Ric in San Fran

[pjmuck]

Sweepable mids are a great asset to a Rick bass (to my ears).Take anything I say about Aguilar with a grain of salt, but I find that pedal compliments Rick basses really well.

+1. I do find myself dialing in mid frequencies not found on my Rick to help, "UnRickify" it, LOL.

I have been playing my Rick a lot lately, and I had an epiphany. I think a lot of players (myself included) wanted that ugly, grindy, trebly tone from a Rick, so they dig in and set their action low to help overdrive the pickups. I did the opposite last night and LOVED the results. I raised the action and played with a lighter touch. The bass warmed right up and played much smoother, though still maintained that biting trademark Rick tone when needed. It especially helped in the upper register, where notes have that fat Mccartney-esque blossom to the attack now.

I'm thinking about putting a toaster in the neck position, though I'm liking what I'm hearing right now. Anyone have a Rick with a toaster pickup? Opinions?

[cangaroo]

Could be the electronics, the wood, the factory process, or a combination of all the above, who knows...but the newer ones just felt kinda sterile, no "soul" in the instruments.

Yes, since there are so many factors in the composition of a bass it's almost logical that you may have differences between two basses even of the same model. But sometime the range of those differences is too wide and this make me (and a lot other people) sick.

A certain amount of money requires that one has to be sure that the final product is like he thinks.

If you're not sure about the quality of what is going to leave the factory, sell it at half the price, like other well known brands were people is prepared to try 20 different items to find the one good.

[tallboybass]

Big week for Ricks. There's two Fireglos on evil bay now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-4003s- ... 3a53fa504f

http://cgi.ebay.com/RICKENBACKER-4003-L ... 439ae7127f

The 4003S is back on Ebay....with a BIN of $3,000.00!!!!!

[leftybassman392]

The 4003S is back on Ebay....with a BIN of $3,000.00!!!!!

For that kind of money I could get an instrument handmade to my own spec by any of my country's finest luthiers (not to mention one of Rodent's finest and a chunk of change). Sorry to repeat myself, but I just don't get it.

[tallboybass]

I wished him luck!!!

[AzWhoFan]

Big week for Ricks. There's two Fireglos on evil bay now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-4003s- ... 3a53fa504f

http://cgi.ebay.com/RICKENBACKER-4003-L ... 439ae7127f

The 4003S is back on Ebay....with a BIN of $3,000.00!!!!!

Relisted without a BIN at a more reasonable price, which is less than you'd pay for a new one from a dealer ... if you can find one ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-4003s- ... 3a54c191ee

[tallboybass]

....and NO ONE placed a bid!!!

[Agent00Soul]

I'm cutting and pasting this from another thread because it's relevant to this one I think:

I've had two Ricks - both lefty 4003s. One was stock, the other had been modified with active pick-ups.

My personal opinion is that they are the best looking and one of the best playing basses around. However I found the sound to be pretty limiting. Worked good for hard rock but that was about all I really liked it for. And even then it was too mechanical sounding for my taste so I sold both of them eventually.

This is just my experience however. They are high quality enough instruments, and not too hard to find used even for a lefty, that they are totally worth trying out. Used ones tend to be a bit overpriced these days, but what "collectable" guitar isn't