Model of the Week 13: The 4003S8

[hieronymous]

I personally have never had a problem with intonation - playing Gibson short scale basses will do that to you!

Found another pic of my '93:



And a couple of sound-clips:

8 echo dr. - this is an excerpt of a song that was on the first RRF compilation disc - clean sound but with lots of delay!

basking in the jetglo - this one is a mix between clean and distorted signals, improvised in the studio.

blizzard of oxbow - another excerpt, distorted/phased and clean signals mixed, spontaneously composed in the studio

All three were recorded at the session where the above picture was taken - Greg DeGuglielmo on drums on the left!

[aceonbass]

One thing I noticed about the string arrangement on the S8 was that with the octave string second, it was necessary to have the tops of the strings in the same plane so you could hit the octave string easier on a downstroke. This means that the octave strings are further off the fretboard, and therefor must stretch more when fretted. This makes it harder on the intonation due to the shared saddles. On my custom Ricky 8, I put the octave strings first and was able to achieve better intonation on the octave strings and downstroke contact by slotting the nut and bridge saddles so the bottom of the strings is now the same distance off the fretboard. This makes the action lower on the octave strings than on a standard S8.

[gearhed289]

Four bridge saddles is a drag. I manage to find a happy medium, but an elegant solution would be nice.

So, you'd like something like this?

8-fullsize.jpg

Sorry, I don't know where to get one...

Yup. I tried to buy that one from the guy, but he ended up selling the whole bass.

[hieronymous]

So is this it for S/8s? Where's Jared???

[RobRick]

I sure would love to get my hands on one of those Rick 8 string basses in Fireglo! SWEET!!

[rickaddict]

Better late than never, right?

http://rickresource.com/register/user_i ... llsize.jpg

http://rickresource.com/register/user_i ... llsize.jpg

[dog]

Wow Jeff, what a beautiful black on black 8. When the first photo opened I was almost snow blind from the reflection of the sun! Man I love black. Do you think that 54 is too old to go Goth?

Anywho. I did get an 8 string the other day. No. It's not a Ric, but I have it NOW. Very interesting and fun to play. The octive strings are on the E side. Since I play with my fingers, I think they would be better on the G side. Since it has 8 saddles, maybe I will replace the nut and change the strings. Now all I have to do is figure out which somgs to use this on.

[hieronymous]

Congrats on the purchase! My first 8-string was a Tune that I found while I was living in Japan. It's probably a good idea to play any 8-string you can get your hands on to find out whether or not you like it, or what you like or dislike about the setup. The best part of my Ric 8-strings is the SOUND of the pickups!!!

[rick_ovic]

My 1996 4003s-8 was recently sold to a fellow forumite in Spain.

[aceonbass]

Of all the S8's I've seen, I like the black on blacks the best, but I'm wondering why no one's ever done the vintage trip on one? A vintage TRC, pickguard, knobs and a horseshoe would really stand out on this model. I've incorporated most of these features into my "4008CS", but I've never seen all of them one S8.

[rikk]

OK, I'm late to the party but here's my 1999 in action last night on a local TV show. Sorry for the image quality, but it's all I have.<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WrAVQq1u7os&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WrAVQq1u7os&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAVQq1u7os

[bassduke49]

Nice, Rikk. Is that a Turquoise S8? Can't quite tell with the lighting . . . .

[rikk]

Yup!