Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Looks like Wildwood is slashing prices on their RIC inventory for Black Friday: https://wildwoodguitars.com/product-cat ... kenbacker/

Includes several 4005 reissues.

I have converted a bass fingerboard to natural (oil is added for protection 2x per year), and it's been great. Not sure it was the same kind of wood, and I do not think mine had much in the way of pore filler.

I have gotten my hands on one of the newer neck profiles (0.79'' at 12th fret), and it feels SKINNY. More "D-shaped" than my '76 4001FL ("C-shaped"), and one of the thinnest Ric neck I have played.

Those photos look great. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. This bass was well traveled, but now even moreso.

If I had to guess, this is because of the switch to a single truss rod. Less wood removed, and better truss rod generally = stiffer neck, less mass needed to remain straight. They may have even been forced to slim the necks up so that regular string tension would produce enough relief. Just as an ...

I keep an eye on the neck thickness posted by Wildwood Guitars for fun.

Over the last 2-3 years, not exactly sure when, the typical thickness dropped from 0.9'' to 0.8''. This is a difference of 2.5 mm. I'm honestly not sure how perceptible that is in the hand- but I'm guessing it's enough of a ...

I can also imagine that 12 total strings impose a lot more tension on a tailpiece than 4. Yes- bass string tension is higher due to scale length, but tension on the tailpiece is between the bridge saddle and tailpiece - so not as big of a difference in scale. (Maybe about the same %age wise? I have ...

This has been one of my favorite basses ever! Dave, I am really glad you are enjoying it.

I think it's only doable in mono or basically forces the circuit into mono, but with a DPDT you could choose when to enable this.

I like the idea of a blend knob but I'm not sure it's that much better than VVTT to make such a complicated circuit (to keep ROS compatibility) worth the hassle.

I mulled this over and my recollection is also that it is impossible to do a normal blend pot with a ROS circuit. But with a DPDT switch you could probably make it work (pull up to go into "ROS mode").

Taking the finish off the fingerboard is probably harder than removing from other places, I would imagine?

nov_1981 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2024 6:56 pm I tried the new bridge on my 4003SW converted to fretless and found that I couldn’t get the action as low as the with old bridge. Ended up putting the old one back on.

That's a gorgeous bass!

How hard would it be (or expensive) to refinish a 4003S Mapelglo in an oil finish?

The 4003S MG is sort of my idyllic RIC look now that the skunk stripe is back. Would really love to get one but I've gotten addicted to the oil finish on my 4003AC. (I realize the 4003SW is an option but it would be ...

Awesome! Thanks.

Do others who made the conversion note a difference in tail lift?

On my 4003AC, with the new design, there is no tail lift whatsoever. Now that I can see the difference, it's hard not to notice tail lift with the old design.