FINALLY!! 4004L BBR - Your thoughts, please

[longhouse]

At a glance it's easily one of the most attractive basses I've EVER seen.

Sorry about the oversized rout.

[berth]

Congratulations. Beautifull bass. I think I see what you mean in the fourth picture. But for me it is not clear enough to be sure if it really is routing I see.

[kiramdear]

I'm still not sure either, still. That irregular border (if that's what it is) is a bit distracting, or maybe the foam is kinda poochy. Sorry, my inner artiste just spoke. I think it's a gorgeous color.

[nukebass]

It's the route. Both of my 650s are slightly oversized (thanks for pointing it out ... ) I think, to get the curves in the pickup right, the straight lines have to be slightly larger than the pickup. At the least, it allows freedom of movement for the pickup and they don't look terribly excessive.

[shamustwin]

Really beautiful.

[ram]

Schwing!

[ken_j]

Looking at pics of my former 650C the routes look about the same. It never really bothered me. I think if you play with the foam you can get it to look more symetrical. Nice shading on this BBR. It appears nice and gradual.

[aceonbass]

It definitely looks like the route to me. This is something you'll have to live with, unless you return it. I wouldn't worry about it, but there's no way to add wood once it's been removed, at least in this case.

[paul_yan]

Congratulations, Michael!!

I'm sorry to see the route. It seems to be a bit irregularly "generous" on the G string side, with a small blue streak on the edge between the D and G strings.



You can live with it and take it for a "unique" 4004 L BBR, or contact RIC's customer service. Hope everything turns out fine for you.

[ajish4]

Schwing!

My thoughts exactly.

[johneek]

I'm assuming that these routes are cut by a CNC. If so, is there a technical reason for them to be slightly over sized (fit, adjustment etc), or is this simply within the tolerances of how closely you can cut with a CNC? Not being a bass player, I'm curious if this is historically characteristic of 4004Ls?

[johneek]

I may have answered at least part of my own question. There are photos of a JG Laredo in this thread that show very similar sized routes.

http://rickresource.com/forum/viewtopic ... a&start=15

[Ric O'Sound]

Congratulations, Michael!

That really is a beautiful bass. I've only seen a few Ric basses similar to yours, but those I saw also exhibited the somewhat larger pickup routing like yours...so I'm thinking it might be common for those models due to the manufacturing process. I, personally, would only really care about the sound and feel of the bass, but I certainly don't want to try to talk you into keeping it if you feel it's a problem for you. You paid good money and waited a long time for it.

I love the color...your finish turned out great. Now you've got me gassing for one. But I don't think I could wait that long

[aceonbass]

Although the neck and body wings on 4004's are now being cut on CNC machines, once they are assembled, I'll bet the routing is done by hand using a fixture. When the pickup routes are done, a file it probably used to take the sharp edge off of the route. It looks like someone hit a couple spots there at a steeper angle. When the stain was applied, it showed up darker in those spots, therefore highlighting them. Again, I'd overlook it and play the bass. If there is however any chance that RIC customer service is going to be involved, this shouldn't be being discussed here in advance.

[rickenbrother]

I'd overlook it and play the bass. If there is however any chance that RIC customer service is going to be involved, this shouldn't be being discussed here in advance.

+1