New 4003 Fireglo owner here!

[geofio]

congrats on the fireglo!!! i have just purchased one of the new shipment that came to the uk last week , the colouring is the same as yours but my neck is the caribbean rosewood a lot darker that the usual 4003 neck. the new fireglo,s are stunning.

[8mileshigher]

Congrats to you also, George. That's mighty nice looking !

[cjj]

congrats on the fireglo!!! i have just purchased one of the new shipment that came to the uk last week , the colouring is the same as yours but my neck is the caribbean rosewood a lot darker that the usual 4003 neck. the new fireglo,s are stunning.

And so are the new Caribbean rosewood fretboards! Congrats!

[Rickenbarry]

congrats on the fireglo!!! i have just purchased one of the new shipment that came to the uk last week , the colouring is the same as yours but my neck is the caribbean rosewood a lot darker that the usual 4003 neck. the new fireglo,s are stunning.

WOW! I really like the neck on yours and I know how you feel! I was torn between a Jetglo (big Geddy Lee fan here) and the Fireglo when purchasing. I let my wife pick and she voted Fireglo. I had never seen a Fireglo up close and was completely blown away when I opened the case! I held it in my hands for about 5 minutes before discovering a defect near the output jacks. An 8mm dent all the way through the finish to bare wood with a crack in the clear finish about 12mm long right next to it. I had to send it back and get the replacement you see here. The only thing I can think of that was harder to do in my life was to quit smoking cigs. Seriously, it was like having to send my first born back to the factory!

BTW folks, no more truss rod tweaking needed. The neck has settled very nicely! I was able to get the action so close I'll need to learn to play again. Fortunately this will take several hours...let the fun begin.

[bluewhale]

... I've read everywhere that the neck needs to be COMPLETELY straight, no relief at all...

Many of us have read on this forum that the neck should be flat, I think including posts by the RIC CEO.

As an aside, I don't think the Care & Maintenance Manual actually specifies this. As I read it, it only goes as far as to say, "Due to their extreme adjustability you may prefer to adjust a RIC neck almost dead straight depending on the playing action preferred."

To me, that reads more like a warning to not go all the way and set it flat.

The current manual can be found on the RIC webpage under the "Service" tab.


Welcome to the forum!
bluewhale

[Kopfjaeger]

Since owning my May 2011 built Jetglo 4003, the action has remained fairly consistent, even though I swapped out the factory strings for a balanced set of Circle K's ( .106, .079, .059, .043). I have not played the bass in a week or maybe a bit longer and when I picked it up the other day something had changed. I checked the straightness via the string method and found a had a little over an 1/8 inch relief. I double check it with the neat POTR straight edge and confirmed same. An 1/8 turn tweak of the truss rods did nothing after 24 hours. Another 1/8 tweak and still nothing. The third 1/8 tweak a day later and viola!! Several hours later back to perfect! I can see a "sheet of paper" slice of daylight between the straight edge and the fretboard. Perfect!

I had to machine the heck out of the Xcelite nut driver since I was not comfortable removing material under the TRC. The POTR straightedge I got for Christmas is a neat tool as well!!

All my other RIC basses have remained constant so I doubt it's not a temp. or humidity thing.

Sepp

[pflash4001]

congrats on the fireglo!!! i have just purchased one of the new shipment that came to the uk last week , the colouring is the same as yours but my neck is the caribbean rosewood a lot darker that the usual 4003 neck. the new fireglo,s are stunning.

WOW! I really like the neck on yours and I know how you feel! I was torn between a Jetglo (big Geddy Lee fan here) and the Fireglo when purchasing. I let my wife pick and she voted Fireglo. I had never seen a Fireglo up close and was completely blown away when I opened the case!

I have yet to see a photo of a fireglo in any catalog or Ric publication that remotely comes close to showing the truly breathtaking effect a fireglo instrument has in real life,

[HydrasBreath]

congrats on the fireglo!!! i have just purchased one of the new shipment that came to the uk last week , the colouring is the same as yours but my neck is the caribbean rosewood a lot darker that the usual 4003 neck. the new fireglo,s are stunning.

WOW! I really like the neck on yours and I know how you feel! I was torn between a Jetglo (big Geddy Lee fan here) and the Fireglo when purchasing. I let my wife pick and she voted Fireglo. I had never seen a Fireglo up close and was completely blown away when I opened the case!

I have yet to see a photo of a fireglo in any catalog or Ric publication that remotely comes close to showing the truly breathtaking effect a fireglo instrument has in real life,

yeah all the stock pics make the yellowish center look almost pink

[aerome]

HA! Did the same thing and let my wife pick the color. FG was the winner and it's now sitting right here next to me. I think I would have gone with a MG but the FG is superb! Hey, at least there will be no complaints from the peanut gallery for a while!

[Rickenbarry]

HA! Did the same thing and let my wife pick the color. FG was the winner and it's now sitting right here next to me. I think I would have gone with a MG but the FG is superb! Hey, at least there will be no complaints from the peanut gallery for a while!

I anticipate the "gallery' at my house will begin to provide constructive feedback at about the third string purchase...

And on the photos of the fireglo finish, agreed. Has to be seen in person to appreciate.

[fazack64]

SWEET!.. Congrats on your new toy... all of my bass' were purchased used.. incluidng my two 4001's.. I bought a brand spankin' new midnit blue 4003 back in july.. 7 months later I still can't believe it's mine.. it's a great feeling enjoy it!

[demon666]

Nice bass. Congrats

[PJRL]

Looks HOT !

[ricnbacker]

nice bass...I like the album covers on your wall too

[Rickenbarry]

Thanks again everyone. I am love'n this bass! The album art was the work of my wife. Some of her favs and some of mine. Both walls are covered and don't worry, the vinyl was carefully packed away! They are stuck on the wall with command adhesive strips so we can remove them w/out damage if we ever desire.

The neck has settled nicely and I did a little shimming on the E and A strings to cure the buzzing and get the action where I wanted. I have some bakelite powder and plan to fill and refile the nut to this height. Right now I have some thin card stock slivers in the nut to test how it plays before I commit to a more permanent solution.

Cheers!