Is it a 4004 Laredo?

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:42 am

I inquired about a bass I saw advertised as a 4004 Laredo with a rosewood fretboard, and the seller sent me this blurry shot:

I thought the 4004L had a maple, not rosewood, fretboard. Any ideas, folks? (The seller is about a three-hour drive away, otherwise I'd go check it out in person.)

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:51 am

Gary, RIC did indeed change the fretboard from Maple to Rosewood and moved the neck pickup closer to the treble pickup. My Desert Gold 4004L was like this.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:13 am

Not rosewood ... bubinga ...

http://www.rickenbacker.com/us/4004l.htm

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:16 am

Wow. How fast was the photographer going when he snapped this photo?

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 10:11 am

IMHO, he didn't stop breathing, and pressed the shutter release button with too much force causing camera shake at "the critical moment".
Non-musical "Fuzz' effect that is.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 12:47 pm

Thanks for the info, guys. The seller is asking $800 + shipping (I don't know whether that's a good price); if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll let you know where to find the ad (direct links don't appear to work - I've learned that from experience).

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 12:48 pm

I showed him how to do that, it's easy for me. If anyone wants bad picture taking lessons just e-mail me, I'll be glad to share the finer points of bad photography with you. The visual fuzz box effect.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 1:36 pm

$800 is a good price for a Laredo ... they are $1130 +/- new ...

philco · Post by **philco** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 2:03 pm

Bob, this would be a good bass for you when you want to shake the house down with your SVT. I paid $790 before shipping charges for mine from a music store. I actually sniped it at the last minute on eBay. 4004 basses are hard to come by, so if the finish and action are in top shape with no other issues to address, I would say $800 is a fair MARKET price. You could also get a new Peavey Grind 4 NTB and a new Yorkville XM200T combo for that much scratch, however, so I would think really hard about it.

On the later Laredos, the neck AND bridge pickups were moved closer to the bridge. The bridge pickup just wasn't moved as much as the neck pickup. Somebody probably complained that the originals sounded too fat. Well........I went fat and I'm not going back. I get 3 basic tones: FAT! (neck), FatLite (bridge), and PolyFat (neck + bridge). I mostly just use the selector switch and leave the volume and tone knobs cranked full on.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 2:10 pm

Hey John,

I e-mailed you back about what pictures of my collection you would like, but I didn't get a reply. I just posted a list ('31 flavors') under the thread "Do You Take The Sticker Off" in the Rickenbacker General section. Take a look and let me know (you have my e-mail address).

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 5:42 pm

If you want single coils on a 4004 the 4003 high gain or toaster will fit fine on this bass ... the hole is the same size ... a humbucker does not get the same treble bite as a single coil ... and replacing that treble with active electronics is still not a single coil sound ... but the Ric humbuckers do have a nice p-bass sound ...

Also in my opinion the reason they moved the pickups is because they changed the fret board materials ... bubinga is darker sounding than maple ...

Also I thought of putting 3 rick humbuckers on the 4004L and putting in 3 volume controls and no tone ...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 6:23 pm

Phil, I'd love to buy that bass, unfortunately Yo no tengo plata. I figured I'd put it in Spanish as I'm sick of admitting that I'm broke.
Jeff, yeah that would be something, a tone machine, three pickups with three volumes. After you really got to know the bass you could probably get anything with just your bass. It would be bass, mid, and treble. I'd like a 4003 with another high gain too, right in the middle of the other two, or maybe move the treble pickup a little closer to the neck and put another one even closer to the bridge with three volumes, that would definitely be a tone monster too.
I think it would look terrible though. And I'd really have to butcher the bass to do that.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 7:32 pm

or you could put a jazz bass pickup where the mute goes ... a totally reversable mod ...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 2:55 pm

I'd like that extra PU for more mid Jeff, and I'd want another Ric pickup for the sound.