LeftyBassist.com

Man you don’t see those fretless Rics very often.

I see the seller works for Guitar Center.

Hey, now, that's kinda rude to presume that the seller actually works for Guitar Center.

He coulda just had Guitar Center take the pictures.

seller is very short with answers.

What do you guys think? Is this Ric legit? I'm very intrigued by this bass. It must be pretty darn rare? I can't even find one on google images. Not all murdered out like that. Custom? One-off? Fake? I don't know. I know jack squat about Rics. I absolutely love my fretless basses and have never tried a Ric. The wheels have been spinning all day!

I have limited Ric knowledge but something doesn't quite add up. If it has a bound neck, shouldn't it have a bound body as well? You don't get one without the other do you? Is there something wierd about the neck binding as well? There looks like a strip of fretboad wood after the binding and before the neck paint? Also, isn't there usually inlay dots on the fretboard? I really don't know much about Rics. I was tempted to bid on it, but idk.

Clear wood between finger board binding and paint is a Ric feature. Maybe they want to show off how thick the board is - necessary because the neck wood is flush with the body top and there is no "back angle" of the neck to raise the action. Bound neck with an unbound 4001S body is new to me. No body binding means the "S" gets a comfort sculpted upper body. "S" normally has unbound neck with ordinary dot fret markers instead of triangles.

Unusual or not, all the fittings & features look 100% Rickenbacker to me.

I've decided to bid. Might be a little learning curve, as my other fretless are lined. Would be my first Ric. Excited!

That would be a pretty good price for a Ric!

The learning curve will be there, but not as bad as you might think. With Fret lines you still have to use just as much of your ear of course, but muscle memory will also be there as far as fingering goes. You’ll have to adjust technique a little, but I bet you’ll surprise yourself! Good luck, going from lines to none is a fun jump to make.

Thanks fellas. There seems to be another interested party so we shall see.

I was interested in bidding on this, back during the first auction, but I couldn't find any mention or pics of another fretless Ric with an undotted board. That made me a bit suspicious.

Anyone ever seen another fretless Ric without front dots on the board?

I don't think the body is unbound. The versions with black hardware and black trim had black bindings as well, just like the fingerboard, so it will be hard to notice, but it is probably very much there.

Like on this midnight blue one:
https://m.ebay.com/itm/1997-Rickenbacke ... 3261950315

We'll find out gentlemen! I won the bass. Also, in a great turn of events, I too got a little spooked yesterday so I emailed Ric and they actually responsed within 12hrs! Nice! They can't attest to the lack of dots (but they did not red flag it) because I don't think they keep records that detailed, however the serial # is verified to belong to a left handed 4003 FL bass.

Awesome, congrats!!

Congrats!!

Nice!

Congrats.

I think basses with strong midrange make for great fretless tone, especially with rounds.

Looking forward to your NBD report.

Congrats on the win... I really wanted that but the seller was so short I passed. That would be a killer bass. I have never seen a fretless RIC like that before. Hope out all reads original.