Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Dear John Hall,

as the 4004 specs throughout the years of production frequently changed (for the Laredo as well as for the Cheyenne), reflecting probably the variations of hand made instruments and different development stages, the customers like me need to cope with that, if one wants to address a certain instrument or characteristic.
Please forgive the "unauthorized" use of "sub-model" classifications arising of that.

Hi Ed. Hi Jim,

...yes, I'm selling my 4004Li FG(ups,...the nice flamed wood grain was 'flashed' away, but belive me it is still there!!!)

... I keep the 4004Cii TR and my 4003 FG...



...for the forum members, before I put it on Ebay...

Peter, glad to hear it's you! For a moment I thought I might have done something rash in an un-consious moment and put my Laredo up for sale! LOL

Funny to hear John Hall be confused about our jargon. But it's great that he's here to clear up misconceptions and add valuable insight.

I'm not confused, as there's just the 4004L, followed by the 4004Lbis.

Ah, bis I understand! I also understand that you, John, are an aviator, and bis is sometimes used in military aircraft designators, e.g. MiG-15bis to indicate the follow-on model. I like it.

A bunch of my Buddy's are pilots they all have Russian planes Ive never heard the term bis used for anything only Yak-9,Yak-27,Cj[chineese-Yak-27].....they do air shows and races all over the country.My buddy Pat has a 1984 L39C which is a russian fighter jet[ actually ukrainian] It looks like an A4 ,I cant go up in it yet cause i don't have ejection seat training.

Hi Andy,

your TR 4004Cii got allroud the world (US, UK, FRG)!!!Now the journey had an end as I modify it (chrome hardware, J-Bass circuit, 1M instead of 500kOhm pots, maybe brass nut,...) for my needs.
I love the low weight of the Cheyenne, the nice neck and wood and the potential in sound due to the HB PUs. Why did you sell it, just to get a black hardware TR 4004Cii ???

Hi Peter, it's all about positioning. I needed to move a piece to gain another and at the time the TR was the one that I could move. I was going for a Cii 5 TR and then I fell short of the updated version cutoff. So I decided to grab a TR 4 in the mean time - realizing that it will most likely be awhile before the 5's are back in production. Other than that, I had no reason to sell it.

IMO the Cii is the best bass RIC is making today (taking absolutely nothing away from the 4003 or the 4004L!) I love the wood that’s used, it’s simplicity, the versatility, feel and on and on…. One day when the 5’s come back, I’ll own 3 Cii’s. They’re the only basses I’m playing these days!

I'm perfectly fine with the gold on my natural Cii but did not like the gold surrounds on the TR, so I decided to search for black surrounds hoping that the affect would act like an extension of the pickup. It did! I was going to leave the bridge and the tuners gold. Then my wife said, that looks good, why don't you change out the bridge and those string tightening things. OK why not – permission to spend money – sure! So I went on that search and found the Black M4's in Hawaii of all places. The E tuner is a drop D and the bridge is a hipshot. All mods are fully reversible. No alterations to the bass at all.

And as you stated earlier, it now feels like a player!