Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Yeah,,,

I almost did what Brian did - twice actually!

By the way Brian - very cool a lot!

But I too couldn't resist The Tranny Red.

Except for those damn gold surrounds




I’m considering putting the gold hardware back on it with the exception of the surrounds and then one fine day switching out the pup's so there are no surrounds like Joey’s 5er

Merry Christmas to all!
or Happy Holidays!
Which ever you prefer!

Well, everyone posting their 4004's...



Really don't want to change anything about it.

BTW....my JG 4004L was $1199 from POTR and MG should be the same (IIRC POTR quoted $1299 for a 4004L BBR.....not a Cii I know.....but still). That seems odd for Bass NW as I've always gotten pretty good deals from them.

My FG Laredo was a little more...$1229 with insured shipping. I also got it from POTR. That was in March, before the price increases.

I must admit I don't like the look of the neck pickup being right up against the neck. Is the wound very different than with the pup backed off a 1/2 inch?

It's still a beautiful bass, but, well I imagine I'll just get used to it.

I believe they moved the pup back up to the neck position to allow easy changing of the truss rods if one were to snap. Simply remove the neck pickup and pull the rods out. That being said, I hope that I never break a rod in my bass, the only way I can see to get to the rods would be to remove the fingerboard.

When I received my mapleglo 4004Cii5, I assumed that RIC used some sort of push pin at the two truss rod access holes at the body end of the neck to get the truss rods out at the headstock side of the neck. I guess to make truss rod removal easier, they moved the position of the pickups.

this is close.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-4004L-Midnite-Blue-Mint_W0QQitemZ7376011931QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and with finished 'board...

I like that bass alot. I think its Ed Duponts.

I think you're right Scott. I had been tempted to pull the trigger on that one the last time it was listed, but I don't want another midnight blue bass.

I was really tempted to get Ed Dupont's 4004L MID....the pickup spacing was the deal breaker. I much prefer the bass p/u against the neck......that leaves the bridge p/u in about the same place as that of a 4003 which is a comfortable position for me to use as a reference point and occasional thumb rest.

For such a bassy sounding bass, I think the configuration that I have adds a little treble growl. I'm guess if I ever needed to I could replace the truss rods, they'd just have to come out of the headstock?

AS for the PU positions, I'll have to measure later if I get the chance...but one time I did a rough comparison via some pictures it seemed that the 2004 Laredo was pretty similar to my 75 4001...

I'll report back on that with some real measurements soon.

How many basses has anyone had to pull the rods on? And then think, how many NEW basses have had to had the rods pulled? Maybe 30-40 year old ones, but not a NEW one.
My daughter will be playing it by then, let her worry about it!

Jeff Rath had a real nice red 4003S-5 that a rod snapped on. It was nearly new.

Its not likely that you'd break a rod, but the possibility is there.