NBD: not quite what I had in mind- Ric content

[Old Horse Murphy]

The plan was to visit Mark and the boys at Bass Direct to try and buy a US Lakland Jazz they have advertised. That was the plan. 

What happened was, well, basically my head got turned by a spotless 2011 4003 in my favourite colour scheme and once I plugged it in and heard that Ric "fizz" it was only ever going to finish up one way. The Lakland was lovely but left me feeling completely underwhelmed. It was a gorgeous piece of work and the build quality was superb, but I just didn't feel anything from it. It was (as they say) me, not the Lakland.

I need to change the strings but it's a real beauty and fills a gap I didn't know needed filling in my collection. All in all, a worthwhile trip.

 

 

 

[Skybone]

Sweet.

[Doctor J]

Nnnnnice!

[madshadows]

Very cool, nice one

[artisan]

Lovely bass.

I have just recently discovered that I absolutely love Rickenbackers after over four decades of thinking I am a Fender man.

Rickysounds do a nice bezel to fill the cavity around the treble pickup which makes for a much more comfortable experience.

Edited February 11, 2020 by artisan

[Shaggy]

Some lovely grain on that maple - good score 

l've been trying to resist my long-term hankering for a blue-burst one......

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, artisan said:

Lovely bass.

I have just recently discovered that I absolutely love Rickenbackers after over four decades of thinking I am a Fender man.

Rickysounds do a nice bezel to fill the cavity around the treble pickup which makes for a much more comfortable experience.

If I’d have bought a walnut one instead of my fireglo maple, I might still have it. The walnut ones are so much lighter. Good shout on the bezel, they are a great addition.

I bought my Ric in much the same way as you @Old Horse Murphy, I went looking for budget 5 strings, played the Ric (to see if they were still as awful as I remembered from a previous experience; it wasn’t, obviously) and realised I had to have it. Unfortunately, the weight, balance and lack of forearm contour meant I had to move it on ☹️. Iconic basses with a great sound (YMMV).

[Al Krow]

16 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

The plan was to visit Mark and the boys at Bass Direct to try and buy a US Lakland Jazz they have advertised. That was the plan. 

What happened was, well, basically my head got turned by a spotless 2011 4003 in my favourite colour scheme and once I plugged it in and heard that Ric "fizz" it was only ever going to finish up one way. The Lakland was lovely but left me feeling completely underwhelmed. 

Congrats on the new bass!!!

I had an identical experience a few years back, wandered into a store in Camden and ended up trying both a Ric 4003 and a Lakland , albeit one of their budget Skyline range and therefore less lovely in terms of finish than the one you tried, and came to the exact same conclusion.

The new walnut (my fav finish) Ric was on sale for £1,650. In hindsight a very good price for a new Ric, but at the time was enough to stop me biting. Prices have only gone one way since. I guess the one thing that keeps me from having a missed-opp regret is that I now require a thumb rest string on all my basses 😁

Hope you get a lot of pleasure out of yours.

[Skybone]

The neck pickup is an ideal thumbrest, or you could try adding one of those "Zero Mod" thumbrests.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Skybone

[Skybone]

2 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Some lovely grain on that maple - good score 

l've been trying to resist my long-term hankering for a blue-burst one......

It is possibly one of the better 4003's I've seen in a long time. Most of the Mapleglo's seem to be non-descript in terms of timber selection.

[martthebass]

Nice one Nick.  My 2010 midnight blue is the longest serving bass in the armory, doesn't come out to play live often but always puts a smile on my face when it does.  They are marmite (I'm still love-hate on the lack of forearm contour as I don't play with a pick) but I've always liked marmite.  As said above get the bezel for the pup - preferably one with the integrated thumb rest.

[Beedster]

Rics are so not the instrument that so many players appear to think they are, i.e., an anachronistic throwback to a bygone era in terms of tone, playability, build quality and aesthetics (although I recognise that the third can be a problem - although arguably no worse than some other brands - and the fourth is a matter of taste). I always find it amazing how many people who slag them off, whilst basing their entire rhetoric on their experience of five minutes playing a badly set-up instrument through a Carlsbro combo in a shop in 1982, or simply on what they've read on forums. As Nick is finding out, Rics are f*****g awesome basses, that really do fill a gap between some of the more commonly used basses.

In fact, I'm really not sure why I don't have one at present

[4000]

3 hours ago, ezbass said:

If I’d have bought a walnut one instead of my fireglo maple, I might still have it. The walnut ones are so much lighter. Good shout on the bezel, they are a great addition.

I bought my Ric in much the same way as you @Old Horse Murphy, I went looking for budget 5 strings, played the Ric (to see if they were still as awful as I remembered from a previous experience; it wasn’t, obviously) and realised I had to have it. Unfortunately, the weight, balance and lack of forearm contour meant I had to move it on ☹️. Iconic basses with a great sound (YMMV).

The walnut ones I’ve played are a similar weight to my ‘72s. Which are noticeably lighter than the majority of the 4003s I’ve played. 

[Old Horse Murphy]

Thanks chaps. I must admit this isn't my first (or second!) 4003. I've had a few 4003S' in between the 4003 model and despite the uncomfortable bezel, I do actually prefer them for some reason and find they sound more "fizzy" which is the sound I like. 
 

This one is around 9.5 lbs, so not massively light, but very comfortable. The neck is a good handful too and I'm really enjoying it

[Owen]

20 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

As an aside, nice pointing work on that wall.

[4000]

Must admit, I’ve just seen a mapleglo 4003 that I want, with the new bridge. I can’t justify it, can’t really afford it, but I really do want it. 

[Al Krow]

4 hours ago, Skybone said:

The neck pickup is an ideal thumbrest, or you could try adding one of those "Zero Mod" thumbrests.

Yeah - but they're less good for playing low D and Cs, than my thumb rest strings 😉

[bigthumb]

Well this has done nothing to quell my Ric GAS as this is my favourite colour too! 

I work about 100 yards from a small music shop in Liverpool which has a number of Rickenbacker basses for sale and for 6 months I've managed not to go in because I'm afraid of what the outcome will be - divorce. 

Lovely bass!! 

[Guest]

I don’t think I’ve played a Rickenbacker of any sort since I was about 14 in the local music shop. No idea whether it was a good bass or not as I’d only been playing a couple of years and wasn’t very good. Those shark fin inlays were really quite something. I don’t have room for another bass, must resist...

[6feet7]

I'm keeping my eye out for an old fashioned 5 stringer (not the new ones with triangular pickups) as I can't get that Ricky itch out of my system. The only problem is the price

 

[Beedster]

16 minutes ago, 6feet7 said:

The only problem is the price

 

And the extraordinary rarity.

And as I understand it from TB, the crapness of of the B? 

[6feet7]

46 minutes ago, Beedster said:

And the extraordinary rarity.

And as I understand it from TB, the crapness of of the B? 

I know, but it's the look. The new 5 stringers have lost something in their conversion to something playable

[Beedster]

24 minutes ago, 6feet7 said:

I know, but it's the look. The new 5 stringers have lost something in their conversion to something playable

Agreed. I went through a phase of playing 5ers and pretty quickly realised that the B was simply a versatile if expensive thrumb rest. On that basis, I'd quite like an old Ric 5er. IIRC there were issues with string spacing and PUPs also, I might be wrong but did they pretty much put 5 strings on what was to all intents the existing 4 string instrument? 

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 4, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[BlueMoon]

On 11/02/2020 at 14:25, Shaggy said:

l've been trying to resist my long-term hankering for a blue-burst one......

Me too, but I always feared the dreaded colour-bleed into the body binding. Not sure why blue seemed to be particularly affected or whether they eventually got it sorted.