Did you ever see a 4004Cii look like this?

bottom4 · Post by **bottom4** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 2:28 pm

go here:
http://www.rosetti.co.uk/rickenbacker/basses/4004c2.html

what do you think?
May be John H could explain

robj · Post by **robj** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 7:10 pm

I think someone went a little over board in their attempt to enhance the colors in a photo of a 4004C-ii. I have one in Trans Blue, great bass.

Did I miss something on that website? The specs look correct. Is your request for comment because it's a U.K. website? Are 4004C-ii's illegal in the U.K.?

jps · Post by **jps** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 2:06 am

No Walnut wings on the headstock.

jeff_ulmer · Post by **jeff_ulmer** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:53 am

I agree with Robert about the photo enhancement to make it look yellow.

As for no walnut, that really doesn't surprise me either, but I would prefer the walnut wings if I were buying.

robj · Post by **robj** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 4:12 am

I see it now, the picture of the 4004C-ii on the RIC website shows it in natural with the walnut headstock wings.

I have seen pictures of the natural finished model where the back is walnut and not maple too. The back on mine is maple, and the headstock doesn't have walnut wings.

I think walnut would look great with the natural finish but pretty funky with any of the colors available. The flame maple on my bass is absolutely beautiful including the headstock.

Maybe RIC is excersizing its right to change product designs and specs?

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 5:56 am

The color of that photo has shifted somewhat.

The Walnut looks absolutely deplorable with any color whatsoever in the broad section that the headstock presents. (The lamination stripe around the body is tolerable, however.) Therefore, the Walnut headwings are going away. Also, the Walnut has proven to be a problem as far as splitting where the keys and their hardware are attached.

robj · Post by **robj** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 6:15 am

Has the experience with the Walnut splitting been seen in the manufacturing process or have problems been reported by customers? I have a 4004C which looks beautiful with the walnut wings and hate to think I might have a problem at some point.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 7:17 am

If wood is glued properly the glue joint is very strong ...

the only basses I have seen with splitting wood are dropped basses or refinished basses ... sometimes the stuff used to strip paint also dissolves glue

jeff_ulmer · Post by **jeff_ulmer** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 7:30 am

The walnut wings are the strong attraction for me with the CII natural, and I also like the walnut back as seen on Bjorn's site. I wonder if doing a darker stain on the wings would be a viable alternative. All natural is a bit too bland for me.

I agree that walnut under a colored finish would suck, but on the natural it looks great.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 8:51 am

It does look great to have Walnut along with the Maple finish but it's just not feasible to have varying construction for different colors. The actually color selection comes later in the process where the whole instrument can be evaluated for an appropriate color choice.

The Walnut splits are strictly in the Walnut, not the lamination line. It has to do with the Walnut as available these days. It's just not as dense as it used to be, more straight grained and split-prone.

I haven't seen a customer problem with this but we've lost some in production which raised this issue. This change is to make sure we don't have a customer with a problem!

robj · Post by **robj** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 9:39 am

John,
It's good to know you haven't had customer complaints and it's obviously a good idea to stop using walnut for the headstock wings in light of the facts.

I agree the natural looks a little too plain without the walnut to add some contrast. Are there any possible alternate woods available?

gstuadams · Post by **gstuadams** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 9:52 am

I am curious about Mr. Hall's comment that the color selection comes later in the process when the whole instrument can be evaluated. I thought that the natural finish went on the Cheyenne's with birdseye grain and the translucent color finishes went on those with "flamed" grain. Is that just an artifact of drawing conclusions based on too few photos?
The one that I ordered will be in red so I'm not too worried about walnut wings but if I had ordered natural finish ... well the lack of walnut wings would probably have shifted me over to a laredo or a translucent finish.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 12:13 pm

They all have "charactered" wood which can range from birdseye to sausage quilt to flame. But the best looking ones end up as Maple and the less attractive ones in solid colors. Even the Laredo currently gets charactered wood, although we don't spec that nor guarantee that we'll always do that.

jps · Post by **jps** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 12:29 pm

I think the headstock looks great all Maple, now I would just like to see the Shedua strip down the middle of the neck come back as I personally feel that a three piece laminated neck is stronger and more resistant to warping than what looks like a single piece of maple like Fender necks, unless I am not seeing something.

I for one, appreciate the fact that John is doing away with the Walnut on the headstock as there is a problem with it, most other companies would just leave it and deal with potential problems down the road, I too believe in quality first. I run a custom b&w photo lab and we will not let anything less than perfect prints go to the customer.

bottom4 · Post by **bottom4** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 1:53 pm

Well, this is just the icing on the cake of what was a horrible day to begin with. Owning a V63 for 18 years I just love the walnut wings. That is why I ordered the Cii in natural. I was hoping that this was just a photo that someone doctored-up and not a change in the spec. I can’t believe, Mr. Hall, you have change the spec of this bass and not the photo on the web site. I know, I know, for all you guys out there what you’re going to say: “subject to change with out notification”. BLA BLA BLA!

Why isn’t it a problem with the V63’s or C64’s?

Can I change my order with out impacting my wait time?

Not bad enough that the order is 450 days old!

Just a totally wasted day!