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Tried a Rickenbacker...


LukeFRC

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32 minutes ago, drake said:

Bruce Foxtons Ricky was a copy. He did most of The Jam stuff on a Precision, which he still does.

Wrong. His original Ibanez was a copy but he replaced it with various examples of the real thing, although he’s on record as saying he didn’t really notice any difference. I think you need to watch more footage and maybe talk to the man himself. 😉

Of course he did indeed subsequently move on to Ps. 

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So they were all copies were they? And in every interview I’ve ever read (and I’ve read many) he has stated that the Ibanez was the copy and was subsequently replaced with real Ricks, which can be clearly seen in photos and videos (some of which ended up customised in an effort to get more lows).

Edited by 4000
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Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton lent genuine Rics for the Jam exhibition last year as I recall.
At the time of In the city, Bruce Foxton was certainly using an Ibanez copy.
By the time of This is the modern world, enough money was coming in to enable the band to buy the guitars and basses that they desired.
Bruce had several Rics.
I understood that the Rics used in the videos later on were used on the recording sessions.

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1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Bloody hell, are we on "Rics are crap"/"no they're not"/"it was a Jazz/Wal/Precision anyway" again? 

Sorry - I was genuinely interested if there was something I just wasn’t getting... hearing the clips it seems there was, but a sound that I would never use. 

The track by track analysis of the jam is possibly overdoing it though!

What haven’t we done in a while? “The G&L L1000 was Leo Fender’s finest, if not most popular,  bass design - discuss”

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10 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I should know better than to get drawn into these things!

Indeed, there is no point applying logic, evidence or argument to this discussion, they're useless weapons in the face of Rickenbackers. You either do or you don't get them. End of :) 

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Just now, Beedster said:

But what did you expect, a useful & useable answer to the question :)

Having said that, here's mine.

Rics, more than any other bass, are less in the instrument than in the player, the band and the amplification.

Discuss........

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On 07/09/2018 at 16:51, Beedster said:

Bloody hell, are we on "Rics are crap"/"no they're not"/"it was a Jazz/Wal/Precision anyway" again? 

It has come around again disappointingly quickly hasn’t it? 😉

Ok, next subject......

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Tried a Rickenbacker 4003S in Andertons today. Looked great. Very McCartney. Always wanted to try one. All good until I started to play. Very disappointed. 

I used to have a 73 Jetglow 4001 (and a rather scary cat) so I like Ricks but this felt odd - especially after trying a couple of the new MM Stingrays. 

IMAG0011.JPG

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7 hours ago, BassTractor said:

Aye. It felt odd to me too. But rather than explaining why you mounted them on the wall, please tell how you did it. I can see neither hook nor screw! :|

When you've finished assisting Mr Tractor, would you mind helping me to nail this large wobbly blancmange to my mantlepiece please?

image.png.00e3a143b500417ba9599862c4244d42.png

If you are able to do that then there is still hope for a definitive answer re: Rickenbacker for once and for all.  If not; Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

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  • 3 years later...

I’m on my 4th Ric. All were 4003 or 4003s. Quite inconsistent and not one was EVER  intended as my only bass. Thanks to a local, used shop, I bought and sold quickly without terrible,  bloodletting losses. I have 12 other basses and 5 amp systems/cabinet configurations. Most of my gear dials in similarly, but not Rics. Idiosyncratic to the end, they simply have different “care and feeding “ requirements to most basses. However, for an instrument to go from   “Magical Mystery Tour” to “Fragile”  to “Smithereens”  type tones is worth a little effort, isn’t it?

 

Would you buy a Hofner or Status and be honked off because it wasn’t everybody’s everything?

 

Horses for courses, BUT, IMHO a bit more delicate than most ( bridge, neck, finish) and God help you if you need customer service or support, which are crap  shoots even in the States.

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8 hours ago, Jeffb28451 said:

I’m on my 4th Ric. All were 4003 or 4003s. Quite inconsistent and not one was EVER  intended as my only bass. Thanks to a local, used shop, I bought and sold quickly without terrible,  bloodletting losses. I have 12 other basses and 5 amp systems/cabinet configurations. Most of my gear dials in similarly, but not Rics. Idiosyncratic to the end, they simply have different “care and feeding “ requirements to most basses. However, for an instrument to go from   “Magical Mystery Tour” to “Fragile”  to “Smithereens”  type tones is worth a little effort, isn’t it?

 

Would you buy a Hofner or Status and be honked off because it wasn’t everybody’s everything?

 

Horses for courses, BUT, IMHO a bit more delicate than most ( bridge, neck, finish) and God help you if you need customer service or support, which are crap  shoots even in the States.


Yep, they're funny, unique beast that (to me at least) sounds like nothing else. Apart from the cranky trebly sound you get from it, which I personally don't like, they have a wonderful "fizzy" warm sound when they're dialled in properly. 

They've never been my go to bass but I know a number of basses who use one for everything, but I do love having them around. 
 

This is my 4003S that I added a black pickguard/truss rod cover to. 
 

 

 

7ACF96FA-56DF-4668-89BB-209130487BC6.jpeg

81A4A1EB-A1EF-4D92-B338-0664FCF64F71.jpeg

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