This is my second bass guitar after my Yamaha which I have had for three years. I was in love with the 4003 before I had even heard it play, its appearance was just amazing to me, and up until only recently I played one for the first time and LOVED the sound. So I am quite lucky to have the best of both worlds!
I purchased my Rick through 'Pick of the Ricks', it it was sold as a 'near mint' condition guitar as it had an owner for a couple of months but was returned with only a minor ding near the input, so I saved a lot of money there, though delivery to Australia wasn’t so nice on the wallet.
I kept sane waiting for it to come all the way here to Australia by checking my FedEx online shipping account constantly, and tracking it from Bellmawr to Memphis to Honolulu until it finally came to Australia after a week unbearable excitement. Though soon everything went to hell… On the day it was supposed to be delivered, I got home from school early, and I spent three hours in my room in silence listening for any cars, and every time I heard one I went to look. It got to 5:30pm, and it was supposed to be delivered before 6:00pm, and so my dad rang up fedex to find out it had been scanned wrong and was still at the FedEx depot. So I got home yesterday expecting it to come again, and good old FedEx does its wonders and now labels my guitar as an 'escapee' saying that it got cleared before it was inspected by customs.
So today, I didn’t have my hopes up very high for it to come, but finally FedEx pulled through and delivered it!
Unbelievably by the time I got it , it had have taken twice as long to get the bass from the local FedEx facility compared to what it took to get from New Jersey to Melbourne!
And finally, to the actual bass. What can I say!? It sounds just amazing! But I bet you all already know how it sounds! I love the vintage tone feature and all the knobs for creating different sounds, just amazing. It looks so amazing! I have never actually seen a 4003 Jetglow before in real life! Photos don’t do it justice, the mirror finish is just amazing!
There was a lot of time and effort put into getting this guitar to me, and a few people to thank, especially to Darren Trott, who I can't thank enough for everything he has done to get me this Rick as well as letting me play his own Ricks while I was looking to buy my own. Secondly, to my father, who was just as eager for the guitar to arrive and helped in every way he could to get it here, as well as anyone else who helped in any way. And to Chris Clayton over at 'Pick of the Ricks' for selling me this beautiful instrument and being a great honest person in the deal and making buying from him a pleasure.
Hopefully now I will be able to contribute to this site more, and I can’t wait until the next Rick-fest so I can wear my new Rickenbacker shirt with my 4003 in my hands!
And now for the photos! I have learnt its tradition to show the unpacking of a new guitar on this forum, so here it goes! Enjoy the pictures!
(I think you all appreciate that photos really don't do a Rickenbacker justice)
