Hello HowA, That's a Rickenbacker 4003 Jetglo (Rickenbacker calls the black finish "Jetglo"). RIC basses in the same style made before 1984 were called "4001" and had the old style truss rods. The two pickups are single-coil "High Gain" pickups which are quite powerful. Combined with its maple body and neck (rosewood fingerboard) and "neck-through" design, they yield a sound that has a clear high end with powerful, deep lows...very articulate. Thanks to the neck-through design, these basses have rather amazing sustain---45-50 seconds on an open note. It's got independent volume and tone controls for each pickup so you can literally have a limitless array of sounds by setting the knobs to different combinations. Unlike a Les Paul guitar, the output of the bass does not get killed when you turn off either one of the volume knobs when the toggle switch is set to the middle position. Very nice electronics design, in my humble opinion. Check out recordings by the Beatles ("Revolver", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band" and "Magical Mystery Tour"), Pink Floyd ("Meddle","Obscured By Clouds" and "More"), Yes ("Fragile", "Close To The Edge", "Relayer", etc.), The Jam("In The City", "This Is The Modern World", "All Mod Cons" and "Setting Sons") and Rush ("2112", "Exit Stage Left", "Moving Pictures" and "Signals") and albums by Motorhead if you want to have a rough idea of what Rickenbacker basses sound like on records. I have a '72 4001 Mapleglo Fretless, an '86 4003 Shadow (only 50 units made) and a '98 4003 Fireglo that I certainly love to death. You can check them out here to see more design details: http://www.rickbeat.com/gallery/paulyan/paulyan.htm Will I collect any more Rickenbacker basses? Hell yeah!!! By the way, there is no such thing as a "Made In Korea" Rickenbacker guitar/bass. Rickenbacker instrumemnts are completely made in Santa Ana, California, USA, which is a 40-minute drive from Los Angeles. The Korean ones mentioned by our brother upstairs are of the "Rock'n'roller" brand name which are fakes made by Aria in Korea. They are not "neck-through" but "bolt-on" and have significantly less sustain. You can get the fake ones at "Golden Ants" in Taipei for NT. 9200-10000, but please don't do it and embarrass yourself! Does the 4003 JG you mentioned come with the original hardshell case? Is it in Taiwan? It looks to be one made in the 1990's, if it's not brand new. The street price of a new 4003 (including hardshell case) in the USA is about $975-1300 USD depending on who you buy one from. It would definitely be a nice deal if you could get that one (including original case) for under NT. 30000. Hope the info helps you. *I'm sorry I can't type Chinese. Haven't learned to yet.
I would not call the Rickenbacker sound the "old sound". "Sound" is a very subjective matter. An "old sound" for one person may be a "new sound" for another. The fact that the RIC 4000 series bass (production started in 1957) had its heyday in the '60s-'80s doesn't necessarily mean it's got an old sound. The Fender Precision bass was "invented" by Leo Fender in 1952 but is still widely used today. Nobody would call its sound "old". The production of the Music Man Sting Ray started in June 1976 and is widely used today too. With the modern amplification technology at our disposal today, you can practically make any bass sound "old" or "new" at your will. The reason you don't see many players playing RIC basses is because they are not "mass-produced by machines" like Fender and Music Man basses but "semi-handcrafted" by CNC machines and the human hands... the Rickenbacker company (much smaller in size than F and M) don't produce a lot of them, thus very hard to find, even in the USA. Go to any Guitar Center In the USA and I bet you can't find any 4003 easily. In my very humble opinion, the Rickenbacker bass suits rock, metal and alternative very well. Some jazz players use them too. What style music do you play, by the way? Do you play with fingers or with a pick? It was actually me who helped Matt of Zayin buy his 4003 JG from a dealer friend of mine this past April/May. The bass sound that you hear in their debut album is that of his old Precision Deluxe that he says "sounds like mud and shit" when compared to his new Rickenbacker 4003 JG. Be prepared that a brand new 4003 will cost you over NT. 45000 if you're lucky enough to find a Taiwanese dealer to import one for you. I know Masa of Mayday bought his 4003 JG in 1998 or 1999 through a Taiwanese dealer for NT. 48000 or 49000. I can only tell you that Matt got his for a few thousand NT. less than that. Let me know if you have any more questions.
保羅顏是我遇過最投入的RIC bass 收集者,,, In my very very humble opinion.... the Rickenbacker bass suits all decent players within proper cultivation.....no matter what kinda music style.........
I concur completely with Mr. 72. The sound really comes from the player, not the bass and gear. The choice of instruments is merely a matter of personal preference and...fashion statement sometimes. Yeah, I'm a sucker for Rickenbacker basses! I hope to have at least 10 before I die, haha! I forgot to mention 3 specialties of the 4001/4003 basses: 1-Dual truss rods. With them, you can gain your optimal neck reliefs on both sides of the neck. For example, as RIC recommends close-to-absolutely-straight necks on their instruments, I set up my rods so that the E string is .007" from the 8th fret when it's pressed at the 1st and last fret simultaneously; and the G string to .002" relief. 2-They have 2 outputs: Standard and RICK-O-SOUND. The standard output is used as with all normal bases. The Ric-O-Sound output lets you use a stereo-to-dual-mono Y cable so that you can have your neck and bridge pickups routed to 2 amps, respectively, and have virtually any kind of sonic combination imaginable. However, be aware that the 2 output sockets can't be plugged at the same time. 3-The rosewood fingerboard is finished/lacquedered with "conversion varnish" (RIC's secret finish formula). It might require a little getting used to if you've never played an instrument with a finished fingerboard. I love it, personally.
Well, 20 is even better! I ain't no slapper but a picker, so I'm fine. As far as I know, McCartney plays with a pick (on his 4001S and Hofner 500/1) 85% of the time. Chris Squire of Yes picks 99% of the time. Geddy Lee (in the '70s and '80s, he now plays Fender) of Rush and Lemmy of Motorhead play with fingers all the time. The only player I know of that slaps on his RIC bass is Les Claypool of Primus. Below is him with his '72 4001 Burgundyglo. *Hey Monk, I'm from Kaohsiung too. Been living in Taiepei since I was 22. My family still lives in Hsin-Leh street.
還有Claypool 相片可看哩！此仁兄怪人配怪痛，我看就屬他會這樣用。 顏兄的bass 照片拍的不錯喔，Hsin Leh street? have no idea... I am living close to the loveriver.
Thanks for the kind words. It's 新樂街 (thanx to my wife's typing) in Yen Cheng district, very close to Da Hsin department store. Only 3 minutes' walk from THE RIVER.
To howA 我有一把aria早期仿4001,made in japan的琴,neck-through,也有像RICK-O-SOUND的2 output,我也有一把4001,跟這把早期日場的aria聲音比起來,我覺得就像gibson跟epiphone的差別一樣吧,不過是epiphone elitist喔.我這把琴超過十年以上,是以前很哈rickenbacker的時候買的,他也沒讓我失望,前段的音量跟tone的可變電阻可能要清一下或換掉,我本來是想把整組電路都換掉,可是太麻煩了,也有case.想賣100 00,如果你有興趣可以跟我連絡coxon70@yahoo.com.tw
阿通伯那裡不久前才進一支4001,以前在蔡螞蟻那裡也看過rickenbacker的琴,誠心建議,如果預算夠,去買4001吧,你會變成下一個Paul Yan的.說到Paul McCartney,He uses fingernail as a pick,or he just uses pick.I thought that was two different sounds
Hi Coxon70, Glad to know you as one more 4001/4003 owner in Taiwan! Please check your email. I have a few technical questions for you, about your RIC and Aria basses. Thanks in advance. Indeed, McCartney uses both picks (85%) and fingers (15%) for different sounds, depending on what the songs call for. 1965 1967 1976 By the way, the one 阿通伯 has for sale is a 4003. (RIC 4001 were made 1960-1984. 4003 are made 1980-present.) Is it an FG (Fireglo=Red Sunburst) like this as depicted on their web page? (I don't wanna be "Jee-Baa" but I believe they actually "stole" the picture from www.northcoastmusic.com. Isn't that violating the Intellectual Properties Laws?) How much does 阿通伯 ask for it?
like song `Piggies` in white album,His bass sound almost rivals the pig voices.我覺得那比較像是用食指指甲敲弦然後用拇指把他悶掉,只用pick聲音太硬了,or he used fender jazz bass maybe.
"Piggies" has the 4001S on it. Here's a link for the instruments used for each song on that album: http://perso.wanadoo.es/sissu/white.htm
沒想到這個站還藏了album instruments...我前幾天還在看live gear那部份,披頭迷真是太@$@#$.說了這麼多,再離題一下,提出一個我多年的疑問,`Think For Yourself` in rubber soul and ` Mean Mister Mustard `in abbey road 的fuzz bass,Sir. Paul McCartney當初是怎麼弄的!?那年代有什麼effect box可以接,應該不是疊錄吧,Helter Skelter聽起來比較像,後來看到網站上的資料還真的是疊錄的,不過是John lennon彈的(fender bass vi or jazz bass,有機會真想玩玩bass vi給他大力刷下去看是什麼感覺)
From what I hear, the fuzz thing in "Think For Yourself" should be George playing his blue Stratocaster, maybe through a Vox Tonebender? Or the Maestro Fuzz-Tone. Or John's WEM Rush Pep fuzz box. (Yes, that's John's hand in there.) Hey check out www.beatlesgear.com/ if you're interested in the amps and stuffs Sir Paul used.
maybe you've read this but for you Rickenbacker fans, don't miss the John Hall interview on Bunnybass: http://www.bunnybass.com/e-zine/interviews/johnhall.shtml
Thanks, Jeff. This interview has been my favorite John Hall interview for 2+ years, and I doubt if anyone could top that in the future. I even printed it out on paper and put it in the toilet so I can read it again and again when I "mm mm", haha! It's also the most in-depth JH interview you can find on the internet, IMHO. Kudos to the BunnyBass crew! John's father, the late great Francis C. Hall (who put the Rickenbacker name on the map in the modern music world in the '50s) seized the chance when the Beatles were booming big time and decided to give each member of the Beatles a Rickenbacker. George Harrison received a 330/12 twelve-string (actually the 2nd 12-stringer made in RIC's history), John Lennon a 325 short scale and Paul McCartney a 4001S (dot inlays, no bindings). It was the 14-year-old John Hall, at the age of 14, who presented the 330/12 (listen to that jangle in "A Hard Day's Night") to George in New York in '64, and the 4001S to Paul in LA, in '65, respectively. Just imagine meeting the Beatles during the climax of "Beatlemania" when you're a teenager!!! John took over the RIC company from his father in '84 and introduced the modern truss rod system. Despite his reputation in the musical instrument manufacturing business of being quite a "Jee Baa" person, I find him to be real accessible and always responds quickly whenever I e-mail him questions or thoughts. (By the way, he loves pictures of beautiful girls. So send him some if you wanna befriend him, heheh.) He siad his son Benjamin was more into establishing his own business in the Latin America, so I wonder who's going to take over the company when he retires. I wish it would be me, haha!!! For those who are interested in taking a peek inside the Rickenbacker factory, check these out: http://community.webshots.com/album/99294967oioFXx http://www.v oxtalks.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=V17&Post=1354&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session=richsnyder.108342715688661 http://www.voxtalks.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoa rd/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=VT18&Post=4&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=1&Session= For those who are interested in the Beatles' bonds with the Rickenbacker instruments, here's an excellent article: http://www.rickbeat.com/beatles/beatles.htm