LeftyBassist.com

'74 Rickenbeater 4001

My have a '78 4001. Absolutely love it. The neck just feels perfect.

I also had a 330 6-string guitar. Hated it. Why? The neck. Go figure.

I had two of them, which you can see here somewhere:

http://picasaweb.google.com/LeftyBasses/FormerBasses#

Love the sound and necks, but I couldn't deal with the noise, the bridge pickup ring, and the slab body (no arm cut).

But kinda wish still had at least one. Very special instrument and the sound like nothing else.

Years ago I had a beautiful metallic blue one that I bought and sold on eBay in excellent condition. Like yours the neck was very thick and wide and I found it hard to play which is why I sold it. Recently, I was noodling around with an older righty yellow Rick with a much thinner and more comfortable neck. Not being a Rick expert, I am curious if the variation in necks was a custom option type thing or was it from variations in manufacturing from year to year?? If that metallic blue Rick had the thinner neck profile of the yellow one, I'd definitely have kept it.

varying manufacturer's (i.e. John Hall) decisions. AFAIK, you could never custom order a specific neck profile even in the good ole days unless your name was Chris, geddy or Macca.

I see. Are there certain 'fat neck' years and 'thin neck' years?? There's a very nice lefty Rick on eBay now that I would consider if I knew if the neck is thin or not.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 728wt_1139

unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that question. But I do recall it has been answered in another thread/

The 4001s, by and large, have the thinner neck profiles prior to the revision of the truss rod/neck. The earliest 4003s may be the same, but the profile change had everything to do with the change in truss rods in order to accommodate the higher tension, thus the thicker necks.

Some Rickenbacker-owners on a Dutch bass guitar forum are holding a Rickenbacker-meeting in order to compare their Rics, so maybe I'll be able to answer that first hand afterwards . I'm the only lefty attending, but I'm very curious about the tonal differences between the various 4001's and 4003's that will be present there, and the difference in neck shapes throughout the years. Although I can get around very well on my 4003, I'm not entirely happy with the neck width and thickness. So it might even result in the sale of my 4003 and a quest for another one with a slimmer neck...





There will also be two 4005's present

Someone on a 'RIC' forum did a very detailed study in (4001 - 4003) neck widths/diameters. They generally went from thinnest (early 70's) to gradually thicker every year up to 2008 (and gradually getting thinner since).

Hello lefty rick fans ! I need to change a saddle on my rick. Unfortunately, there is no way to buy rick parts in france, and impossible to buy from other countries (US or UK for example), because of rick contract with distributor.

SO, does somebody for UK (well US or canada is ok too), can receive my saddle order and post me back to Paris / France ?

THanks !

From last week's orchestra show:

Yes, I am reviving a thread so old that even the dust has turned to dust and it's not about a bass per se. But it is relevant to lefties and Ricks seem to occupy a "special" place in the hearts of people on the board.

I recently came across a black lefty Rick truss rod cover. I'd never seen one before so I bought it. I then bought a reproduction matching black pickguard and installed both of them on my 1991 340/12 model. (No I didn't drill any new holes in the instrument and kept the original parts: I'm aware of the resale value of Ricks.) It's kind of striking...

Sexy!
That TRC probly came from a tuxedo bass.

and now i know why you own a Vox amp

Yes indeed. Back in the early 90s - before I learned how to play bass - I was obsessed with the British dream pop "shoe gaze" bands of the time, esp Lush, Ride and Chapterhouse. They all were famous for using Ricks plugged into Voxes, with lots of pedals in between.

Ric used to offer a "black trim" option, which was black logo plate, binding, pickguard and hardware. I owned a 4003 with this option. Wish I still had it.

That is nice, although the black hardware seems a bit dated now. But they should definitely bring back the black plastic!

I was way into Lush way back when, saw them and Ride on the same bill here, was a great show and a great time in my life.

I must have seen the Chicago date of the same tour. I can honestly say that it was the very few gigs that changed my view of music, and I had already seen lots of stuff by that point.