Shaggy

11.......oh dear

Only the other year I was trying to get down to 1 fretted / 1 fretless.......

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.........though I admit the original opal white p/g looks more "trad" Ric, and as stated will be included with the bass. The idea was also - since I was upgrading the bass to my personal tastes - to make a "twin" for my maple-board '78 fretless Fender P, which is also natural / tort.

Au contraire, that [b]is[/b] the reverse shape; [url="http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/Thunderbird_1963.php"]http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/Thunderbird_1963.php[/url]

& this is the non-reverse; [url="http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/Thunderbird_1966.php"]http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/Thunderbird_1966.php[/url]

Anyway, whatever it is - cool bass at cheap price from top guy to deal with!

[quote name='Beedster' post='933512' date='Aug 23 2010, 12:07 PM']I have to say that, with much recent DB and fretless playing, this bass is starting to really 're-grow' on me, albeit somewhat too late in the day! When I owned it, although I loved its depth, I found the lack of really tight and sparkly top end, compared to fretless Fenders for example, a little limiting. Now I've learned how to get the best out of the dusty end of a DB fretboard, I'm realising that the fault was with the player not the machine. In my bass playing experience, DB and electric, I've yet to come across a bass on which the strings resonate with the whole instrument as they did with this bass. I remember reading Ric's marketing and thinking 'there's no way that's gonna sound like a Double Bass', but it really can produce a lovely sweet and melodic 'loose' sound. That said, it can do the opposite also - the first time we did Whole Lotta Love this baby absolutely rocked the place with a monstrously powerful sound that made me realise why the likes of Lemmy use Rics.

And McCartney's lines? Whadaya reckon?

Anyway, I sincerely wish I had £1200 lying around that wasn't already earmarked for the studio! Greg's also a great guy to deal with also, so you'll know you're getting both a special bass and a totally up-front genuine seller here

C[/quote]

Thanks Chris, great description of the bass, and I'm really going to have to get into this DB / EUB thing myself! Though given a pot of money I'd have snapped up that unfeasably gorgeous LPB '64 P of yours

Best of luck with the studio project!

[quote name='Stag' post='933594' date='Aug 23 2010, 01:17 PM']As an avower lover of Ric I would really like to hear this actually, never heard an FL one... someone is gonna be a happy happy man I think, free pickups and spare guard, Beedster's seal of approval... what more could a buyer want! [/quote]

......I swear that cat blinked at me......

[quote name='basshead56' post='933451' date='Aug 23 2010, 11:06 AM']I was on Ebay last night and saw this-looks very nice:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Telecaster-Bass-Guitar-Warmoth-Dark-Star-Audere-Preamp-/190433054071?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]here[/url][/quote]


I saw that too; fab body and p/ups / electrics, not so keen on the neck.
At that price; worth it for the Dark Stars alone!

[quote name='Stag' post='931107' date='Aug 20 2010, 04:32 PM']You could speak to Shaggy, as he is one of the few people to own a Ric FL...

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=99327"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=99327[/url]

for some piccies [/quote]

see last post on that link

Holiday Bump from a soggy Wales

Been some speculation in other threads about what these rare birds sound like.
Unsuprisingly sounds like a Rick; a fretless Jazz Bass is still a Jazz bass, a fretless Wal is still a Wal; just with added "mwah". So on the classic combined p/up setting you get that cutting, middy growl; but here considerably mellowed by the use of flats - think late Beatles-era Paul McCartney and early Pink Floyd. I was thinking of trying D'addario half-round ("groundwound") strings on the next change to get a bit more zing without trashing the fingerboard lacquer.
What did make a big difference to this bass was fitting the vintage toaster; as I mentioned in my OP it sounds remarkably double-bassy; not just the tone but the whole attack / swell / decay dynamics of the note. No "clank" here, although I'm sure it could be got!

If you can find one - they crop up now and then on ebay - get a '90's reissue of the Epi Rivoli, they were made by the Peerless factory in Korea and are real high quality basses.

Otherwise all info above is good, but if it was me with that price range I'd look out for interesting '60's & '70's Jap - / Italian - / Brit-crap; Commodore, Baldwin etc; more retro-cool and can usually be moved on for at least what you paid. The early '70's Shaftesbury copy of a Rick 4005 especially good, and well within your range.

I picked up a mint '85 Gordon Smith Galaxy for £350 on t'bay, a hand-built beaut of a bass; intended for a '60's project but so good it's now my main fretted gigging bass.

Thanks for the good words guys!

A third slick deal with eubassix; bought 3 packs of Gibson guit*r strings.

Top guy, not sure I believe his "[i]......fell off the back of a lorry they did, honest squire....."[/i] though

Bit of a speculative sale this one; I’ve had this bass up FS before and eventually withdrew it - being happily resigned to keeping it I spent a good few hundred upgrading to my ideal spec (replacing the previous Seymour Duncan p/ups with Ric ones, fitting cellulose tort pickguard)

So essentially;
[list]
[*]2005 Rickenbacker 4003 FL (fretless) in mapleglo (natural), almost blemish-free; only defect is 2mm ding on rear of body so small I couldn’t get it to show in a close-up pic
[*]Walnut headstock “wings”
[*]VT tone circuit
[*]Fretless lacquered rosewood fingerboard, side dot markers on 1/3/5/7/9/12 etc fret positions. Has always been strung with flats, so board almost unmarked, currently strung with Pyramid Golds.
[*]Brand new Rickenbacker bridge pickup and cover just fitted, replacing previous SD.
[*]Vintage late ‘60’s Rickenbacker toaster neck p/up fitted. (see how much the new ones cost on ebay, then see how much vintage Ric parts cost!)
[*]WD Music cellulose 5-ply tortoiseshell 2-piece pickguard just fitted, imported from the US. This is the proper vintage quality tort material, far superior to modern acrylic. Original Ric opal white p/g included (see last pic), I just felt the white looks a bit bland with mapleglo, and tort p/guards were offered on some vintage Rics.
[/list]
“Fretless” and “Rickenbacker” aren’t normally included in the same sentence, which is a real shame; they're so playable, the all-maple and neck-thru construction make for fantastic sustain, and the single-coil pickups are wonderfully articulate. The vintage toaster p/up in particular gives a fabulously deep, warm, double-bassy growl.

Price £950, shipping on top or collected from near Swansea, S Wales. No trade offers please – this is only to finance purchase of a specific bass. Any Q’s please PM me.


Cheers, Greg

PM'd

PM'd re Gibsons

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='920986' date='Aug 10 2010, 08:47 PM'][/quote]

To me that template's on the wood blank the wrong way around for the nicest grain.........

[quote name='Lozz196' post='921229' date='Aug 11 2010, 07:35 AM']Certainly does!

For some reason, I always expect Gibsons to be kept in pristine condition, whereas Fenders I assume will show some battle scars, and have a few tales of life on the road. Cool is always a bit ragged around the edges.[/quote]

My '58 EB-2 - definately not pristine!

Certainly true through that marketing was a key part of Fender's success - Gibson could have learned some lessons when lauching the less trad Explorer and Flying V in the late 50's, but obviously didn't - they flopped

PM'd re the RE-20 Space Echo

[quote name='Beedster' post='914908' date='Aug 4 2010, 01:36 PM']I still have a black surround for the bridge PUP (sorry Greg, I'd completely forgotten I had it, and it turned up in a box the other day). Happy to forward that to whoever buys these if required

C[/quote]


Cheers Chris, appreciate it..............and black is the new black of course.

Ric cover sold pending
P/ups still available

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='910772' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:26 PM']Tonight's unexpected bonus? [i]They Don't Know About Us[/i] by Kirsty MacColl - great song, very satisfying bassline.[/quote]

A really great song, and better than the Tracy Ulman chart version. I loved her later Cuban-influenced stuff too - sad loss
[quote name='Beedster' post='910776' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:28 PM']Given up on the date with Kylie......

C[/quote]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo........................never say die!

[quote name='Oggy' post='913187' date='Aug 2 2010, 09:11 PM']Conversation with my Missus:

[b]The Missus [/b] - When are you going to grow up and stop buying all those silly bass guitars and stuff, it must be costing you a fortune and you know we (her) need the money for our holiday and other uselless rubbish?

[b]My Answer [/b] - Come on now you know I've [b]actually sold quite a bit, so prob just abt breaking even[/b].

[b]The Missus [/b] - [size=4][b]YEH RIGHT[/b][/size]

Ringing any bells Chaps?

Oggy [/quote]


You must have bugged my house..........right?

Bump for a snazzy bit of kit, and Oli's a top guy to deal with

Bump and a price drop (p/ups £40 each posted)

My pre-EB '80 Sabre had quite a pronounced output drop on the G string; both p/ups.

Modded several basses to death in my early years, but out of a creative urge (albeit ham-fisted), not a destructive one .

But it's true what you say about the super-collectors; they now drive the vintage market and I think some of the prices we now regard as crazy will seem like bargains fairly soon.

Re Ricks; being hand-built and having uniquely managed to maintain rights to their "image" they've kept their value better than some other brands who are massively copied at both low and high ends of the market, and have perceived QA issues at various points of their history. True vintage Fenders are still pricey though and will get more so; true vintage Ricks are like hen's teeth, and the second-hand prices of their recent vintage reissues and signature series show how highly their build quality is regarded.

[quote name='steviedee' post='907076' date='Jul 27 2010, 01:48 PM']Hi just wondered if these would it an Ibanez rickenfaker 4001?[/quote]

Would depend how close the Ibby is to the original (ie; I've no idea! )

neck p/up is; L - 65 / W - 27 / H - 14 mm, width centre-centre of height adjust screw-holes = 82 mm

bridge p/up; L- 74 / W - 36 / H - 13-ish mm (on ric-sized baseplate, width centre-centre of height adjust screw-holes = 127 mm)

Hope that helps!