Dare I say? 2009 COY?

[cheyenne]

Touche'

[johnallg]

Maybe they'll skip the COY, and continue in the direction of bringing back the vintage features.

Checker binding?????

We can only keep our hopes up for this, Scott.

[s4001]

At that point a stock 4003 would be close enough to a V68 for my tastes.

How about this May '08 4003, Scott?

DO WANT.

[Lost Coyotes]

Maybe they'll skip the COY, and continue in the direction of bringing back the vintage features.

Checker binding?????

That'd be sweet...but, man...As much as I love the CB, dunno if I would get any hopes up...

Mr. Hall wrote in this forum: "Checked binding is not only about 100 times more expensive for the material itself, there's much more work involved to the binding process. It requires an extra stairstep routing pass in the wood itself, two complete rounds of binding hand work, and decidely more skilled effort in the finish and scraping process."


I've searched here some (no, I didn't read every thread so I could have missed it!) and cannot find a post or thread where CB is ruled out forever....I suppose almost anything (except a 4005 ) could happen if the planets are aligned right, but the price of a new bass would have to increase quite a lot. My guess is, if (BIG IF) they ever did bring back CB it would be after all backlogs are caught up. Mr. Hall has shown us that in general, if possible, if it makes sense to do it, he will give us the stuff we beg for.

We must drive Rickenbacker nuts like this: in some cases, a particular feature seems not really wanted/appreciated until not available anymore.
The BT option comes to mind...

I think somebody here has already predicted that in time, people will be hunting down Rics with the "superior, vintage old style" smaller inlays...yep!

[86kubicki]

I don't think we'll ever see checkered binding as standard on a 4003, but I could certainly see it showing up on a hypothetical "V series" bass.

[dog]

Maybe they'll skip the COY, and continue in the direction of bringing back the vintage features.

Checker binding?????

I definately agree. While it would be nice to order a COY in 2009 and receive it in 2011 (or so), I think that many players would prefer more variations on current models. Of course we all know that when it comes to ordering new, waiting will be necessary.

[cjj]

I've been waiting almost 2 years for my new 4003 Mapleglo, but I'd gladly wait another 2 if the option to get black binding came back, even longer if I could get both black & checkerboard...

[cassius987]

I've been waiting almost 2 years for my new 4003 Mapleglo, but I'd gladly wait another 2 if the option to get black binding came back, even longer if I could get both black & checkerboard...

Ultimately for me, I would be happier to wait extended periods for variable options and features, but not a limited-run style finish.

This will probably never happen before Guinness loses its lease in Ireland (~10,000 years), but if I could tell RIC where I wanted the pickups routed & the PG (overall layouts to be chosen from a list of model styles I guess), the bridge to install, which RIC pickups to use, what kind of fingerboard wood to use, whether to "S"ify the bass or not, etc... man, I would really dig that and would be glad to wait longer. But like I said, that's probably NEVER going to happen; it'd be interesting, though, to see RIC setup a small custom shop for strange orders of this nature, to be handled at accelerated price rates. Paul's already got this going on acoustic and repair work so why not...

I think the only thing I'd never ask RIC to change is the use of NT, hard rock maple. I think it has a lot to do with the quality and the sound of their basses... er, instruments in general (nod to guitars as well).

[johnallg]

I think somebody here has already predicted that in time, people will be hunting down Rics with the "superior, vintage old style" smaller inlays...yep!

Actually, the smaller inlays on my 2004 are very pretty to look at. Better than on my other older basses. Nice detail in them.

[Lost Coyotes]

I think somebody here has already predicted that in time, people will be hunting down Rics with the "superior, vintage old style" smaller inlays...yep!

Actually, the smaller inlays on my 2004 are very pretty to look at. Better than on my other older basses. Nice detail in them.

Attempted humor fails again...
John, I don't dislike them, but seeing how you quoted me, I see how you might think that.
When I wrote that, I meant it to be included with the previous paragraph. Maybe it wasn't clear, but the whole idea was supposed to be like:
"in some cases, a particular feature seems not really wanted/appreciated until not available anymore...in time, people will be hunting down Rics with the "superior, vintage old style" smaller inlays."
(with the "superior, vintage old style" quoted as if an ambitious ebay seller was making a point.)

Hope that clears that up. My '73 has the smaller inlays. IMO not as pretty to look at as the earlier ones, but still...perfectly functional and look good to me.

[johnallg]

I think somebody here has already predicted that in time, people will be hunting down Rics with the "superior, vintage old style" smaller inlays...yep!

Actually, the smaller inlays on my 2004 are very pretty to look at. Better than on my other older basses. Nice detail in them.

Attempted humor fails again...
John, I don't dislike them, but seeing how you quoted me, I see how you might think that.
When I wrote that, I meant it to be included with the previous paragraph. Maybe it wasn't clear, but the whole idea was supposed to be like:
"in some cases, a particular feature seems not really wanted/appreciated until not available anymore...in time, people will be hunting down Rics with the "superior, vintage old style" smaller inlays."
(with the "superior, vintage old style" quoted as if an ambitious ebay seller was making a point.)

Hope that clears that up. My '73 has the smaller inlays. IMO not as pretty to look at as the earlier ones, but still...perfectly functional and look good to me.

Mike, I never took your post as criticism of the smaller inlays at all - I followed your meaning exactly. That is why I posted about the great looking inlays on this bass. That some years did look really nice and if in the future your jest becomes fact, these would be some of the desirable ones. Too bad the neck is, uh, bigger, to be kind.

Its all good!