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1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 22nd, 2018, 7:59 pm
by donahue
The bass arrived on friday in better shape than I thought. No kidding, it's in almost unplayed condition. I swear those marks on the fretboard are just from me trying it out. It's in really nice stock form. Case queen I think. I'm thrilled!
It does have body binding. It's very hard to see. It's under the finish. I tried to capture it, but its almost impossible. In the second to last pic, if you look at the light reflection and see where it distorts you can follow that and faintly see it.
So far I lowered the action some, added a treble bezel, straplocks, and my signature exotic wood obnoxious thumbrest. I make those and they find their way onto about half of my basses. This one is glued to the treble bezel so its totally reversible. I'm still waiting on the Pressurewound strings, but the Chromes sound great. I haven't messed with the truss rods. The neck showed up almost dead straight. I'll put the GHS strings on and see if it needs adjustment after that. Overall, Darth Basser works, looks and sounds great. I'm very, very, one more very, happy with it and thank everyone for their help and input in the previous thread. Cheers.

Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 22nd, 2018, 8:09 pm
by Matt R.
Man, that fingerboard is sooo dope. Beautiful !
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 22nd, 2018, 10:56 pm
by fivebass52
Matt R. wrote:Man, that fingerboard is sooo dope. Beautiful !
Yes indeed, a beautiful neck! Great looking bass... I've never had the chance to play one.... ever!

Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 2:51 am
by paulo
Congrats! That looks great!!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 3:03 am
by Grant
That looks amazing
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 5:50 am
by tim
Sweeeeeeeet!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 6:22 am
by NoXX
Wow..... just wow...... congrats mate!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 6:49 am
by donahue
Thanks guys!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 6:58 am
by andrew
Beautiful bass, I'm glad the deal worked out for you.
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 2:09 pm
by Grant
hey donahue what glue did you use for the thumbrest and how does it hold up.
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 2:54 pm
by donahue
Hey Grant, I use regular super glue and it seems to hold up fine. I think the key is to apply it to both surfaces to help it "weld" together better. I've put them on 4 basses and so far so good.. But also have a backup anchor point because you never know...
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 24th, 2018, 11:02 am
by AzWhoFan
congrats on an outstanding score!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 24th, 2018, 12:34 pm
by sblueplanet
Wow. Never seen a fretless Rick before

Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 24th, 2018, 2:18 pm
by gravesbass
VERY nice bass. I wanted that bass from the first eBay listing. The seller was just very short in answers so I passed thinking there was something wrong with it.
Great Score.... Play the hell out of it!!!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 24th, 2018, 3:56 pm
by donahue
gravesbass wrote:VERY nice bass. I wanted that bass from the first eBay listing. The seller was just very short in answers so I passed thinking there was something wrong with it.
Great Score.... Play the hell out of it!!!
Yes sir, will do. I already have been. I even came home for lunch today so I could play it some more. I'm really comfortable on this bass. Sooner than I thought I would be. I really like the tones I'm getting. Clean tones are amazing and for fun I had to run through a little Overkill by Motorhead. I'm going to leave the rest of the bass stock, as I'm totally happy with the pickups, electronics,tuners, etc. The bridge seems stable so far keeping tuning so I won't mess with that unless it changes. I gave both truss rods 1/8 turn last night and they moved like butter.
My favorite setting so far is selector in middle, bridge vol and tone full, neck volume at 1/4 and neck tone all the way down. Awesome!
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: April 24th, 2018, 8:25 pm
by NoXX
Very Cool! I'm hoping your amp looks like this, and that you were suitably attired for your Motorhead rendition, just like these fine gents

Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: May 29th, 2018, 9:07 pm
by bbl
Like graves, I was really tempted to bid, too.
Great score. Glad you're thrilled with it. That's a really rare bird - a fretless Ric with an unlined board. Beautiful.
I bet that epic Ric midrange sounds killer on fretless.
Re: 1994 Rickenbacker 4003fl
Posted: May 29th, 2018, 10:27 pm
by donahue
Thanks. It does sound really nice. It has a natural kind of melancholy tone to it in a good way, if that makes any sense. Very nice clean tones.