Well, it arrived yesterday and I unpacked it--it was very well packed, props to the seller. Somebody reinforced the vintage case with styrofoam supports at key points to cushion the bass, something I think was a really smart move. Once I pushed all of the packing crud aside and uncovered the specimen, I was really blown away: the photos really never do a bass justice, do they? Lordy. Playing it was great too: it has tons of low end, even string response, a nice resonant growl, and even with these ridiculously dead strings there's a wee bit of high-end sizzle/snap creeping in to the upper register. Oh yeah, and absolutely NO dead spots--which was not the case for my 4003FL when I first got it (although it's no longer an issue now that I've changed strings and gotten it well set up). At that point I felt like I had really gotten a steal, at least from the perspective of a player and not a collector.
Naturally there were some weird issues that the seller failed to mention. He had put sharpie marker on the binding to mark the "important" semitones (3, 5, 7, 9, 12). He later told me isopropanol would get this off, as he had taken it off and put it back on repeatedly. There were also the slightest hairline cracks on the fingerboard-neck join by the nut as if someone had improperly adjusted the rods, although the cracks are so tiny and shallow that I can't even photograph them. They certainly don't appear to be affecting the function or reliability of the instrument which comes across very solid in all aspects. Perhaps the most irritating undisclosed thing was something the seller claimed to be unaware of: the pickups sound really good, but only when the wiring behaves itself. Something is loose inside and causing a lot of ground issues, buzzing, etc.
I sent him the most diplomatic e-mail I could about this and he made me a deal: if I would let him give me some of the money back so that my price was equal to the price he paid two years ago, we would be squared up. Or, I could return it. The compensation he offered was in fact very close to what I thought I needed to get everything in tip-top shape eventually, so I said sure, and that was that. It's my bass now. And after the money I got back on the deal I think I did quite well, at least from where I'm standing.
Acoustically, it is quite marvelous (and really sounds crazy similar to my 4003FL from 2008, just with less treble and maybe a hair less mid scoop because of the shedua strip or something like that). I am really enjoying it, even with all of the dots on the binding which were very confusing at first, but I'm getting used to. All visible mods said and done, they don't really drive me that crazy even though eventually I know I'll change them. For the time I'm just to focus on getting it set up nicely, although it won't need much to get there.
Here she is:
Thanks for listening.
Any vote as to what I re-string it with? Current GHS strings are DEAD. I was thinking Ken Smith Slick Rounds for a change.
,and you seem to have found one of the ones that stayed white instead of gradually going bannana.....i had the dr sunbeams on mine before all of its recent renovation,and they sounded great,a very smooth playing roundwound string-they're supposedly great for fretless.
You'll notice I clam this on my brief into to "Spain" on that YouTube video. Anyways, on this bass that chord rings extremely clearly and so does everything else; basically it just has sustain-a-plenty, no dead spots or even "normal spots" whatever really. Is this due to the shedua? If so, bring that baby back! Jeez. The only other Ric I have that sustains this awesomely well is my 2009, and I think that's because it has a baseball bat of a neck (something I like but that would probably be bad for Ric's business if they did it full time).