New Rickenbacker short scale, the 4030S

[Beedster]

I'm not in the market as I imagine they won't be cheap, but the main problem I had with the only short-scale I've owned was that it sat in the wrong place for me, sitting down was OK, the only gig I did less so. I loved the frets being that little bit closer and the neck being that little bit faster as the result, but I couldn't get used to, well, dare I say it, the shortness! I considered getting a full length instrument with short scale fretless neck a while back because there's a few things I like to play on FL that challenge me on a full scale neck, so while I understand that people who might want an overall shorter instrument are not in the market for this, I would prefer this approach, albeit in the form of a fretless Precision 👍

[Beedster]

...have to say that if there were an FL in the new range I would be thinking seriously however, as Ric FL tone is sublime...... 👍

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Surely scaling the bass down to build something with similar metrics to retrovibe's l'il Richard would be so much better, but of course it would cost more for RIC to tool up for that.

 

 

[Woodinblack]

14 minutes ago, Beedster said:

...have to say that if there were an FL in the new range I would be thinking seriously however, as Ric FL tone is sublime...... 👍

 

Seeing as on a fretless you don't really need to change the frets for scale length, if you want one of these as a fretless you just have to get a normal one and move the bridge 2.5" up the body

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Seeing as on a fretless you don't really need to change the frets for scale length, if you want one of these as a fretless you just have to get a normal one and move the bridge 2.5" up the body

 

Fair point, although I did think of that a while back but it causes some some back PUP placement problems

 

I am pondering though, I might look for a short-scale FL neck and do some experimenting with a rather interesting test-bed body I have 👍

[Happy Jack]

46 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Seeing as on a fretless you don't really need to change the frets for scale length, if you want one of these as a fretless you just have to get a normal one and move the bridge 2.5" up the body

 

But ... but ... will nobody think of the Dots? 😱

[Obrienp]

Just echoing what most other people have said: how lame can you get Rickenbacker? They had an opportunity to come up with something that would tick all the short scale boxes: less reach, smaller lighter body (important for Rickies), pickups in the sweet spot (but still different fundamentals from the scale), etc. it could have been a Rickenbacker for players who hanker after one but can’t handle the size and weight of the standard offerings. They could even have taken the opportunity to fix some of the other shortcomings like the bridge/intonation and the sharp edges! Opportunity lost IMO!

[prowla]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I'm struggling here. I imagine I've read something wrong, but is the idea that you can convert a longscale into a shortscale just by moving the bridge?

As per my  comment: you can use the neck, but need a new fretboard (& frets).

They missed a trick: they could've done it as a fretless!

[prowla]

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

I’m reserving judgement until someone’s actually played one 👍

I don't think I'll be playing one.

[prowla]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

 

But ... but ... will nobody think of the Dots? 😱

You missed my comment about "spots" earlier!

[prowla]

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

Just echoing what most other people have said: how lame can you get Rickenbacker? They had an opportunity to come up with something that would tick all the short scale boxes: less reach, smaller lighter body (important for Rickies), pickups in the sweet spot (but still different fundamentals from the scale), etc. it could have been a Rickenbacker for players who hanker after one but can’t handle the size and weight of the standard offerings. They could even have taken the opportunity to fix some of the other shortcomings like the bridge/intonation and the sharp edges! Opportunity lost IMO!

Those ones have the V2 bridge, which has been stock for 3 years now.

[Woodinblack]

33 minutes ago, prowla said:

Those ones have the V2 bridge, which has been stock for 3 years now.

 

The new bridge seems like a good thing, and of course if you get the 4003s they don't have sharp edges (neither do the 4004s)