Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Tony, I got to check this out:

That was when Shari and I got the tour by Mica.

John, mine was an '04.

Tony, Bill Conklin makes something nearly identical to that Alembic for 1/5 the price. He calls it the MEU. I have played one in his workshop. They are quite lovely and play a lot more like an upright than an electric--his vision was just an ergonomic upright-style instrument that was easy to transport. The one I played was made of cherry wood. Check it out...

Tony go for the NS.

The CR4M I had was a great bass.

jps wrote:As I no longer own my 4003FL my comments are in reflection only. It had a unique voice different from other fretless basses I have own over the years. When I first got it I found the sound much darker with little of the typical mwah one gets from most FL basses. Custom light set of 40-55-75-95, primarily to minimize wear on the CV finish of the fingerboard.

That's weird, I get tons of mwah out of my 4001FL and 4003Fl, so much so that I sometimes use the mute to make mwah much more subtle as I did in the recording of "Georgia On My Mind".

FretlessOnly wrote:My 2008 FL has the side dots where the fret would be, and the fingerboard dots just as in a fretted bass, so I only look at the side dots. What year was your FL and when did this change? I remember a thread several months ago where someone was insisting that Rick never made a FL bass as I was describing mine, or something like that.

I think the change was made in '07. My '06 has the side dots in the same place as the fretted 4003.

FretlessOnly wrote:

jps wrote:
As to technique, as much as I try to just listen for intonation I do look at the side dots for reference. The reason I sold the 4003FL was due to the placement of said dots. As we all know they were placed just as if the bass were fretted, and this did not make it easy for me; that was my only real gripe with that bass, other than that I would still have it and it would be my main FL bass in use.

Interesting. My 2008 FL has the side dots where the fret would be, and the fingerboard dots just as in a fretted bass, so I only look at the side dots. What year was your FL and when did this change? I remember a thread several months ago where someone was insisting that Rick never made a FL bass as I was describing mine, or something like that.

My 4003FL TUR (Feb 1997) has as many side dots as possible ...

That's too many dots for me, Gary!!
I remember playing that bass at one of the mini-con-jams, getting completely lost by the amount of side dots were on that neck!

I'm kind of bummed - I just lost out on a fretless 1977 4001 in Autumnglo - cousin to my fretted '76. I was looking forward to becoming a member of the fretless Ric club, but it wasn't meant to be...

I do have a couple of non-Ric fretlesses - one of the necks on my Alembic doubleneck is fretless, and I recently scored an early-'70s Guild M-85 II fretless, which is interesting because it is short scale (30"). My first fretless was a Fender Japan Jazz Bass back in the '80s - I found it very difficult to play mainly because it didn't have lines - the only markers were at the 5-7-9-12-15-17-19 positions on the side of the neck - not where the frets would be but where the markers go on a regular fretted! Very frustrating as a young player, though I probably could have dealt with it if I practiced more

cassius987 wrote:Tony, Bill Conklin makes something nearly identical to that Alembic for 1/5 the price. He calls it the MEU. I have played one in his workshop. They are quite lovely and play a lot more like an upright than an electric--his vision was just an ergonomic upright-style instrument that was easy to transport. The one I played was made of cherry wood. Check it out...

Sorry guys, lost sight of this one!

Thanks Josh, I'm off to check it out......MUCH APPRECIATED.

Jeff, can you give me some more info on that NS? You are the first one I know who's had one. THANKS!

OH, that ALEMBIC!

ajish4 wrote:Jeff, can you give me some more info on that NS? You are the first one I know who's had one. THANKS!

OH, that ALEMBIC!

When I played the Classico, it didn't go Mwah, it was more like Toe-Ni.

The NS was a great sounding bass, with tonal flexibility due to both the adjustable (lateral-vertical sensitivity) piezo pickup and the EMG magnetic pickups. However, I much preferred the piezo over the EMGs. Due to that I would consider the WAV or the brand new NXT bass, which does away with the EMG pickups.

Here is the NS site:

http://www.nedsteinberger.com/

Go ahead and drool!

Thanks Jeff,

Just sent for a catalog.

Check this out!
http://www.basscentral.com/2003/nsdesigns.shtml

LOL, Toe-Ni!

Joshua, WOW! Sweet looking bass for sure, neat design too! Thanks for the heads up.

Can't do anything til next year, but HOPEFULLY if I leave the catalog around.....like the magazine in A Christmas Story, Janey will get the hint!

Can we get back to the original subject please?

ajish4 wrote:Can't do anything til next year, but HOPEFULLY if I leave the catalog around.....like the magazine in A Christmas Story, Janey will get the hint!

With your luck you'll end up with a NS violin!

Now back to the FL.

I'll add this nugget regarding the FL: given its "organic" nature and ability to "speak," I wouldn't dream of using a pick on one.