my report on 81 4003

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:08 am

I know that not a lot of people here have the early 80's 4003's and thought maybe some would be interested in the one that just arrived here in Lima after having bought it about 4 months ago.
It had Seymore Duncan pickups; which are drop ins, that means you take them out and drop them in the nearest refuse container, they are terrible pickups, the low E was very soft and the A was extremely loud with the bass pickup, and they just plain sound terrible.
But also means that you can put Ric pickups back in easily.
1. It has reverse tuners on it, which I was hoping for.
2. It has probably a fairly rare TRC, in addition to saying: made in USA, it says: model 4003, like the 4001's did.
3. It has the old style strap buttons
4. the neck is identical to a late 70's 4001.
5. It has a 7 hole tailpiece, no pull up here!
6. It has no walnut skunk stripe in the neck, my 79 4001 does.
7. It has the two piece pickguard.
8. The truss rods are identical to the 4001's except that they are reversed, you adjust the rods at the body end instead of in the headstock.
9. the aluminum block is in two pieces and has little cutouts where they snugly fit in at the end of the neck.
10. yes they still tend to curl downward, but unlike a 4001 which has little space to maneuver in, there is a lot of space obviously under the pickguard so this is not the big problem it seems to be with a lot of folks here. One reason is that you don't have to fit a nut driver onto the nuts. They are 3/8" nuts are are easily turned with a small open ended box wrench, which makes life easy. Also there is more room under the nuts than in the headstock. I think that putting these truss rods at the body end was a definite inprovement because of the ease with which they are adjusted. Also even though they are exactly the same truss rods, they seem a lot stronger with this configuration than in the head stock for some reason.
I don't think this neck had been touched for a LONG time and even then sparingly as there were no marks at all on the nuts. The neck had a strange bow in it when I got it the other day, it is coming out nicely, I don't think that it would be coming out if this were a 4001, because it is down at the body end.
Conclusion:
All in all, I really like this bass, it plays and sounds like a 70's 4001 but has improved neck neck changing and straightening capabilies using the old truss rod system.
I have heard that the finish on early 4003's wasn't very good, this one has a beautiful finish, nice dark burgandy, it seems like it is an inch thick.
I put the guts from my 79 into it to check it out, all the electronics, which was very simple, just take the nuts off all the pots, the jacks, the switch, unscrew the pickups, unsoldier the treble pickup and the tailpiece ground, and put it all back in one piece into the other pickguard and bass. Simple but a lot of work, but very enjoyable of course.
11. It had the .0047 bass cut cap intact when it arrived.

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:14 am

Bob: A nice find. Thanks for the thorough report. The Burgundy finish is a bonus.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:23 am

Thanks Peter, I appreciate it, I think some people shy away from these and I just wanted to let everyone know they are great Ric basses and kind of unusual.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:41 am

Yes, I totally agree, Bob. The early 4003 basses are kinda special. Back in the mid 90's I owned one (used), made in February 1981. The 'new' truss-rod system was a considerable improvement over the old one, and the pickups were hot and balanced. I still regret having let it go.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:57 pm

I just gave away my '82. It was yellow (formerly white) with black pickguard and hardware. It also said model 4003 on the TRC. I felt the neck to be a little thick.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 1:13 pm

ya those seymour duncan Ric humbucker pickups are real sound suckers ... they don't even make good paper weights ...

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:19 pm

Try using them as refrigerator magnets. They work great and are much more useful.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 4:12 pm

I use Seymour Duncan quarter pound p and j bass pickups in my fender style basses they make some excellent pickups ... which leads me to ask ... how could they get it so wrong the replacement humbuckers for Rickenbacker?

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 7:17 pm

hey Bob, put it on evil-bay as Vintage Rickenbacker replaced SD p'ups, got original sound, blanced vibe, excellent as refrig magnets; BIN $400.

Someone will buy it.

Getting paid is another story.

gstuadams · Post by **gstuadams** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:12 pm

Congratulations Bob! Have you already posted pictures of the new addition?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 10:42 am

No Gordon it's too hard here in Lima, I use internet cafés, I'll wait until I'm back in the States at the end of March.
Jerry anytime you want to give away early 80's 4003's just send them my way, haha! I had an 84 with a thick neck and actually I was a little afraid of that when I bought it, this one is great, it's a 4001 with reversed truss rods.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 11:08 am

This was to an old friend for his son's 16th birthday. The kid had turned his life around in the past year (from very bad to very good). One stipulation: if he didn't like it or in future wants a different bass, it's coming home! I took last photos of it which I'll post on my site once my home pc comes back from the dead (though it's in a group shot now on the site)