage, I admire them for proving the dash to China is wrong, Look at Fender, Peavey and a few others, dashed to china and ripped off thier own brand and now going down the sh1tter faster than the proverbial curry. Everyone hates them for not allowing ripp offs, yet everyone wants one, figure that one out.

Six months with no gigs sounds like its time to put yourself on the market.

With Beat it that Guitarists has to nail that solo note for note, bend for bend or it's like someone deflating the song, same as jump I suppose

Looks like someones had them over with a Chibosn SG.

What they do is buy job lots of returns, so often you see batches of instruments scattered around shops with poor finish, damage, bent necks, the usual stock returns thing.

£250 is fair on a Mex precision, nothing to shout about, very average basses, so fair price.

If you paid £350, wheres the bargain ?

The ultra heavy weight 77-78 precision and marshall Superbass with 4x12 are all thats required.

The American built stuff was almost military spec. It was boring to look at, functioned like Army gear, but it always delivered and still does. What changed was buyers, they got more stupid as people got more stupid. Put some bling on, sling it together in China pile it high sell it low and everyone raves about it, until it breaks mid gig, then you wish you had kept that 20 year old American peavey head. Buyers lost the concept of durability and well built as opposed to trendy and cheap. The market changed, blurb and bling is king now. Performance and durability come last.

More to do with what music you play, Old school. blues, rock, well the grass has grown over that genre. Mention Oasis say and musco's spit on floor in anger and stay away on mass , yet a tribute to said act sold out the local club within the hour, the AC/DC tribute had about twenty in. It horses for courses, it's muso's vs tone deaf easily pleased punters. Give em what they want and you will never be short of work.

Half the issue was the old stuff lasted too long. You still see those late 70's bass heads gigging and they sound just as good as ever. Then they started making stuff in China that drops apart, frying pan to fire. The Firebass, nitrobass range heads had the most wonderful vintage Valve type tone that today they would sell like hot cakes

They were all we had at one time. Remember queuing trying to get one of the first trace elliot amps, guys were doubling their money for them second hand. You struggled to get enough bass end from the valve amps, likle they lacked bandwidth all the time. The ones that could deliver bass like Simms watts or Ampeg cost the earth back then. Orange, Marshall superbass 100 all gutless on bottom end, however the Vox ac50 had wonderful deep low end and if you had one, you kept hold of it.

Looks fine to me, think the string T had two offset groves in, so it does sit like that, 3 screw bridge is correct. They did have very soft neck edges and dented quite easily on the edges of maple necks in this period, think they forgot to pressure roll the edges. They were also a bit weak sounding on pickups for some reason compared to the earlier basses , think they were trying to get a more modern brighter tone at that period. The flat plane on the neck where it meets body was a characteristic they messed with as well. The necks were also a very tight fit compared to newer Fenders.

New shiny bass, reliced bass player !

I think there is, its called modern digital recording. You know where everything get compressed and shoved up to Zero and made as loud as possible with no space for any dynamics. It all sounds the same, any style, any band, BANG BANG GRUNGE. Surely a new subculture,

I know the problem, its "comfort zone idleness music" A band run for the benefit of the band, so they do not have to learn anything new. Most landlords put the phone down straight away if you start reeling off a list of old 70's rock. Admittedly a few very well established bands still get away with it, but only just. The markets dead for that type of stuff now, like 60's music, the 80's are the new 60's now. Leave them too it, lifes too short to spend your time effort and money on someones hobby.

The" New Drummer" is he playing to a different track than the rest of the band.

River Boat song. It is so repetitive and tedious that concentration slips to day dream mode and I lose track of how may repetitions of the repetition are left before the next repetition.

I had the option of an operation which could have made things worse. A friend suggested a Chinese alternative healer. Ok for a laugh, he took out a silver rod with a small ball on the end and wriggled it in under my wrist then turned it forcefully. I wept with pain. Next morning, nothing, gone and it never came back. £70 result !

Wait until the end and ask if the guitarists would like to see how the chords are really played, "go on then" O fk yeah man that sounds bang on, that some country thing ?.

No doubt about it, they are a craftsman instrument, in the hands of a novice player, you sound worse than playing a easier to handle bass. But put one in the right hands and you have some of the great tracks we have heard so far.

They have always made this model in one guise or the other. 4003s, v63, 4001cs, same bass with different bits screwed on. However playing wise, the round edges without binding and solid finger board makes for a much more comfortable bass to play. No doubt scores will be along to slag em off for not doing a Fender and turning a blind eye to people ripping off your brand. But like all Ricks, they make what they want when they want and their is always a waiting list for new instruments.

Once they dropped the Eminence drivers you can buy any cheap cab loaded with budget drivers for a lot less cash. Like anything, made a name then go cheap.

Makes me want to pull the frets out of one of the Ricks. What a sound ! Thanks for sharing the video.

I take it you have already fit castors, which in my opinion improve sound by getting the cab off resonant surfaces. Wheeling is always better than carrying, hence why in Big PA firms, everything gets wheels.