johnallg wrote:cjj wrote:johnallg wrote:CJ, you are spoiled. That flamed one you got from Steve is, in my experience, a one-off for 4003 basses. You want plain maple? My '04 4003, my first and possibly most favorite:
body (600 x 450).jpg
Yeah, that one for looks, and my '76 Azureglo for feel/playability...
CJ, I sure hope my post didn't come of wrong, I did not intent to chide you. I showed my 4003 only to illustrate that most later maple was fairly nondescript, and only recently when RIC went back to the previous supplier has the bodies had more interesting maple.Sorry if I came off haughty, wasn't my intent.
No, you didn't come across wrong at all. I was actually going to say that I kind of like your plain maple a bit better than the one I got. It's one of those that if you don't notice the birdseye (which is easy to miss unless the light is just right), looks a lot like plywood (in fact, my wife saw it and asked if they are using plywood now
). Oddly enough, the back of the body looks nicer than the front (to me anyway).
This one was made 2nd week of Jan 2009, I was really hoping they'd gotten into that rumored "really nice/interesting" maple. Perhaps they have and this is what it looks like.
Now, I suppose I'm coming across a bit wrong too, I'm not really complaining. I've got other basses I really like, so waiting for this one was no big deal, and neither is my not really loving it. It's just a minor disappointment, something I was ready for actually. It's really a nice bass, and it does have some interesting grain and birdseye, just not something that makes me say "OH YEAH!". I'm sure some people would just love it, I have mixed feelings about it, really, and right now, I'm thinking if I'm not absolutely loving it, I probably never will. So, it might be best to move it on and stay on the lookout for one I can fall in love with. Unfortunately, it'll end up costing me a bit more now.
I have NO idea what to do with those skinny stringed things... I'm just a bass player...
) and putting on some wood I really like. But the neck, I LOVE the fretboard, but the maple, well, it has a lot of dark brown streaks & spots, which I just don't like. My opinion, and it is PURELY my opinion, is that the neck should have been used for a solid painted bass. I sometimes wonder if, in their attempts to cut the backlog, perhaps RIC is a little less selective than in the past (no, I can't blame them for that, I have NO IDEA what they are using for painted models).
