RIC LOVE STORIES

[1rr3l3v4n7]

I'm new here, and I posted somteimes because I seeked for advice...
But hey, this is a funny little place... I was surprised to see so much poeple interested in THE ultimate brand name... I also see that most of you are, shall we say, collectors (Hi Jeff)... Wich is quite frustrating for me (oh dear jalousy of mine)

I read the post "I'm getting my Bass", and found it quite cute... I WILL have mine (as well as Dannyboy), and I wanted it for some time... I recall when I was twelve and I saw that 4001 for 400$ in a little shop, I tried it and WOW... But I could not buy it, since I'm a student and I can't afford much. I tried many cheap basses, but recently (11 years later), my girlfriend said that she would realise my biggest dream, and we went straight to the only RIC dealer in Montreal (Canada) and ordered one: a brand new 4003 Fireglo...

I was wondering...

How did you guys get your first RIC?

Any funny stories about it?

[rictified]

I got my first in 1977, a brand new mapleglo 4001 for $479.00 w/case. Is a funny story to it actually. I knew about them for a while but was a Fender player. I wanted a new bass and saw a lot of Rics around and liked them but I think the clincher was when I saw a picture of an Azureglo 4001 in Playboy magazine with a pretty girl with not too much on, in fact hardly anything, in fact it was the centerfold. I bought one two months later and never realized the connection until recently. I think it was kind of an unconscious thing on my part. I've had many since then, I have 6 right now and one on the way. I liked the bass better than the girl as a matter of fact. I have a 78 Azureglo 4001 right now and that was also a coincidence, as again I didn't think of the connection when I bought it, it was before I realized this whole thing. I mean that was obviously not the whole reason I bought one, but it started me thinking in that direction.

[apollo11]

My first Ric, a brand-new jetglo 4003, was purchased off the wall at a local guitar store. I had gone in a couple times and checked it out, thinking all along I had to buy it, due to the fact they are so rare to find in stock. It was hanging among all the other brands and, as usual for a Ric, stuck out like a sore thumb, in a gorgeous way.

I work as a supervisor with the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls. A couple of my employees are guitar players who frequent the same store. They had seen the same Ric in the store, and knew that I was interested in it. One day at work they told me that I was out of luck---they had gone to the store and didn't see the Ric bass hanging. The clerk told them that it had been sold. They wanted to rub it in that I'd missed out because I waited too long; I filled them in that I was the buyer or the 4003; they couldn't believe it, and we all had a good laugh over it.

One of them in particular is a guitar nut. He had recently seen one of his favorite bands in a local concert. They play worship-type music and the guitarist played a Ric, I think a 330. That instantly converted him to a Ric believer, so he is currently saving up for a Ric guitar. It's nice to see the youngrt generation gassing for a Ric!

[nattiep]

I wanted a Ric before I even had a bass. My dad was looking for a Hofner copy for me and I changed my mind and asked for a Ric. He said I was crazy and that it costs way more than a hofner copy. So I got mad and just said get me a normal bass. He got me a P bass copy. I hate P basses now. It took me two more years but when I ended up getting big money I looked on e-bay and got the ric I have now, a 4001. I'm gonna sell it though... I don't trust the neck. get a 4003 replacement.

[hieronymous]

I saw this beautiful Autumnglo hanging in the window of Cambridge Music in Massachusetts. I knew, right then and there, that I wanted it, and I took a couple of pictures of it - you can see my reflection in the image. Went home, drooled over the pictures, went back the next day and bought it! John Mouradian (son of Jim Mouradian, who did Chris Squire's bass) did a setup on it, and commented that it sold really quickly! (Mouradian Repair is above Cambridge Music...)

[jwr2]

Back in the late 60's I was a little kid ... my older brother was starting a band he asked me if I would be the bass player ... I said sure ... what is a bass? ... well my first bass was an electric guitar that I removed the 2 high strings ... then I got a hofner copy ... then I got a real hofner ... then I got a Gibson EB0 ... but I had been listening to Yes ... I wanted to sound and play like Chris Squire ... I heard about a used Ric bass that was available for $150 ... it was a 1968 4001 fireglo ... this became my only bass for the next 25 years ... then it got too valuable to gig with so it became an under bed instrument ... until someone offered me more than the market value for it so I let it got after owning it for 31 years ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/68-ric-2.htm

[ken_swearingen]

I was twelve years old when i got my first Ric[a 77 4001 mapleglo]from Rolls Music in Virginia,mom gave me the go ahead so i called every music store around the DC area looking for one Rolls was the only music store who had one in stock[i couldn't wait] i remember the excitement,wish i could feel like that again.

[henny]

Having a father who's a professional bass player, I grew up and developed a taste for the business, I didn't really act on it until I was 16, however.

That year I started listening to Yes et al and was astounded by the body of Chris's RM, it was so thin, elegant and timeless, I loved it. Not to mention that gnarly, growly sound. I was in love.

Immediately I got the worst-looking most beat-to-**** 4003 you'd ever lay eyes on, but it was my Ric nontheless.

I treasured it, experimented with new pickups, etc. As I developed as player I contiued to gig with it, it sounded fantastic. I eventually acquired a couple of other 4003s, FG and JG, then bought a 1972 Burgundy 4001, which many of you know was the best bass I have ever, ever heard or played... not a bad bass arsenal for a 17 year old, eh.

Sold that, got a 4004Cii TR - another great bass to play... now 19, nearly 20, and the love affair continues.

[rickinroma]

After an experience with an italian Gherson rickenFaker and my 1965 hofner beatle bass which I still play... I got my 1st second hand 1979 rick 4001 Fireglo at the age of 17 in 1984.....paid around 300 USD and I fell in love with it...unfortunately I had to sell it in 1997 because of TR problems..but in 1992 I had purchased my 67 4005 MG.... of course the 4005 felt too lonely without a 4001...so I immediately had to buy a fireglo V63
now they have another partner...my new 4003blue boy...I must say that each time I get a new rickenbacker instrument I feel like it's my 1st one....I guess you all know what kind of feeling I am talking about

[marc61]

In 1979, it was my senior year in high school. Had to have Chris Squire's bass, but in the Geddy Lee color. put it on layaway at King James Music, on Flatbush ave in Brooklyn. Worked after school and gave $25-$50(depending on delivery tips) till it was mine.

[lars]

I have always (from when I first could see the difference between a bass and a guitar at the age of 12) loved the looks of the Rickenbacker 4001. The mysterious logo (did it say "Bickenbacker"?), the name itself (Knickerbocker), the lines, the aura of heavy metal.
However I started to play bass, and by accident my first basses were: Hagstrøm, then an Aria j-bass copy, then I borrowed an old P-bass from a friend, then I bought a tele-bass, a new t-bird, a used 76 t-bird, a les paul signature bass, and then! In 1992 I got my 4001. It was a pretty beat-up -75, the bad refin was peeling of the back, but complete exept for the tuners and the missing pu-cover.
I used it ONCE(!) (in a TV-show called Eurovision song contest), and put it away with all the other basses I didn't gig with. Then last year I decided to refinish it in midnight blue (azureglo would have been more correct, i know) I got the correct tuners from Jeff Rath, and a new pu-cover.
I plan to buy a new 4003 soon!!!

[bassduke49]

I started up a band in the Boston area in 1974-75. I had a Japanese Hofner copy at the time, and as the band formed up, I realized I needed a better instrument. I was dating a girl who became my first wife, and we used to go dancing at a club southwest of Boston (name escapes me now), but the featured band there was "Northeast Expressway" (any one remember them?), a great cover band that would copy Yes, ELP, Steely Dan, Moody Blues note for note -- incredible! They even had a Melotron! But I digress. I got chummy with the bass player and he mentioned he was going to sell his Rick and get a Gibson Ripper (sucker!), so I bought his used '72 MG. I refinished it myself (poorly), but I still have it, and it's over at Dr. Staberow's clinic being restored.

[edski]

I started playing bass in 10th grade...my cousin lent me a 1965 Bassman with a Bandmaster cab, and the friend who was to give me a few lessons lent me a short scale "Ventura" bass...I was a good trumpet player and pianist at the time, had a lot of musical friends, so picking up the isntrument and using it with a band was not a problem.

My parents were to some extent... Dad was NOT a rocker, and Mom thought that guitars were "dirty". I was struggling at school (by my previous standards), and one day, when getting a trumpet lesson at a place where my buddy who lent the Ventura worked, I was drooling over an Azureglo 4001.

My mom said, "If you get on the honor roll, I'll buy you one"...

Well, I busted my butt for the next month, and made the Honor Roll at school by about 0.001 of a "Quality Point"...lucky for me I was in the advanced classes which counted more in that convoluted calculation the schooled used that year. My grade average was a rather pedestrian 85 or so...

Afterwards, trying to collect, the terms of the deal were changed. I'd be HELPED (50/50), and onyl after I got the money up. I can't remember the price of a new one in late 1980-1981, but it was more that the $479 mentioned by Bob Young...maybe it was a NYC area thing...but I started to save. I remember a cousin giving me a $20 for "your guitar"...

Eventually I heard of a local store having a used Rick sale, and I had about $200-250 saved. I convinced my folks to pay a little more than half IIRC, and got my 75 Burgundy 4001. When he saw it, my Dad was surprised "those things are made of wood. I though electric guitars were made of plastic."

About 15 years later my cousin asked me if I ever got my guitar. I said, "yes, and I still have it".

And now, about 10 years after that, I still do. Although now it's semi-retired, and I let my 2004 Laredo do the most of the work now.

[rickaddict]

I got my first Bass for my 13th birthday. It was a Kay 2B. Sort of a Gibson copy thing. It was not a very good bass, but it looked cool. Next was an Ibanez Blazer Bass.

But when I was 15 I had been making some money painting houses. The drummer in my band kept dropping hints for me to check out Rickenbacker basses. He was kind of a new wave fan and was also big into REM. I went to my local music shop-Consolidated Music in Barrington, Illinois(NW of Chicago) and saw a few Ricks there. I think they only had one 4001. It was white. This was back in May of 1982. The Rick was new, but had been hanging on the wall for a while. It was a 1980. I pulled it down and played it. A goofy grin immediately spread across my face and wouldn't go away! It fit me like a glove. It was expensive, but at a nice discount to list price($525.00) because it had a nick in the finish on the headstock. I put down a downpayment. It was paid off in about a month. It was a huge chunk of cash for a kid that was saving for a car, but I had no regrets. I've owned nothing but Ricks since. I've tried SOOOO many other guitars and always its this feeling of relief when I come back to one of my Ricks. Aaaahhh!

There were quite a few people back then in the 80's that made fun of Rickenbackers. I heard so many negative comments:

"They do everything different. They haven't changed 'em much in 20 years. They have really thin, fragile necks. They have two truss rods and they're a pain to adjust. I don't know why they think they need to clearcoat the fretboards! I'd put a Badass bridge on it. I'd put Schaller machines on it. I'd put a brass nut on it."

And: "Check out my new Kramer flying V bass. It has an aircraft aluminum neck!"

Anyway I'm so glad that I never modified it or traded it in. And over the years its always been fun to open up that case, take in the smell, pick it up, plug it in and play. These days, it has many brothers and sisters to play with while I'm at work.

[iamthebassman]

The story of my first Ric ain't that interesting but here goes.
1978, Corpus Christi,TX, bought a very early Musicman Stingray(bridge was stamped "Patent Pending"), had it about a week when I stopped into the shop where I'd bought it. They had a Ric 4001! THAT'S what I really wanted. It was white with black trim. Even trade for the MM and it was mine. I'm a lefty and it was a righty and looked retarded played upside-down, but it was a Ric.
And now my favorite Ric purchase story.
1991, just moved to Austin, the white Ric is long sold, my main bass is a lefty Ibanez(the only lefty bass in Corpus Christi, a back-water town on the Gulf)I'm in a new band and the guitarist becomes my best friend. She and I go to a guitar show here(where I see Scott Jennings' lefty 4005MG, jeez!!). We come to the Southpaw Guitars booth, wow! I'd heard that Ric was making a bass just like Chris Squire's. Being a huge Squire fan, I was interested but figured my chance at owning a lefty one was zero. They had one! It was beautiful, and $1100. I had $400. Next to it was a lefty 4003FG for $900. I told the guy at the booth that the CS was beautiful but I couldn't afford it so I'd just take a picture of it. He told me the prices weren't written in stone. He'd sell me the CS for $1000, and $800 for the 4003. My best friend let me put the remaining $400 on her card and I walked out with a lovely 4003FG(LH).
One year later, at the guitar show. Southpaw Guitars has that same CS for $1000. I got no money this time, sure looks nice tho'. Bye pretty bass.
6 months later, my best friend and I have our own computer repair company. We have a great month, most of which she has spent studying for finals, with me minding the shop alone. She said I deserved a bonus, a $1000 bonus. I immediately called Southpaw, they still had it, for $1000. That was a Friday afternoon. Saturday morning I drove the 3+hours to Houston. Got there before they opened. Waited out front, till they opened, then went in and bought my CS. Drove home with that beautiful silver case behind the seat of my pickup.